We left Ragusa and headed to larger Sicilian cities.
First city stop was Siracusa, birthplace of Archimedes. So many myths regarding Archimedes. One was, did he jump out of his bath tub, yell Eureka and run naked through the streets when he discovered the concept we now call “buoyancy”? Maybe or maybe not, but we do know of Archimede’s screw to raise water from one level to another. But with this statue, I did not know why he’s holding a mirror. He apparently claimed to use sunlight to cause a fire on the attacking ships…hmmm… maybe, maybe not!
We walked with our local guide on the island of Ortigia. Siracusa’s history was once with a large population of people, but now smaller number and most people walk the island just off Siracusa, named Ortigia. There are plenty (50) churches here and most have been rebuilt since the 1693 earthquake. Some in our group visited a “Mikvah”. I learned the mikvah bath means, men separate from women bathe in a pool of natural water for restoration of ritual purity. I understand many never knew the mikvah was on the island until plenty of mud was removed. Few Jewish people lived here and none do now.
We took a boat ride to see the sea caves. The Mediterranean Sea water was rough in some areas, but we had a good guy powering our boat. We saw a few sea caves, some rock formations and bright orange sea anemones.
Onward to Catania, second largest city in Sicily. Of course, more traffic! But we took time to honor the WWII British soldiers at a cemetery on our way.
Finally we arrived at our hotel and at 8pm had dinner at a restaurant in Catania. Our next morning was spent at the WWII Museum/Landing Museum. Our local guide had plenty to say and there were excellent, informative exhibits. One could spend hours in this museum!
Then we were at Duomo Square in Catania to walk through the street market area. Plenty of fish, fruit, vegetables … all fresh food! Our hotel is just off University Square and all is part of a pedestrian only area. I stepped in to see the Cathedral of Agata.
Lunch was mussels, bread, swordfish and salad, plus red wine and lemon sorbet. I burned some calories by walking to Villa Bellini, a centrally-located public garden. Vincenzo Bellini was an Italian opera composer. The garden is very nice and people were resting, talking with one another, and I listened for birds… 3 different birds were heard! Mount Etna can be seen from various places in Catania and certainly from this public garden.
Our evening talk was about Mount Etna with an enthusiastic volcanologist! He was informative and is conducting important studies of this active volcano with his team. The photos of eruptions were amazing! We will get closer to and on the volcano in a couple of days.
Dinner was on our own! Our guide directed us to a restaurant where we enjoyed pizzas! Of course we were eating at 7:30 pm and Italians were arriving at 9pm!