Malta & Sicily Travels of Tom & Brian

Siracusa was the last larger city during our tour of Sicily before we drove north to Catania to catch our flight to Amsterdam. It is a beautiful city with much to see and the only city east of Palermo that featured some modern buildings and many high fashion stores. The city is a fairly good sized city but very walkable which we did a lot of. One evening we came across this amazing remnant from the past.

The Temple of Apollo in Siracusa (the ancient Syracuse) is thought to be the oldest standing Greek temple in Sicily, dating from the 6th century BC. Essentially all that remains is one shortened portion of a wall and some short columns but it can be seen by the stone footprint of the base that it was originally approximately a city block square and massive.

Gold coins from 500 BC , part of a huge coin collection dating from that era.

One of many sarcophagi dating from early in the Greek period in Siracusa

The Catacombs and church of San Giovanni

The catacombs began as a Greek underground aqueduct in the sixth century BC. During the first century A.D. the aqueduct was converted into a necropolis as catacombs. It is estimated that more than 60,000 people were interred in this massive underground structure comprised of numerous intersecting tunnels over the next four centuries. Most of the wall niches are large enough to have contained an adult lying prone but there are many smaller niches cut into the walls to hold the remains of infants and small children. (See grouping of four pictures below) The bodies were placed in the niche and allowed to decompose. There were a few places where the individual was placed into the wall with a stone covering at the opening. In one section there were several sarcophagi that are thought to have been high ranking people in the Roman hierarchy. It is impossible to determine an accurate count of people interred in the niches because it is thought that many of the places holding bodies were used more than once over the following years. It was a Roman tradition for the family to visit the remains each year on the anniversary of the death of the deceased. Burials continued from the latter part of the first century AD to the beginning of the 5th century AD when the catacombs were abandoned as a burial ground. Apparently they had simply run out of room. The church of San Giovanni adjacent to the entrance to the catacombs was built by the Normans in about the tenth to twelfth century AD and featured a beautiful stained glass window. The window frame is in tact today but the glass no longer exists. During the second world war the human remains were removed from the catacombs and reburied in a mass grave so that the catacombs could be used as a bomb shelter during the bombing of Sicily by the allies. If you want to get a more in depth view of the catacombs click on this link. https://www.secretsiracusa.it/en/where-to-go/catacombs-of-st-john/

San Giovanni church

The Greeks left a strong imprint on Sicily, especially in Siracusa. Shown in the pictures below are the ruins of a temple and an enormous outdoor theater.

Greek ruins from the 6th century BC

The Greek Theater from the 6th century BC was carved out of a hillside that was selected because of its appropriate shape. The seats are boulders that were used as they were found in the hill while it was excavated. There is a large stage in front of the seats with underground rooms that allowed background sets and people to suddenly appear seemingly from nowhere and onto the stage.

Tom sitting in the Greek Theater before being shoed away by the whistler-blower guy. Yep, that is how it is policed. No ropes or signs, just a guy with a whistle. Of course, Tom could not hear the whistle so the whistle-blower guy had to climb the theater three quarters of the way up before Tom moved.

The "Ear of Dionysius", a natural cave formation that goes far back into the hillside. A word spoken inside the cave is amplified and carried throughout. It is said that many holy people (and one saint) visited the Ear of Dionysius 2500 years ago. It is located adjacent to a huge limestone quarry used for the early buildings in Siracusa because of its rock composition which was very dense.

We commonly take advantage of the "Hop on / Hop off" busses that tour the cities we visit when they are available. They give an excellent overview of places that we want to stop and see during the daytime and also highlight places we want to revisit and spend more time enjoying them in depth. Siracusa was no exception. We enjoyed evening strolls at the end of each day We discovered this beautiful illuminated fountain dating from the age of Archimedes in a city piazza. It its called The Fountain of Diana

Shown below is Piazza Duomo, one of the nicest we have seen. A piazza is a square in the town and a Duomo is a large church or cathedral. There are an enormous number of large and small Catholic churches in every town and city. In many cases there will be two or three cathedral size churches within a city block of each other. Most have been subsidized over the centuries by wealthy residents so they could lay claim to a church of their own. How the towns and cities populations support so many beautiful edifices is a mystery.

Crossing a bridge in the Ortigia section of Siracusa, the oldest part of the city.

Well, all good things must come to an end and it's time for us to go back home. This was our last day in Siracusa. On the drive to Catania the next day we passed beneath the largest active volcano in Europe, Mt. Etna. There were several fumaroles pushing steam into the sky from the very top. It was beautiful but also a bit intimidating to be so close to such an enormous part of the skyline. The city of Catania lies directly beneath the volcano, a rather hazardous location to live we would think.

Sicily has been beautiful, a great experience that we would strongly recommend to others who are looking for a special destination for their next trip. The people are warm and friendly and we found little or no problem in communicating with them.

Ciao

Brian and Tom

Modica is another of the ancient hill towns. They were built on the tops of tall hills to help in warding off attacks by enemies.

View from our hotel room

San Giorgio Cathedral, there were 275 steps from the bottom up to the church, I know because I counted every single one. When I reached the church I collapsed into a pew to recover.