January 24 in Sicilia

We walked well today.  Left at around 11 this morning and returned at 3:30 and were absolutely starving.

Stops today included the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime and the archaeological museum (Museo Archeologico Regional Paolo Orsi). The museum is chock full of antiquities from archaeological digs around Sicily.

The chiesa (church) is an impressively grand circular modern structure situated in the middle of the city dedicated to a miraculous statue of Our Lady of Tears, which as legend has it, cried real tears. For such a grand looking building, it's eerily dark inside. Nevertheless, we were able to catch glimpses of the what appeared to be icons in each of the various chapels around the church.

Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime



Across the street from the church, is the archaeological museum. We had fun trying to figure out what days the museum is open. The guys at the entrance had different ideas from the people inside the museum.  Hilarious.  It was either open or not open on Sunday, open on Monday and maybe not open, definitely open on Tuesday, though.  It was important to us since our ticket is good for 3 days and we wanted to make sure we could come back on Tuesday and continue our museum visit. 

Our friend, Bill Couch, would love our first stop at the museum - an incredibly huge collection of ancient silver, gold, and bronze Greek and Roman coins. Syracusans are quite proud of this permanent exhibit. How do we know? Every time we come to the museum, we are repeatedly encouraged to visit the collection. The docent was memorable - as excited as if this was her first day on the job. However, she was so knowledgeable you knew she'd been doing this for ages.

One of the highlights of the museum is the statue of the Venus Landolina. A Greek sculpture from the second century BC. Such a demure young lady in spite of her almost total nudity.

Venus Landolina


Our walk back home in the afternoon was very quiet.  The streets are nearly deserted with little human or car traffic. The shops close at 1 or 1:30 and reopen around 4 or 4:30 so during those hours everyone is home napping or something. We now know it's not possible to buy anything in the afternoon.  It's either done in the morning or later in the day. 

Thankfully, the gourmet food shop was open and we picked up some pizza and meatballs.  Naturally we had to stop at the pasticceria to pick up some kind of dessert. It's too easy a stop. We will have to exercise control whenever we walk by. Good luck to us.