diocese of Siracusa

As our friend Bill says "sailing is like making plans in the sand at low tide". Essentially when you are working with an older, slightly temperamental boat and reliant on specific weather conditions it's near impossible to make any firm plans in advance. Throw in Covid and the fact the entire population of Italy seems to take the whole of August off and our original plans were a complete no-go. Luckily my parents had booked accommodation in Syracuse (where we had originally planned to sail round to meet them) with free cancellation so they rebooked a split week between Marina di Ragusa and Syracuse instead.

It was a brilliant week and a nice mixture of being knowledgeable tour guides of familiar places like Marina di Ragusa and the Roman Villa as well as an opportunity to explore new places too! The luxury and comfort of an air-conditioned hire car was also a welcome relief after last week's scooter!

On the way to the Roman Villa we stopped off in Scoglitti at a seafood restaurant known for its set menu. However, the menu wasn't particularly descriptive and didn't shed much light onto what to expect, so we decided to go for the antipasti (starter) and secondi (main fish dish) followed by lemon sorbet to finish. It was possibly one of the most delicious seafood meals I've ever eaten but spectacularly filling! After the fourth course had been brought out and already full to bursting I assumed we were just waiting for the dessert so watched with slight panic as the waiter brought out yet another set of knives and forks followed by our main course!

We also took a day trip to Modica, another of the UNESCO baroque towns in the region, this time famed for its chocolate. If I'm honest I wasn't holding high expectations of the chocolate, as everyone who mentioned it described it as "interesting" or "different", adjectives usually reserved for things you don't want to be outright rude about but can't think of a positive alternative for. But following a tour of the oldest chocolaterier in the town we finally tasted some and I was pleasantly surprised even by the "meat biscuit". Apparently back in the day the Sicilian shepherds would take pasty shaped biscuits filled with a spiced chocolate mix that preserved a chunk of meat on the inside. We also stopped off at a watermill built inside a cave followed by dinner at our favourite restaurant in Ragusa.

On our final day in Marina di Ragusa we took mum and dad out on the boat, with mum being even more prone to seasickness than I am, we decided not to attempt anything too adventurous, so anchored out just off the beach and then went for a spin outside the harbour once the wind picked up enough to put up the sails. Again, no one was sick, so another successful outing!

For the second half of their visit we left Odyssee (who thankfully had now been fixed by the electrician!) behind and headed to Syracuse to meet up with Sam's parents Helen and Steve who had just arrived. Syracuse is another Baroque town on the east coast of Sicily with a rich varied history and both a Roman and Greek legacy. We spent the first full day exploring the old town based on Ortigia Island and stocking up at the rather impressive market.

After a lovely week together mum and dad's time in Sicily came to an end and they flew back to the UK. Sam, Helen, Steve and I decide to venture out into wider Syracuse to explore the Archaeological Park on the outskirts where both the ancient Greek theatre and ancient Roman amphitheatre were located.

We decided to head back to Marina di Ragusa with Helen and Steve so they could see the boat, but with a big decision still to be made about whether to sail back to Syracuse with them on board or not.Read more