Siracusa & Sicily
During the night we repositioned to Siracusa, on the south-eastern coast of Sicily, partly on the small island of Ortigia. After breakfast we boarded a series of buses that took us to the Neapolis, with its different parts: the Roman Amphitheatre, where work is ongoing to prepare it for a series of Greek tragedy performances, the Greek theatre, and a series of quarries, from which we saw the famous “Ear of Dionysius,” that supposedly was used by the tyrants to hear all the secrets of their subordinates. Here our guide sang parts of different Italian songs, which really had an incredible echo!
Lunch was on the ship, and shortly after we took off on foot, across a small bridge, onto the island of Ortigia, where we visited the Temple of Apollo, or what is left of it, and later proceeded up the important avenue of the small city, unto the marvelous fountain of “Diana,” which represents the transformation of the nymph Arethusa into a spring.
Then on to the most famous part of the island: the Temple of Athena. This is a fifth c. B.C. nucleus, celebrated in antiquity for its beauty, having been built by a large number of Carthaginian slaves. In the 7th c. the Doric temple was changed into a Christian church with three naves, closing the spaces between the columns. This church contains a very good series of works of art.
