Did get our ferry at 5.00a.m. Tuesday 13th and it all went very smoothly being off the boat by 7.00a.m. It was a very big ferry with heaps of cars and semi trailers. We hailed a taxi to take us to the Pozzallo Railway Station and then waited for our 9a.m. train and wasnt it a shock when it arrived, reminded me of the Flintstones, an old two carriage affair with an engine in the front of one of the carriages, and it was high off the platform with very steep steps, poor John nearly busted a foofer valve trying to lug the cases up the steps and onto the train! Got into Syracuse about 10.30a.m. and were able to easily walk to our whilst not on Ortigia Island its only about 400 metres to walk onto it! Syracuse is a very pretty city and has a rich history of both Greek and Romans with amphitheatres of both still present! On our first day we met up with Bruce and Fiona AGAIN, for drinks and dinner at a local fish restaurant, Tuesday was their last day in Syracuse and our first so we were able to pick their brains a
bit as to what was worth seeing etc. Had a lovely night with them and bid them farwell as they are off to Miami to visit their daughter who has not long moved there. Wednesday we took the local bus down to Marzememi for the day, its a gorgeous little sleepy fishing village down near the most southern point of Sicily, its not easy to get to if you dont have a car but is serviced by about buses a day, it was lovely to walk around the meandering streets and also along the oceanside with the clear, shining waters. The food is great here, well you all know how we love food, the kgs are slowly sneaking on and it will be boot camp when we get home to get it all off, but while here we just HAVE TO enjoy all the gorgeous food, like cannolis for breaky, gorgeous gelatos and the pasta is to die for! Thursday we were up and at em early off to the Neapolis Archaeological Park which houses the most important ancient ruins from the old Greek Roman city of Syracuse, got there when it opened at 8.30a.m. as it is so
damn hot here you want to do it before midday or early arvo, then we took a bus over to Noto which is probably nearly an hours trip but we did not want to miss having a look around there as it is so well known for its Baroque Architecture, it lived up to his reputation and theres no need to visit a museum as the whole of the city is one. On our way back to the bus stop with John walking ahead I said to him heh John I just want to pop into this jewellery shop, OK he said and when I came out he was sitting at a table talking to a lovely young man, who had cottoned on to his name when I yelled out to John, he said to John, how are you John, anyway it turns out he is from Robinvale and knows the Falvos.... you just cannot believe the people you meet when overseas, just by chance meetings, had a lovely chat with Royce and headed back to Syracuse. So you know I always research where we are going, where we are going to eat, drink etc tonight we went to a
working butcher shop Ammucca in Syracuse, it has four tables within the butcher shop and you can pick whatever you like in the display case and they will cook and serve it to you, John thought he had died and gone to heaven, MEAT he said, loves his meat! So we had a huge meal, 1 litre of wine, bread and antipasta and it was 32 Euro....could not believe it! They were very tight for tables, we had finished and another couple came in for a table, Sicilian couple, and John did google translate to the owner Fabio and said we can stand and finish our wines, he was so appreciative and so were the couple, then we started talking to the German couple next to us, two guys and ended up best friends by the end of the night....and the Sicilian couple shouted us all Limincellos for being so nice to give up our table.....such a great place....
