Today we experienced Siracusa or Syracuse in English about an hour outside of the port city of Catania. We visited the amphitheater ruins which were so cool as this spot was the beginning of amplification. As we entered what at first looked like a huge cave, we could hear a tour guide attempting to sing ‘Volare’ which was reverberating outside this cave. Our guide Nunzio then took us outside to the amphitheater and explained to us how the actors in ancient times used the architecture and their voices to project their sound to their audience of 15,000 people. Today the area was being prepped for the next installment of a theatre production. A comedy will be performed for the next 10 days. These Italians really know how to take advantage of the summer arts productions. If you recall, yesterday I talked about the music festival in Ravello.
The real treat for me was our next stop. We walked over a bridge to the island of Ortigia. I had never heard of this one mile island which boasts a cathedral (of course), a huge Piazza del Duomo (of course) a small church with its very own Caravaggio depicting the death of Santa Lucia whose body has now returned to Ortigia after bouncing around Italy, most recently in Venice. The charming little streets and waterfront area really got me.
This tour ended around 1:30 so for the first time since we went on ‘vacation’ we are relaxing by the pool. This ship is bigger (1,000 passengers) than the other Oceania ship (650) we were on...still manageable though. Our suite is bigger also with a walk in closet. Now you know I’ll be expecting that from now on!
We had reservations for the Asian cuisine restaurant but when we heard that the chef went shopping in Sicily, we ditched our reservations and went to the buffet where we were very pleasantly surprised by antipasto items to cannolis. Loving it!
Beautiful
ReplyDeleteSicily sounds wonderful! I would have opt out for the Sicilian food also! Yummy!
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