Planning	History	Plato's Republic	Greek Temples
Catania & Mount Etna	Enna	Morgantina	Piazza Armerina
Agrigento	Selinunte	Segesta	Trapani
Erice	Mozia	Cefalu	Palermo
Monreale	Tindari	Syracusa	Photos

Tindari

Tyndaris was founded by dionysus of syracuse after his victory over the carthaginians in 396 BC. The name comes from Tyndareos who was the husband of Leda and the father of Helen (of Troye) and of the dioscuri (Castor and polux). The ruins include a basilica, agora, Roman house and a Greek theatre), and are set on the cliff edge overlooking the sea.

Tyndaris map

We then continue our trip, as Patrizzia from the B&B in Nicolosi advised us, to visit Montalbano, an authentic hill village in the middle of nowhere. Montalbano, or the Albanian mountain probably refer to refugees from the balkan that sought shelter in Sicily from the Turks in the 15th century. And as Commissario Montalbano is a good police serie we go for it. It sure is off the beaten track, and we get some puzzled looks when we stop there for a coffe and sandwhich.

The hill village Montalbano

And then we are off again to Taormina, but first we must see Savoca, which is the village where Godfather I was filmed in Sicily. We decide to have a drink at the bar where Al Pacino sat. The old lady who also featured in the film is no more, but a friendly young lady runs the pub. At the table there is a hat and wooden gun you can use to reenact the scene. It is all very relaxed, there is definetly now tourist crowd here, and the spritz is perfect!

 

 

Savoca, is a lovely village to wander around but as it is a very small place we are soon driving to Taormina to our B&B Villaschiticchui  which is Sicilian for something like a come together with friends, with some food, drinks, dance & music. The B&B is located down at the beach front and so it is easy to park the car. The owners are the in-laws of Patrizzia from the B&B in Nicolosi. For 80 euro we get a lovely and very clean room and the owners are very friendly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Maria’s garden in Taormina

Recommended! Maria, the lady of the house is very proud of her homemade marmelata and in August she makes figs jam from the lovely fig tree in the garden. I can almost taste it when I imagine having it with some proscuitto crudo. Her husband on the other hand handles the coffee and makes a great latte for breakfast. Two lovely people!

Map of Taormina: click here!

From here you can take the cable car to get to the top, where all the posh shops and restaurants are located. It’s a bit like Capri and all those other sea resorts where the rich and famous can be spotted. I see some shops that do not even have a store in Belgium, not that I would want to buy something, it’s not liras on the price tags, but it comes very close to the amount of digits. The place is nice enough to wander around for an afternoon or evening, but it is definitely not our thing.

Taormina

By the time we get to the Greek theatre it is already too late for photography and so we skip that as well. We still find a restaurant that does not charge an arm and a leg. Still the waiter frowns his eyebrows when I ask parmeggiano for my spaghetti marinara. That is so not done!

Italian Organization

During our trip we encountered many examples of the dysfunctional way of Italian organization. Just to name a few:

1. Biglietteria: (ticket counter) one would think that the ticket boot would be at the entrance of the museum or site, but not so over here. You have to present yourself at the entrance already in the possession of a ticket or you will not be allowed entrance. Then where can the tickets be bought? Well it will be a fair bit away from the entrance for sure, maybe across the street but you will have to ask for it or look for a sign to find it. And in your hurry to get to the entrance you will forget to look for the ticket office and so you will end up doing a lot of walking to and fro and you are already tired before the actual visit starts.

2. Queuing: True, this is not a typical Italian thing, but I do love it when counters have a number system. This allows you to estimate the time it will take before it is your turn. At the Catania airport Avis and Budget have such a number system. Of course we chose Hertz, where everybody was trying to get to the counter first. For this alone, do not use Hertz!

3. Road signs: they appear off and on. And usually, just when you need them they will not be visible, well hidden behind a bush or tree. Satnav and a scouting background helps in these cases.

4. Driving: I did not for a minute pay attention to road regulation and it is much better to drive on feelings. Going with the flow is the best way to drive around Sicily. Priority of right or left does not matter that much, you somehow feel who will stop first. In all, the Sicilian drivers are not that aggressive and I found it much easier and relaxing to drive than driving to work during rush hour on the Antwerp ring, where there is a lot more of aggressive driving.

