Deden Travels: La Dolce Vita!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Siracusa (Syracuse) is in Southeastern Sicily on the Ionian Sea, which is obviously a portion of the Mediterranean Sea. The city surrounds a wonderful natural harbor and it is not difficult to understand why ancient civilizations established population centers in Syracuse. As Syracuse came in to view, we were welcomed by a snow capped Mt. Etna. We arrived here about 7:00 and expected to use our tenders to get to the pier. However we heard good news from the Captain before breakfast. Because there was virtually no wind he was able to coax the Prinsendam gently to the pier and “shoehorn” (his word) it into a very tight docked position. Docking, as compared to tendering, makes it much quicker and easier for passengers to get on and off the ship.

We took a taxi from the ship to the Neapolis Archeological park, about a 2 mile ride. There we spent a few hours walking through the ruins of a very large Greek amphitheater. It was carved from solid rock in the 5th century, B.C., was acoustically perfect and held 15,000 spectators. It is very well preserved and was the third largest Greek theater of antiquity. In preparation for upcoming summer performances, metal seats were being added over the original rock formation in an effort to preserve the forum. Nearby in the same Archeological Park are the ruins of a Roman theater built in the 5th century, B.C. The layout of these two theaters illustrates the difference in the cultural events celebrated by the two empires. The Greeks celebrated major social events attended by the entire community whereas the Roman amphitheater had lower chambers for wild animals and gladiators. The difference in design was obvious. A huge granite quarry behind the Greek Theater was the source of the building materials used throughout both theaters.

Our taxi driver came back for us and took us to the "Old Town” area. Ortigia. Here we visited several churches, shops, fountains, ruins, and wonderful little piazzas where we “people watched” and had a Sicilian pizza for lunch and, of course, gelato! We had our pizza at a little traviatta in the Piazza de Archimede. The piazza has a fountain with a sculpture of Diana as its lovely centerpiece. He (Archimedes) was a Syracuse native (287 B.C.-212 B.C.) and is buried here although we did not find his tomb. We did find the Ruins of Apollo, These are the remains of a Greek temple dating from 565 B.C. and are remarkable in their condition after nearly 2,600 years.

The Duomo (Cathedral) was an imposing structure only a few blocks from the ship. The roof is supported by massive pillars reaching up through the church. This, and several of the other churches we visited contained wonderful old art works and religious statues.