Lazy Lunch in Ortigia, Sicily

We had a lazy day today as we know we will have a few busy days ahead once we hit the road. We wandered the streets some more, I bought some lovely ceramic cacti (I am obsessed) and I even bought a fabric cactus in a pot. Not sure how to get it home but I will. We came across a traditional horse and cart decorated in its finery. While it was spectacular I did feel for the horse as I heard one of the tour guides say the head wear was too heavy for the horse. Poor thing.

We tried a brioche con gelato and brioche con granita that we had seen on a lot of ice cream boards. I was the winner with my choice of brioche with gelato as the cherry and coconut flavoured gelato went very well in my brioche “sandwich”. It is an unusual concept but a delicious one too. Brad’s choice, however, was a bit of a fail. He chose pistachio granita and it was like green sludge in a cup and a dry brioche bun. At least we ticked another item of the “must try” list.

We then ventured into the Vecchio Pub which had a lovely secluded garden out the back, away from the street traffic and noise. They have created such an inviting space, both inside and out. For lunch Brad enjoy a plate of mixed grilled seafood, which he loved, and I had my first Italian pizza on this trip. I chose one with very random toppings - eggs, artichokes, ham, olives and PEAS! And it was delicious. Not something I would ever think about putting together but it worked.

This afternoon we walked into Siracusa to pick up our hire car for our road trip tomorrow. With tomorrow being a public holiday here, we had to get it early. With the parking situation on Ortigia being quite difficult we have left the car at the car rental office to collect tomorrow and be on our way. We can’t wait to see the rest of what Sicily has to offer and it has certainly been a wonderful start in Ortigia.Read more