Saturday 16 Sept – Case-hardened, we set sail for Syracuse.

John had Alitalia on the case, Elizabeth had the angels on the case, and in any case at 6pm Friday evening, after our return from Trapani (and sitting around all afternoon in our apartment after being advised of their imminent delivery), our cases were returned to us!  So after checking that all our belongings were intact we repacked them and had an early night in preparation for an early departure this morning, again by bus, for Syracuse.

The bus journey was three and a half hours, then a ten-minute walk to our delightful apartment (on the ground floor, no less – no stairs to drag our bodies and suitcases up!).  We settled in and then walked a short distance and across the bridge linking the ancient island of Ortygia.  Very atmospheric.  We passed the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, the oldest Greek temple in Sicily and the second oldest in the world, dating back to the sixth or seventh century B.C.  We walked on to the magnificent Duomo, seated in the vast Piazza del Duomo.  Built in the eighth century A.D. on the skeleton of a fifth century B.C Doric temple to Athena, it is a commanding sight from the outside and just as impressive inside, with huge stone columns, probably close to three metres in diameter and with each segment of each column being close to three metres high.  It must have been a massive engineering feat to put the columns in place.  Although modified during Norman times the original Doric columns can still be seen incorporated into the external walls.

We then wound our way down the main thoroughfare to the Fontana Aretusa, a fresh water fountain where, according to Greek mythology the nymph Arethusa, the patron figure of ancient Syracuse, returned to earth's surface after escaping from her undersea home in Arcadia.  Another legend suggests that the goddess Artemis transformed her beautiful handmaiden Aretusa into the spring to protect her from the amorous river god Alpheus.  Whatever, the fresh water still bubbles up as it did in antiquity.

We then visited the Church of Santa Lucia alla Bardia to marvel at the Caravaggio painting, the Burial of Santa Lucy.  Caravaggio painted this in 1608, shortly after arriving in Sicily after escaping from prison in Malta.  After that we repaired to a nearby gelataria to sample the local product before returning to our apartment to escape the late afternoon heat.  Tomorrow – more of this fascinating town, including a major archaeological site.