On Tuesday we decided to make a jaunt into Siracusa (Syracuse). We were there in 2012 and it is one of the primo historical sites in Italy so brace yourselves. You know what's coming. History!!! It was one of the largest cities in the Greek world and the capital of the Greek colony in Sicily. The original city was on the island of Ortygia which guards the harbor and has a large fresh water spring so it can withstand a siege. During the Peloponnesian War Athens decided invading Sicily was a good idea. Wrong! They were defeated at sea right off the coast. The inhabitants watched the battle from the amphitheater. The Athenian survivors were put in the quarry at the edge of the city and worked there until they died. Athens never recovered from this defeat and they would loose the war a few years later. 

Also of historical note is that this was the home of Archimedes. His mathematical discoveries, inventions, and just pure genius are legendary. He died here in 212 BC when the Romans stormed the city. 

The first item of photographic interest is the open air market including several fish stalls. A good percentage of Sicilians still like to shop this way and we will see more of these.

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The quarry where the Athenian prisoners were worked to death is now a garden. In it is a large cave known as Dionysius' Ear. You can see that the shape of the cave funnels the sound to a point at the top. Supposedly Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, would put his political prisoners in the cave together and he could eavesdrop on every word from a chair at the surface. Neat place to photograph anyway.

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Below is the Fountain of Arethusa. It has several myths surrounding it but it is the main reason the fortress is so secure. It is fresh water surrounded by salt water. We are looking straight down.

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The cathedral was damaged in the earthquakes of the 17th century so it has the typical Spanish Baroque front but some of it survived because the walls are from the pagan Roman period. 

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Unfortunately we ran into a problem with the photography we did not anticipate. Tourists! There was a large cruise shop docked in the harbor when we got into town and it disgorged about eight battalions of them onto this little island. We gave up on climbing up to the amphitheater when we saw a large gaggle heading there. So we wrapped up early and headed back to Diana's. I did get a photo though of a guy carrying a giant table lamp!

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And here's a picture of the amphitheater from 2012.

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On Wednesday we went up to Taormina because the forecast for the weekend and early part of the following week was for rain and I sure wanted good weather for that. But I'll include what we saw when I report on Taormina. Then on Thursday we ascended Mt. Etna. That will be next.