Time to say goodbye

March 10
Our time in Sicily is almost at an end.  It's March 10 and we leave in 5 days week on March 15th.  The past few days have been spent planning the northern leg of our Italian trip. By next Sunday, we will be on an 8-hour train ride from Syracuse to Salerno.  We plan to overnight in Salerno and then bus the Amalfi coast to Sorrento Herculaneum, Pompeii and finally to Naples All this in 4 days from the 15 to 19.  Then it’s another train trip to Florence where we meet Mara and Sadie. We spend10 days in Florence and another 10 days in Fano with side trips to Luca, Sienna and Venice. Will see if we can go to opera in Venice. The Nancy cousins will join us on April 2 in Fano.  All in all, the next 4-5 weeks will be a whirlwind of activity.  Should be fun!!!

Seems like we only arrived yesterday but we’ve already spent 6 weeks in Sicily. We have become quite familiar with our walking routes and shopping stops in Siracusa and have met some wonderful people. It will be difficult to say goodbye. Who knows if/when we will return.

We celebrated our 47^th anniversary on March 6. Only 3 more to go for 50!!!  Woohoo and can’t believe it. 
Didn’t do much that day since we were recovering from our trip to Taormina and Catania.  So we just took it easy and went for lunch at a restaurant (Osteria Del Ponte Vecchio) that was recommended. We ate too much.  Food was delicious as usual. We were supposed to go back to the restaurant but we ended up going to a clinic. Had an infection. Waited about an hour to see the doctor and left with prescription in hand. Didn't get charged anything. I asked about paying and the doctor just waved his hand. So free and easy here. It's amazing. Feeling so much better with the antibiotics.

Taormina

On March 3 we took the train to Taormina and spent the day and overnighted in a charming B&B. Taormina is built high on a hill overlooking the ocean with Etna in the background. 

We arrived in the morning so were able to visit the Botanical garden and Greek/Roman Theatre where you will find the best views of Mount Etna. 

Etna and Albert taken from Botanical Garden Taormina

 

Etna taken from Greco/Roman Theatre -  Taormina

 

Met a father and son at the restaurant literally steps from the B&B.  They're from Scotland and were great company.  We shared lots of laughs and  in the end traded contact information. We have met lots of people and have invited a few to come and visit us. It’ll be fun to see if they do.

Can’t seem to get enough of seeing that volcano which is still active. The weather was so fabulous the next morning (19C) that we had breakfast on the veranda. Luigi (our host) is a chef so breakfast was perfect, weather perfect. It’s obvious that spring is coming to Sicily. 

We wandered the hilly roads of Taormina for a bit trying to find our way to the bus stop and the bus to Catania. We met an elderly woman climbing a rather large hill and asked for directions. She was somewhat short of breath but so pleasant and between little gasps for air, pointed us in the right direction.

Catania

The bus ride from Taormina to Catania was our first bus ride in Sicily.  It was quite pleasant and we were able to enjoy views of Etna all the way from Taormina to Catania.  In Catania, we visited 2 museums (Cinema Museum and a Museum dedicated to landing of allies on Sicily in 1943).  The Cinema Museum was quite good but the other museum was a 5 stelle (5 star) museo.  It was so well done and organized.  We were flattened with how well put together the exhibits are. We sat in a bomb shelter and experienced what a bombing raid must have been like for the people of Catania. The following day we visited the inside of the Duomo, went on a bus tour around Catania and visited the enormous fish market in Catania – there was just about every kind of fish and mollusk imaginable being hawked

Fish market Catania

While in Catania we went back to a restaurant (Trattoria il Mare) we found on our last visit to Catania.  It was so good the last time, we had to return. We had dinner on our first day and lunch the following day. Guess we like this place.  Our lunch on day 2 was a 10 course marathon of seafood appetizers followed by spaghetti ai ricci (sea urchin) for me and risotto al mare for Albert.  So get this, we had bruschetta with smoked salmon, marinated shrimp, octopus, calamari, anchovies and swordfish, 3 types of fish fried in a variety of batters, fried baby sole and mullet, clams with tomatoes and olive oil, mussels and clams with white wine broth.  Eating our main course after this introduction wasn’t easy.  Here’s a photo of the father and son team who cooked up this feast for our last day in Catania.

Albert, Gaetano and Fabio

 

Albert finished his meal with a fiery drink called Fuoco del Vulcano.  A concoction unique to Sicily in honour of Mount Etna.  Believe me, it was fiery!!!

 

 

 

Finding Caravaggio

The Search for Caravaggio

February 10

The day after we got back from our road trip was spent searching for the painting of the Entombment of Santa Lucia, patron saint of Siracusa. This little search had turned into a mystery tour. We followed the guide books and went to where the painting was supposedly kept.

Our first visit was to the museum Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Bellamy which is dedicated to Sicilian art and artifacts and Byzantine paintings. This is where the Entombment of St. Lucy by Caravaggio was supposed to be, but funnily enough it’s not there. We came away disappointed. We checked more websites, talked to people and were determined to find the location of the Santa Lucia painting.

Our next stop was the Duomo in Ortigia.  It made sense that the painting should be here since the cathedral is dedicated to Santa Lucia and some guide books clearly indicated Caravaggio's painting of St. Lucy was housed in this Duomo. Our visit proves this is definitely not the case.

As an aside, this cathedral was built on the foundation of the Greek temple to Athena. The actual temple columns form part of the external/internal church structure as you can see from these photos.  Many churches were built using former Greek temples – very economical and environmentally friendly to use existing structures. 

 

 Column from ancient temple on outside of Duomo

 

 Columns from ancient temple on inside Duomo

 

Back to Santa Lucia - We asked at the cathedral about the painting and were told the painting is kept in the Chiesa of Santa Lucia alla Badia.  This church faces the same piazza as the cathedral and we had passed it numerous times on our walks through Ortigia. Most of the time, the church was locked so we moved on. This time, however, we were there early enough in the day and it was open.  And guess what?  The Caravaggio painting of The Entombment of Santa Lucia is indeed in the Chiesa of Santa Lucia alla Badia.  Mystery solved and searching over. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos.  As well, the painting is a whole altar away so must be admired from a distance. 

 

 Online photo of the Entombment of Santa Lucia

 Castello Maniace

After our successful discovery of Santa Lucia, we visited the Castello Maniace. We had walked by often and always found it closed. Took us a while to learn it is only open in the mornings. There are no signs with hours of operation. This castle sits at the very tip of Ortigia and served as a fortress to protect and control the port of Ortigia.  Unfortunately, the castle is under renovation so we didn’t get to see it, but walked around, under and on the outside walls of the fortress.

 Castello Maniacs built by Frederick II

Artemesion Siracusa
Next to the Duomo (Temple of Athena in antiquity) are the underground remains of the foundations of an Ionic temple.  We happened upon this museum by pure chance. We were attracted by the unusually modern façade stuck in the middle of much older buildings. We met a very gregarious young man who spoke some English and our conversations were a mixture of Italian and English.  We have since met for coffee and had more of our Italenglish discussions.  Thanks to this young fellow, we were able to visit a locked room where the remains of the Doric columns are kept.

 

 Caroline and Carlo with Doric column remains

 Doric column base ancient and recreation of same