We have cruised overnight from Sorrento to Sicily entering the straits of Messina at 6am. It is amazing how narrow the straights are. There are houses lining each side of the straits and we sail through a fishing fleet of small boats, passing another large ship wreck on the Sicilian shore. We enter the bay at 'Siracusa' passing the Spanish fort. The afternoon sea breeze is quiet strong so it takes us some difficulty dropping forward anchors and coming stern to, to the wharf. We are in the marina which is on the Island of 'Ortiga' the historical centre of 'Siracusa'. The great thing is that the boat is basically in the centre of the old city with a 2 minuet walk to Piazza Duomo with its cathedral that was once the Temple of Athena from 460 BC. The temple pediment and Doric columns are clearly visible blended into the current Christian church. This is the oldest continuous place of worship in the world. A few hundred meters down the road are the remains of the temple of Apollo. The old city has small winding streets with very old houses. Our first thoughts are what a great place, peaceful, historic, with warm and friendly people with an ideal climate and temperature.
Friday we have a tour of Siracusa with Lucia. We start with the Archaeological park where there is a Greek theatre still in use today, next to the ancient stone quarry. Also there is a amphitheater from the Roman period. We then visit the fabulous archeological museum where (Lucia),Lucy explains the history of the various groups of people that have lived in Sicilia starting with the indigenous 'Sicli' followed by the Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Byzantines, then Arabs and Spanish in the 1600's then French, then Italians. At one stage in the Greek period, Siracusa was considered the largest and most powerful city in the world. All of the cultures that have been here combine to make Sicily a very unique and interesting place. In the afternoon we head south to the city of 'Notto'. This town was destroyed in the earthquake of the 1600's and rebuilt by the spaniards in the Baroque style. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site considered a unique Baroque town. There are some very good ceramic shops here with particular styles and designs, we are forced to add to the collection.
Saturday is an easy day. We start with visiting the amazing produce market which has very good fish, cheese,meats wines and other local produce. Everything is so fresh and delicious, the whole experience is colorful. Many of the store holders ask you to taste their produce, we end up tasting wine and cheese at 10 am. This is followed by coffee and MB tries a custard cake. It is very difficult not to try everything here as the food is all fresh and delicious.
MB has found a great place to have a swim, so we join the locals sun baking on the rocks. The water is clean and clear.
We go to church at the Duomo and meet the crew for dinner at a highly recommended restaurant 'Per Bacchus'.
Sunday we hire a car and head to 'Ragusa' on the south coast with Captain Paul, to play golf at 'Donna Fugata'. We get horribly lost and we are late for our Tee time. The road signage is very ordinary and confusing. We are however, able to get a game, it's a great links course. JB wins the comp easily by staying on the fairway. MB still in front in the European cup, by one game.
Back at the boat our good friend and Artist Tony Clark has been to the boat. Tony has lived here part time since 1999. We organize to have him for dinner that night.
Monday we leave early with Lucia and Tony and drive to Agrigento, the 'Valley of the Temples'. Here there are several Greek temples from the classical period. Some are in very good condition still standing on this ancient acropolis. We spend several hours here absorbing the great history of this area. This site reinforces the idea of how powerful the Greeks were in Sicily. After a Sicilian lunch of 'Caponata' and Panini we head off to the 'Villa Romana' and it's extensive and well preserved roman mosaics. We thought we had seen mosaics before but this is unbelievable. The entire house from circa 300 AD is restored, each room with an intact mosaic floor with amazing designs of mythology or nature. Well worth the visit and long drive from Agrigento to get here. From here we head through the hills to 'Miletto' where Tony has a country house. We get there in the dark and then head home around 9pm through overgrown lanes with cattle grazing in them. A long day, lots of crazy driving and finally drop Tony and Lucia back at 10.30pm.
Tuesday we have our market breakfast and visit the stall holders who are so friendly. JB wants to have a blow wave just off the Archimedes square. We get lost looking for the square and ask a man in Piazza Duomo who appears to be organizing renovation of a palace in the square. Before he gives us directions MB asks 'are you a builder'? He says no I am the owner of the Palazzo a beautiful Baroque building. His name is Pietro Beneventano Del Bosco, Baron of Climmiti. He mentions that he has a large cellar and as we chat he asks us in for a tasting of the family produced wines. Afterwards we invite him for dinner on the boat. Marcus and Nora arrive to join us for a trip to Greece. Tony also comes for dinner with his wife Elaine and her friend Jane. We have a fabulous dinner and the Baron invites us for lunch tomorrow at the Palace.
Wednesday morning we take Marcus and Nora to the market to visit all our new friends. Marcus is amazed as we are at the amount and variety of local fish available.
We all meet at Baron Peters home for lunch and have a fabulous time with him. We start with a glass of family Spumante. Peter has restored the magnificent palace over a period of 15 years. Part of the building was badly destroyed during the second world war. He has done a great restoration. The rooms are filled with Art including many family portraits, dating back to their acquisition of the palace from the Knights of Malta. Peter also has a very substantial and important collection of etchings. We have a long and talkative lunch with some laughter and a traditional Sicilan cuisine finishing with a tasting of several liqueurs. A long lunch with a most interesting man of a major family in the history of Italy. What a great raconteur. He is kind enough also to give us a copy of a book of his etching collection.
We leave early tomorrow for Greece. We have loved all of Italy but have absolutely fallen in love with Siracusa. We have made good friends MB loves his swimming spot, we will be back in September.
We finish the day with a simple fish meal cooked by MB.
JB and Mick