Ortigia Day 1

May the fourth be with you! Mom and Dad woke up early and went to the food market. Dad got one of his favorite sandwiches of the trip. They came back home and brought us NOTHING. How dare they! We chilled for a long time because our tour was at 3:00. Mom made nachos, first time eating cheddar cheese in Italy. At 2:45, we left the house to go meet up with the lady. Her name was Carmina. She showed us a church with a replica of a famous painting by the artist Caravaggio called The Beheading of Saint Lucia. She was only 13. She is also the patron saint of Ortigia. Her feast day is this Sunday. Then she took us to a castle called Castello Maniace. Unfortunately, it was closed because it was being set up to host the Fendi Fashion Show next week. Last year, the castle hosted Dolce & Gabbana. Originally, it was the home to Emperor Fredrick II. The castle eventually stopped being a home, but became a prison, and most recently it was a military barrack, until 1979. We then went to the duomo. The most significant thing about it was when the Greeks came to Sicily, they built temples to their gods. The Greeks didn’t have walls between the columns. Eventually they left, Romans came and a bunch of different people came, but then, Christians came. The Christians put walls in between the columns and made it a Christian church. Originally, that temple was a temple to Athena, or Minerva (Romans). Then we walked to the remains of what was a Temple to Apollo. It was damaged and only a few columns remain. After we said goodbye to Carmina. We went back home to get some things, then we went to get on a boat tour. The boat took us into caves, and across the water. Andrew got to drive too! After the boat tour, Dad got some meat and made us more hamburger sandwiches and steak. It was good. Again, we watched Young Sheldon, Dad had calls and Mom was talking to Stephy.
Ciao, ReneeRead more