Siracusa and the island of Ortygia

We had so much fun our last few days in Sicily, I didn't have time to write! It's like a magical little kingdom filled with lemon trees and adorable people. 

It rained and rained most of the time we were in Ragusa, so we didn't do much but read and relax and enjoy this view:

It rained all day and all night -- so much rain that flooding and landslides were reported in the next morning's paper:

Fortunately, it didn't affect our train trip to Siracusa, on the east coast. The pretty, hilly countryside on the way there was webbed with handmade, ungrouted stone fences -- miles upon miles of them that must have taken many farmers centuries to build. It makes a person realize how stony the land is here, and how hard it must have been to make it productive. But I've never seen such productive land: it seems they can't not grow things in Sicily. There's a lemon or orange tree in every cranny. I didn't do the math, but I'm pretty sure there are millions, maybe billions of lemons ripening on trees in Sicily right at this moment. What they do with them all is a future rainy-day research project for me, but I have the feeling that Sicily must provide all the lemons for the entire planet. (Okay -- I'm back 2 hours later. I couldn't wait for a rainy day: I learned that Italy comes in 10th in the list of top-lemon-producing countries in the world. China, India, and Mexico are the top 3. I'm stunned. How many lemons do we need?).

At any rate, Siracusa is known for its Greek island, Ortygia, and also for St. Lucia (the same one who inspired the strange Swedish custom of Santa Lucia Day), who was born there. 

Our accommodation was conveniently close to the train station, and it was a short walk from there to the island of Ortygia. Our sweet Air Bnb host, Marco, greeted us with a very good bottle of handmade syrah, and had lots of good tips for what to do in Siracusa. We only had one afternoon there, and it rained intermittently, so we just walked around, gawking and eating and thoroughly enjoying the sights. 

My favorite sculpture in the stunning Fountain of Diana.

Another baroque cathedral. I can't keep them all straight, there are so many,
but uffda, are they ever pretty in person. 

Along the sea wall around Ortygia

The streets of Ortygia were paved like this or with marble pavers -- no cobblestones, which was a welcome change for walking upon. 

A surprising building along an otherwise normal alley in Ortygia

Fishing boats and styrofoam. We have to stop making styrofoam, that's all there is to it! (Where is styrofoam made, anyway? I need to find out.... [2 hours later] ... I'm back. I should have known: it's made by Dow Chemical.) 

The next morning, we visited the Greek archeological area, and were greeted by this cheerful guy at the gate, who showed us where the ticket office was, and also attracted feral cats.

The Greek amphitheater in Siracusa was built in the 5th century B.C. to accommodate 15,000 audience members. From here, they would have had a beautiful view of the island of Ortygia. Nice planning! The passages at the center here would have originally been underneath a stage, and were used by actors for sudden exits and entrances. They still give performances here -- Greek tragedies, naturally -- in the summertime. 

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From Siracusa we again entered the mysterious world of bus travel in Sicily. Some say this is the best way to travel here, but it's not for the faint-hearted or the untrusting. The posted schedules have little to do with what the bus ticket agent predicts will happen or with what actually happens. At any rate, we managed to find the bus, and headed to Catania.