Greek Theatre

Since it is supposed to be hot today, we go down to breakfast at 0800. This way we can get a decent start time in seeing the archeological park in town. The breakfast has a nice spread and mix of sweet and savory. Sweet is a ricotta cheesecake, pound cake, and fruit filled croissant. Savory is prosciutto, salami, and 3 types of cheese. It is all good along with some nice Italian cappuccino.
We start our close to 2 mile walk to the archeological park, trying to stay on the shady side of the street along the way. Once you cross the bridge from Ortygia, Siracusa takes on a more modern look and feel. Quite a bit of traffic zooms along the streets and it is fun to watch the ” we don’t need no rules” type of driving.

The Greek Theatre

We make it to the ticket office in about 40 minutes and Carol resists my pee free movement, giving in and paying .50 Euro to pee. We head into the park and of course, there are free toilets. Carol needs to become a more dedicated follower.
The first thing we go to when we enter is the Greek Theatre. This dates back to the 5th century B.C. with the present structure having been built in the third century B.C. by Hieron II. The seating has 67 rows of steps and the theatre was altered in roman times to be able to accommodate gladiators as entertainment. The upper terrace surrounding the theatre had niches carved into the Rock which contained statues. The nympheum has a fountain inspired by the cult of the nymphs. Currently, it seems to be nymph free. We proceed on walking to the tomb of Archimedes. Along the way we walk through quarries, shaded forest, and one large ficus tree. It helps being in the shade as the temperature is climbing. We reach the tomb of Archimedes which is a roman tomb. Archimedes was a native of Siracusa, a physicist and mathematician, was slain in his study by a Roman soldier.

Ear of Dionysus

On the way back we stop at the ear of Dionysius which is a cave that was given its name by Caravaggio. It is 200 feet long and has very good acoustic properties. We have been looking for the roman amphitheater and not having luck. I ask one of the attendant ladies and it is closed for renovation so we can not go in. That explains that. We do catch a small glimpse of it as we leave. The walk back is pretty hot and we stop in a market along the way to escape the heat and get a few things. Carol gets sun tan lotion, toothbrush, and toothpaste. I get water, soda, and wine. Who is the better shopper? We return to the room to drop off our groceries and cool off before finding lunch. As we leave, Carol remembers that we did not stop by the restaurant that was closed yesterday to confirm our reservation. I sent them an e mail last night trying to secure a reservation for tonight at 1930 when they open. They are only open in the afternoon until 1430 and it is 1345 so we go back into the heat and walk there. I am glad we did, as when I mention the e mail she says Monday is my day off and I don’t check. She just turned someone else away from tonight so I am thinking that we are too late. She looks up the e mail on our phone and says ok for 1930 for to. We are in.
We walk back towards our place where I had seen a small little place making stuffed ricotta pies, arrancini, and other things. We wanted to try the ricotta pie but when we walk in they are sold out for the afternoon. A nice girl helps translate the Italian when I asked what another item was and understood potato but not much else. It is like a calzone with potato and cheese or ham and cheese and not really what we are looking for. She than says that they will, make us some arrancini if we can wait 10 minutes so we go with that, one with spinach and one typical Sicilian with a meat type sauce or ragusa. We wait, pay and bring them back to our place across the street where we have wine and soda to go with them. They are both amazing but the ragusa one is superburb. For those who do not know, arrancini are stuffed rice balls covered in bread crumbs and fried. Why fried, well we are in southern Italy, ha ha.
After we digest, we decide to check out the local swimming hole we were told about.

Carol is in the Water

Bathing suits on, we walk the back streets and find the place. There is no real beach here, but they have built a structure out of metal and plywood where people are laying and there are steps going down into the water. We find a small spot and head in for our first swim in the Ionian Sea. The water is very nice and comfortable and really helps to cool us off. We then hang out on our borrowed beach mats soaking up a few rays. It is a great way to spend an hour or so. Back to the room for a little nap before dinner.
We get to the restaurant at 1930 and they are not quite ready to open yet. 10 minutes later, we choose our seats and check out the menu. They have a cheese ravioli with a pistachio pesto that has rave reviews so we order one of those, a cavatelli with swordfish,and a sea bass as a secondi. Bottle of wine, tonight will be red.

At Tavola di Sicilia

The pistachio pesto ravioli is as advertised, an excellent dish, and the swordfish pasta is good as well. The sea bass is good but I think it was better in Croatia. All in all it was a great meal. We walk up the street from the restaurant and get two cannoli to go from the pasticceria that is rated the best. Back in the room, we can understand why. They are fresh filled and the cream has some pistachio in it, which seems to be an important part of the cuisine here. Loving pistachios, I do not have a problem with this. Tomorrow will be another culinary adventure, I am sure.
Expenses
Parco Archeological 20E
Carols Pee Free Revolt .5E
Market items Soda, water, wine, suntan, toothpaste and brush 18E
Arrancini Lunch 4E
Dinner and wine at Sicilia In Tavola 51E
Cannolis 4E
La Giudecca BNB 81E
Walked 10 Miles