SYRACUSE, SICILY

Today we arrived in Syracuse (or ‘Syracusa’ as the locals say, with an emphasis on the final ‘a’), on the island of Sicily.

We visited Syracuse last year and really liked it; it has a fantastic old town built on an island, with a myriad of narrow streets and lots of interesting things to see. Because we’d explored the town quite thoroughly on our last visit, we decided it would be nice to do something different this time around, so once we’d left the ship we headed in the opposite direction to the old town, towards an Archeological site known as Neapolis.

The weather didn’t look too promising at first, with overcast skies and occasional rain looking like it was going to be the order of the day. As we walked, however, it gradually improved, and I’m pleased to say that it exceeded all expectations.

Walking to Neapolis was easy, and took us about 30 minutes give or take. It was made all the easier by the fact that it was Sunday so the roads were generally quiet. I say ‘generally’ because the odd few roads that were busy seemed to be populated by manic, impatient drivers constantly honking at each other and habitually trying to overtake and jump the queues in the most inappropriate places.

We stopped off briefly at a large (tall) church of modern design that we’d spotted on our previous visit, and which rather dominates the city skyline. It being Sunday, most of the church’s visitors were locals who were there for the praying, so we didn’t stay long – just enough for a few quick photos, and then we were on our way.

Entrance to Neapolis cost us €12 each, which I reckon represents excellent value for money. The area is extensive, and signs recommend the best routes according to how much time a visitor might have available to them. We chose the blue route, recommended for a 90-minute visit, although we knew we would be stopping for much longer.

The first – and without a doubt one of our favourite – sections of the site was an ancient quarry. That might not sound very exciting, but I assure you that it was as impressive a series of earthworks as I think I’ve ever seen. It was a large area surrounded by towering, quarried cliffs, that was absolutely bursting with wild flowers and orange and lemon trees.

We were treated to caves galore, all cut into the rock face, which were massive and fun to walk into. The Ear of Dionysius was by far the most spectacular, named by Caravaggio in 1608 due to its similarity in shape to the pavilion of an ear. It was previously known as The Talking Cavern, from where the tyrant king Dyonisius would evesdrop on plans being hatched by his adversaries who were incarcerated in the adjacent grove known as the Latomia.

After the quarry came not one but two amphiteahtres – one Greek and the other Roman. The Greek theatre (Teatro Greaco) is the larger of the two, but because it was in the middle of being set up for a contemporary performance of some sort, many of the stone seating areas were covered over with wooden seating, which took some of its appeal away from it.

The smaller – Roman – Theatre had more of a ‘Gladiator’ feel to it. It seemed to be in a greater state of disrepair than the larger theatre, yet with its overgrown terracing and a large number of arches, it felt like it had considerably more character.

Many tombs were cut into the rocks around the upper, outer perimeter of the Greek theatre, one of which is allegedly that of Archimedes, although we failed to identify precisely which one it was.

We easily spent a couple of hours in the park, and ate lunch in their small cafe before heading back towards the port. As we had some time spare, we decided to cross the bridge onto the island of Ortygia for a quick look at the Temple of Apollo, a walk through some of the old narrow streets, and a stop at Piazza Archimedes where there is a magnificent fountain.

In the evening, we went to the Playhouse to watch a show by a group called Classical Graffiti. This was their second show; we didn’t see the first, but we’d heard so many good reports about them that we just had to go see them for ourselves. It turns out they were indeed as good – and as funny – as everyone said they were. With three violins and a double bass, they presented an entirely unique, and at times quite hilarious take on classical and folk themes. Retrospectively, it’s a shame we missed the first show. However, they seem to be a regular act on Saga, so we’ll keep our eye out for them in the future…