Augusta

Today’s tour was to Siracusa. First stop in the Archaeologic Park was the Ear of Dionysis with amazing acoustics which was named by Caravaggio when he stayed there 1608.
Then the pristine 5th century BC Greek theatre which was carved out of the rock in situ and the overgrown Roman theatre. Archimedes also lived here.
Sadly there are now huge issues from some of the largest oil refineries in Europe being in the area, though we only saw glimpses of this ugliness.
Onto baroque Ortigia and the Temple of Apollo which is the oldest doric temple in Sicily. It was converted to a byzantine chruch in 6th century, then a mosque, then the normans converted it to a church in the 12 century.
This building is the only greek temple to still be a church and continuously occupied for 2,500 yrs with the columns clearly visible in the side.
We took a taxi late afternoon to Taormina as rain was forecast for tomorrow’s tour group visit and Giardini Naxos was tour group heaven/hell. We enjoyed walking the lively, trendy streets and seafood linguine with Nelly and Bob from Philadelphia.Read more