Because we woke up early, instead of waiting for the bus to take us there, we walked it from Ortigia to the modern area of Tyche, on the mainland. It was about a 25 minute walk. On the way, a homeless dog crossed our path and I started talking to it. Well, that turned out to be a big mistake! Next thing you know it’s following or leading us, rather, everywhere. We even tried running the other way to lose it, but it found us. It would walk ahead of us and then turn around every few seconds to see if we were still behind. So cute and funny but I felt bad because we couldn’t keep him or take him with us.
“Hmm, how are we going to get rid of it?” I thought. On the right, I noticed a bar and we quickly ducked inside and had a coffee. It didn’t take long for him to notice we were gone and next thing you know he’s at the door of the bar, scratching at it, trying to open it to get in! Smart little thing, he was. After a few minutes of failed attempts, he decided to take off. It hurt my heart a little, but there was nothing I could do.
My tasty cappuccino helped ease the pain a bit ;)
As we headed toward Tyche, we finally found a supermarket! A maxi one at that… Maxi Sidis. (Maxi would mean super huge in this case) There are NO supermarkets on Ortigia, only alimentari and salumerie so imagine our delight when we actually found a huge one! That would be our much needed next stop after sightseeing.
Finally, we arrive at the Paolo Orsi Archeological Museum at around 9:10am. To my utter disappointment I learned that it was CLOSED for restoration. Until April 25th!!
What a bunch of baloney!
(from the Maxi Sidis)
Yeah, I was pretty bummed but figured that seals my decision to come back here sometime…
And so we headed north to the Neapolis, Siracusa’s most visited ancient site. It was an interesting collection of ruins. The first thing we saw was the 3rd century B.C. Ara di Ierone II or Altar of (the ruler) Hieron II, which was a sacrificial altar used for religious rites, celebrations, victories, you name it. Up to 450 oxen could be sacrificed on it at one time.
Although there is not too much left of it, one can grasp the immensity of this monolithic altar by the presence of its foundation. The steps are pretty much in tact too and I found myself imagining people leading the bulls to the altar to be sacrificed.
The next stop was the Orrechio di Dionisio (Ear of Dionysis), an ear shaped grotto in the limestone quarry. It was dubbed the “Ear of Dionysis” by renaissance painter Carravaggio because, due to its acoustical capabilities, he believed that Dionysis (not the god, but the ruler) used it to eavesdrop on his Athenian enemies that were imprisoned in the quarry after the war between Athens and Siracusa in 413 B.C. That and because of its obvious shape.
Others believe it was an acoustical soundboard that was utilized with the next ruin we visited: The Teatro Greco or Greek Theater.
Initially, I was prepared for the dumbfounding awe that accompanies the first site of such a huge ruin but unfortunately, it never happened because most of it was being covered for the plays that would be performed on it in May. Bummer # 2. But it was still worth seeing, nonetheless.
With that we walked down to the remains of the 2nd century A.D. Anfiteatro Romano or Roman Amphitheater, which was used for gladiatorial battles, like the Colosseum in Rome. This Anfiteatro is the third-largest in Italy, only after the Colosseum and theater in Verona.
It was very peaceful here. Nobody was around except us and the cheery singing of the birds. Oh, and the lizards! There are many tiny green lizards in the area. I wanted to catch one to keep as a pet, but these little dudes are quick! And so adorable.
We hung out for a bit on some rocks overlooking the Anfiteatro and while we embraced the fresh air, we planned our afternoon.
0 comments:
Post a Comment