From Cities to Towns by the Sea

The next destination, Siracusa (Syracuse), was reached by bus from Palermo’s unassuming bus stand on a side street. Leaving the city behind, the countryside began to blur past the bus windows in patterns -- orchards of orange trees and mountains in the distance. Soon dark clouds formed on the horizon and it began to rain heavily just as we arrived in Siracusa, at its bus stand on a side street, but near the rail station. We quickly pulled on readily accessible rain jackets and hats. Since our hotel was on a narrow lane not assessable to our taxi, we had to walk to the hotel dragging our luggage with us. Fortunately, the storm was passing over and we didn’t get too wet. The next few days were sunny and bright with moody sunsets. Siracusa is a lovely little town and it was a welcome respite from the hectic cities. We slowed our pace, sat on our balcony, and enjoyed walking the small streets through the town.

One attraction of Siracusa is its ancient Greek theater. To my regret, the stone rows were covered with wooden planks to provide seating for outdoor performances. I was told this is done seasonally; yet as it was it didn’t present a pretty picture (especially during the wrong time of day). However, I was fascinated by the wild flowers and plants that were stubbornly growing from the limestone boulders, evidence of evolution at work. The grounds beyond the theater are laid out as a park around ancient grottos. There were many lemon trees heavy with the fruit; similar to the enormous ones sometime seen in the markets and from which Lemoncello is made (a sweet liqueur).

 

 

On Sunday, crowds jammed the cathedral plaza for a ceremony to view the transfer of the statue of St. Lucia from the cathedral to another nearby church. We had noticed the decorations the day before, but were unaware of the planned celebrations. Many events had been scheduled for the entire weekend, including daytime fireworks. The first loud boom was a bit frightening since we didn’t know the cause. Then there was a second boom. No panic ensued, so we turned in the direction of the sounds. The fireworks were being fired up from edge of the bay. I took this fortuitous occurrence to use the video feature of the PowerShot G11. Maybe I’ll venture to put it in a separate blog.

So, leisure time in Siracusa was great. We had lunch at a recommended restaurant which was an event in itself. The owner is an artist and all the restaurant decorations, including collage menus, were done by him. One specialty was hearty thick soups made with local ingredients. The photograph here only shows the table. After the soup, I quickly tried the breaded sardines before it occurred to me to take a photo. Steve was having a flavorful pasta dish.