Siracusa and a wet goodbye

Wow, that's already been our week in Catania! How time flies.

Saturday we did another venture out of Catania. This time we took the bus to Siracusa (Syracuse). With heavy thundery showers forecast we were glad we had a dry spell on our way to the bus station, this time knowing exactly what to go.

The journey was a bit longer at 90 mins and scenery anything but stunning. Lots of old factory chimneys and the like and hardly any undisturbed piece of nature. It felt like we never really left one city before we entered the outskirts of the next.

Siracusa wasn't so much different from Catania. A lot of houses crumbling and dirty. It generally felt very run down. 

Arrived 11am and from the bus station we walked the broad Via Umberto I towards the island of Ortygia, which is where Siracusa's historical centre lies.

Boutiques and shops were mostly closed, but a few cafes were open. Definitely off-season and definitely a lot nicer already in this part.

Walked only for about 15mins to reach Ortygia and basically stumbled right onto the remains of a huge Apollo temple. Even though only a few columns were left and a small part of a wall, it was quite impressive!

We walked the very narrow lanes and streets for a bit, marveling at the houses and just nice Mediterranean atmosphere. 

There were a few tourists, but it was generally rather quiet, which was nice.
Eventually, popped out at Piazza Archimedes with it's impressive Diana fountain.

Ortygia/Siracusa had been founded by Greek settlers 700-something BC and it was great to walk such old pavement even though most buildings today date from baroque times.
Archimedes was born here and lived most of his life in the city, we hadn't realised. He was instrumental in the defense of the city against the Romans, but was killed as the city was eventually taken thanks to a traitor who had opened a gate.

Next for us was the Piazza Duomo. What an impressive sight once more! A range of palazzos was lining the square along with the cathedral and another church.
The cathedral was built on top of an old temple and to the day you can see the massive columns as part of the outer walls. I've rarely been so impressed by such a simplistic and yet monumental building.

So far the rain had mostly held off so we wandered around a bit more, had coffee and granita and eventually made our way back to the bus station having more coffee and ticked off the last Sicilian specialty: canoli. Yum!

The 15:00 bus brought us back to Catania with heavy rain drops hammering onto the windows.
Yet in Catania it stopped for us, yeah. Bit of a chill at the apartment, then went out to grab some take away pizza. Again lucky to not get into any of the heavy showers on the way.

Pizzas were excellent and just as good as at a really really good restaurant. And €4.50 for a quite big Arrabiata is not to be sniffed at.

Sunday more thundery showers were forecast and it was basically chucking it down heavily all day with brief breaks of drizzle in between.
Good excuse to chill at the apartment, reading, watching videos or listening to music.

Eventually we went out to buy some food for dinner and stopped for coffee and cakes for the last time at our beloved C&G across the road. I had finally space for a tiramisu in my belly! And oh my gosh was it good!

Some more chill and a late lunch at a bistro style restaurant nearby which prides itself in only using local produce of the finer quality.
We both had pasta and both dishes were absolutely fabulous. Food at Trattoria U Fucularu had been good yes, this was a whole new level though. I had spaghetti with capers, anchovies and baby tomatoes. Rich went for Pasta alla Norma. It sounds simple: tomato sauce with basil and aubergine. But there's so many ways this can taste bland and boring. This one was fabulous however.

More chilling back home, cooked dinner and watched some Netflix whilst thunder was rolling outside and heavy rain battering the windows.