Our first visit to Siracusa was to Ortigia, the Ancient part of the city. Set like an island off the tip of the main city this is where the Greek colony was first founded in the 5th century BC. It also has many beautiful Baroque buildings and is quite breathtaking. The Duomo (first pic) was built in the 7th century AD on the remains of the 5th century Temple of Athena. Inside are all the original columns of that temple and it is wonderful to see them both in harmony with each other. Later modifications came in 16th to 18th centuries with finally the Baroque facade in the 18th century as we see it today.
Next the Fonte of Arethusa which is a spring on the shore which was one of the reasons why in ancient times this was chosen as the centre of the city.
Piazza Archimede has a fountain dedicated to Diana with some great statues.
This one of the prettiest of the cities or towns that we have visited.
We have moved now to very near Siracusa to an Agritourism site called Rinauri. It is set in an old orchard and is left natural and very pretty. A little pricey at 17euros a night considering the water is undrinkable and electric is an extra 3 euros a night but it is very peaceful, a little bit of heaven.
We tried another walk with a limited success on the river Ciane to look at the Papyrus. This was introduced into Sicily in ancient times by the Ptolemies of Egypt. We attempted the river walk but due to the amount of rain lately the banks were flooded so we just managed to get to the main pool.
Today we decided we felt up to an attempt on Mte Scuderi, at 1253 meters and quite a tough climb. We were preparing to leave the camp when Etna decided to erupt, hence the view from the site of the ash cloud. This is the fifth time she has blown since we arrived in Sicily back in October. We drove up to the start of the walk through Itala and found the road blocked, another collapsed hill side. Some locals showed us a route round and we eventually found the start of the walk and soon got a better view of the mountain still smoking. We continued up the track and began to climb, all went well at first until we left the track and started up a goat path. The way got worse and there had obviously been lots more land slip in the area. We both decided that it would be folly to continue so settled for Mte Cappedano at 978m. The walk was worthwhile anyway with some lovely views. When we got back to camp the mat was covered with ash from the Volcano. Another exciting day in Sicily.
Today's little Jaunt should have taken us on a back road over to Rca Novara which was a mountain of over 1400m which Sarah fell in love with from a distance back in October. She found a walk which would take us up this peak, If only we could get there ! The road up the valley started promisingly with lovely scenery and orange and lemon groves abounding. We reached a village called Scifi and immediately the signs dissapeared. Carrying on regardless we made our way up the hairpin bends until we saw a sign to our mountain, we were on our way. Round a few corners we came to a bridge, and beyond the bridge the road appeared to have dissapeared. Proceeding with caution the way seemed passable so we carried on. The road gradually got worse and worse as you can see from the pictures. These are the better bits as I could not stop to take shots on the really bad parts, too busy trying to hang on. Sarah had to walk a few of the places where there really was no road, and we both had to dismount and push a few times as well. We eventually came to a wind farm and luckily I asked a worker if we could continue down into the village. He shook his head and I think he thought we were mad to have come this far. So reluctantly we turned round and came back the way we arrived. All safe and sound except for one time when dismounting, Sarah managed to fall over backward into the verge, luckily on the inside of the corner, and also luckily she had her crash helmet on because she whacked her head. No bones broken so alls well that ends well.
This next walk took us up the Alcantara river to Francavilla, a hill town with a ruined castle. Following directions from a group of happy ladies in the square we climbed the precipitous pathway to the top and were rewarded with even more excellent views and photo opportunities.
From there we followed a nature trail down to the river through orange groves. Lots of oranges had fallen from the trees so we decided to help tidy them up. The river was in full spate and showed why we could not visit the gorge last week. On the trail we saw large Raptors which we could not identify and a meter long snake shot through the air across the pathway right in front of Sarah.
Another hot day.
Our friends Cathy and Graham had just left to start their journey home so we needed cheering up.
We got old Hannie the Honda, scooter, for the first time in six weeks and drove to Taormina. Then on up the hill to Castelmola and a walk from the book.
We climbed to the top of Mte Venere only 885 meters but I was absolutely on my knees. It was warmer than of late and I had too many clothes on, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. Sarah had no problems. The view from the top made it worthwhile and the way down was a lot easier.
We bought some figs and oranges from an old lady on the way up and managed to eat most of them for lunch.
The little hill top town of Forza d'Agro was a very busy little place for a Sunday. Nearly all the restaurants and cafe's were bustling with people and parking was at a premium, it is obviously a popular place for the locals to have Sunday lunch.
We took the track out of town and walked an old donkey route through the hills. We found an old building which was a wine press at some time in it's life, Graham and I thought it would make a good renovation project as it was for sale.
The girls did not seem so impressed.
