We are still parked up in Catania, and we made a decision to use Catania as a base to explore this part of Sicily. To make the process easier for me we decided to rent a car, because to see the places we wanted to see it was going to be a lot of city driving, and while François is small as motorhomes/rv’s go it is not a city car and finding places to park can be stressful. Yesterday we arranged for a rental car for the next three days, and promptly at 9am our Lancia showed up. It is the perfect size to drive in Italian cities and find places to park.
Today we visited the Isola di Ortiga which is the historical center of Siracusa, or Syracuse as it is known in the English speaking world. We started here because Siracusa is a substantial city and I thought we would avoid a lot of the week day traffic if we went on a Sunday. I was mostly right but we were glad we were driving our tiny Lancia and not François as we approached the city center as I forgot to account for the fact that a lot of the local families would take advantage of the perfect weather to go downtown and have a nice meal so the traffic was still substantial.
When we arrived we were startled by how busy it was. There were multiple tour groups being guided thru town, and there was a small cruise ship docked, as well as the local people who were enjoying a good Sunday meal and day out. In a few places it was difficult to walk, but as the day went on the crowds thinned out and we enjoyed ourselves more.
Most of the buildings in this region were built in the early 1700’s after a large earthquake caused massive damage thru out Sicily. At the time Sicily was ruled by the Spanish, so the style is different than that found on the mainland because of the Spanish influence.
We spent a great deal of the late morning and early afternoon aimlessly wandering thru town. But our walk was not aimless, we were really looking for the perfect restaurant. After much searching we settled on a sea food place near the cathedral and got one of the last tables. Right after we sat down people suddenly descended on the place and within 20 minutes of our arrival there was a substantial number of people waiting for a table, so our choice was vindicated.
The staff seemed a little overwhelmed by the sudden surge in customers and we had a difficult time getting our order put in. The guy who seated us came by and I started to give him our order, but he told me that he did not take food orders, only beverage orders, so I did manage to get a beer from him. I finally got the guy who took food orders attention and we ordered a mixed seafood platter for two.
I was a little nervous about our choice, but when our food arrived we were thrilled. The platter was immense with a great variety of fish, some served on bread like Pinxtos in Spain, probably the Spanish rule from the 1700’s influencing not only the architecture, but the food. Our Italian neighbors were impressed and asked to take a picture of it. Everything on the platter was excellent and after our two hour search for the perfect meal we were very happy with our choice.
We needed some more exercise after our lunch so we decided to walk the perimeter of the island. Ortiga has been a fortified harbor since the Greeks and it is surrounded by walls all the way around. But the fortifications and walls did not impress Ton as much as the clear green water of the Mediterranean.
As we walked she would stop every few feet to take another picture and talk about the clearness and the beautiful green color of the water, then take another picture because the water had changed to a perfect blue color. She was in heaven. We really enjoyed strolling along the top of the wall and looking at the sea.
We finally decided to head back to Catania for the evening as we had put in a good walk for the day. We really enjoyed Ortiga and while we did not get out into the modern part of Siracusa we enjoyed the old town very much.
