The sun brought everyone out today and newly arrived on the island of Ortigia, the old part of Siracusa, we have been in a holiday mood. For the find time since arriving in Sicily three weeks ago, people have been sitting outside restaurants, not in the clear plastic pods, but genuinely outside, in the open air.
Ortigia is full of narrow medieval streets, ideal for wandering through. This we did and came to Siracusa Cathedral, built around a fifth century BC temple to Athena. When a Christian place of worship was wanted, the distance between the pillars was filled in.
We also visited Santa Lucia alla Badia and saw Caravaggio’s Burial of St Lucy, who was born in Saracusa and martyed on the spot of the present-day church. St Lucy is the patron saint of Saracusa and there is much celebration on December 13 each year when a silver statue of her (and one of her bones) is paraded through the streets.
Having lived in Sweden for two years (a long time ago) I knew of a St Lucy, but was it the same one? It seems that the tradition of the saint was taken to Scandinavia by missionaries spreading Christianity, but there a different part of her story is celebrated, one that fits in nicely with the celebration of light in the middle of the dark north European winter. There, a girl wearing a white dress and a crown of candles on her head, hands out baked goods in memory of the saint taking food to Christians hiding in the catacombs (wearing candles on her head to leave her hands free).
Still enjoying the outdoors, we finished our perambulation with a drink watching a view of the sunset. I briefly forgot that this is February and it was only half past five.
We gave up the hire car today as we can travel the rest of the way round Sicily by train. When we took the car eleven days ago we were asked if we wanted to rent snow chains at a cost of €7 a day. We thought, “Really, in Sicily?” Like a lot of things here, it is difficult to find out what the law actually says, but I have read that you should have snow chains in your boot if you travel between 15 November and 15 April. Elsewhere I’ve read you only need snow chains if it snows. If you don’t comply, the police can carry out on-the-spot fines. We didn’t take up Avis’ offer, nor were we stopped.
Briefly, I must tell you that yesterday we visited the wonderful mosaics at Villa Romano dei Casale in Piazza Amerina. In truth, they didn’t look as good as when I’d seen them on TV (both Sicily Unpacked and Wonders of the Mediterranean) but this is unsurprising when you think of the lighting and cameras that the BBC have at their disposal. The number and complexity of the mosaics, though, is breathtaking.
Tortoise Travel 