 

To Syracuse

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Syracuse

Syracuse (Συρακοῦσαι) was founded by the Corinthians in 734 BC and thus has 2.700 years of history. The original foundation lay on Ortygia from where it became one of the most important cities of the ancient world. Its golden age came after the victory over the Carthaginians in 480BC at Himera, followed by the victory against the Etrurians in the waters of Cuma in 474BC. It became so powerful it was even able to defeat the Athenians and thus changing the outcome of the peleponesian war.The downfall came when Syracuse allied with Hannibal against the Romans. As a result the Romans breached its defences in 211, cleverly engineered by archimedes, and sacked the palce. Archimedes got killed by a Roman soldier while busy drawing geometrical figures on the sand (Livy XXV, 31).

 

We have a lovely breakfast prepared by Maria and are off to Syracuse for the last stretch of our trip. We have booked a studio with kitchenette at the Itaca B&B, which is located in the center of Ortygia  on the Piazza Archimedes and is a great place for 80 euro a night.  We park the car at the parking Talete, which is dirt cheap (1€/24hrs) and made especially to keep the traffic out of Ortygia, and take the free bus shuttle to the front of our B&B.

The Piazza Duomo - Syracuse

The friendly Guiseppe is all smiles and shows the places to eat and visit on the map. Bottom-line is that with such good trattoria’s around it would be silly to cook ourselves.
Ortygia is a small peninsula, but a great place to wander around in the small alleys and you always arrive at one on the seaside’s, so you never really get lost. The EC has given a lot of money for the improvement of Syracuse and the money has been well spent on the restoration of the city. The Duomo, which is built in sandstone, is again shining in the sun. We see a lot of “Vendesi” for sale and we can imagine living in one of these lovely houses. It is a quiet city where it is nice to stay.
We have some wine tasting as lunch and then we slowly walk back for a siesta to our airco studio. We sleep a bit longer than planned and so we miss the puppet show, but we are still in time to see the Caravaggio paintinf in the Santa Lucia alla Badia (Saint lucy) aon the piazza Duomo. It was originally painted for the Saint Lucy church in Sepolcro, a bit outside Syracuse and which is supposed to be the burial site of Saint Lucy.  Caravaggio painted it in 1608 after his daring escape from Malta where he got into trouble with the Knights of Malta. Unfortunately no photography is allowed.

Arethusa’s spring in Ortygia is as old as Syracuse itself.

The Duomo is beautifully restored, but I am mainly interested in the Dorian pillars in the walls. They are all that is left of the temple of Athena, commissioned by the Dinomenidi family in the first half of the 5th century BC.

We do a “due passi” (small stroll) and have a Spritz on one of the many terraces. We get too many anti pasti with that and it has spoiled our appetite a bit. Still we decide to try one of the trattoria’s Guiseppe has recommended, but it does a 6 meal courser for 35 euro and that is way too much food for us to handle. Although the waiter assures us it is this or nothing, when we are about to leave he says they might want to make an exception and we are allowed just a seafood platter. We end the evening with a last Spritz on a terrace near the Duomo (the best Spritz in Syracuse according to Guiseppe), and indeed we are being served a huge glass with Prosecco, Aperol and soda water. We are being told the secret lies in a pinch of Gin. Not only do they serve the best Spritz, it is also a great place for people watching and enjoying the warm evening.

Marriage photography on the Piazza Duomo

 

Friday, 24June 2011

We get up a bit later and have our complimentary breakfast at the bar opposite the B&B. Coffee and a cornetto with ricotta on the Piazza Archimedes. Now this is the live! We take our car to the Neapolis and are met by one of those, unofficial parking guy’s you see all over Sicily. I pay him 2 euro’s just as an insurance nothing will happen to the rental.

Dionysus Ear got its name by Caravaggio

The ticket boot is well hidden on the opposite side of the road, behind all the souvenir stalls. It costs 13,50 euro to visit the scavi and the museum. Expensive, but I really want to visit the site. The Greek theater is a bit of a disappointment as they are preparing the seats for a live concert of Andrea Bocceli on the 1st of July and thus coved by a steel construction. Ah, we love the guy and it must be great to hear his voice in this ancient old site. Dionysus ear is ok and the Roman Theater is also not bad.

The museum is the real highlight. It houses an enormous coin collection. They are very well displayed and there are magnifying glasses attached to the display cases. The coin collection is located in the basement in a vault and is protected by a huge safe door that would make my banker jealous. Unfortunately no photography is allowed, I guess a security issue as this collection must be priceless. A numismatist’s dream come true!

We park the car again at the Talete parking and walk through the market still going on and buy some lovely panino imbottito (sandwiches) which we devour with great enthusiasm in our airco studio. The accompanying wine makes us fall asleep and for the second time we are too late for the puppet performance.