Ancient Ruins & Street Food: Our Slow Sunday in Ortigia

Waking up this morning, we didn't need to be anywhere, we could do whatever we felt like. With no tours booked, we'd just check out Ortigia at our own pace today. The forecast was around 28 degrees, but with the radiant heat coming off the roads and stone walls, it felt closer to high 20's already.

We started the morning with a walk to the left of our apartment, where we came upon another great swimming spot. It had a large pontoon with steps leading directly down into the crystal-clear water. I think that’s where we'll head for a swim this afternoon—best of all, we won't need beach shoes as there's steps leading down to a pontoon

Pieces of art line the narrow streets of Ortigia

It was still early enough before the heat of the day arrived, so we continued our walk back through the old Jewish Quarters and settled on a little cafe right on the steps of an old church. It was very local and the prices were more reasonable here. One good deal was an all-you-could-eat buffet breakfast which included eggs, bacon, toast, cereals, coffee, for 12 Euros. This was a little odd for a small cafe, but it was something that got the attention of tourists and seemed to work.

Along the way, we came across Piazza Archimede, where the statue of Diana stands with her bow as Arethusa transforms into water. After a granita and coffee, we ended up at the Temple of Apollo.

This temple was originally built by the Greeks in 6 BC and is one of the oldest temples in Sicily. It’s had several changes over the years: it was closed by the Pagans in the late part of the Roman Empire, it became a church, an Islamic mosque in the 11th century, it then became a Catholic church after the invading Normans, then in the 16th century, it became Spanish barracks, then private housing. All this remodeling over the centuries just saw it crumble to ruin.

The Circus was About to Start

I noticed a ship sitting in the harbour, and sure enough, it unleashed hordes of tourists upon the small Sunday market around the Temple of Apollo. They arrived in droves in small commuter buses, and the Italians were absolutely feasting on them like chips to a seagull, they were using their best dance moves and selling techniques

While Leanne took off to scout the markets for a new hat, I found a patch of shade and settled in to watch the show. It was fascinating to see the locals putting on their best smiles and sales pitches. They were coaxing "the sheep" toward archaeological tours, boat excursions, and market stalls, with restaurant vendors waving menus like flags.

I really thought the days of Hawaiian shirts and cameras dangling from necks were over, but they were out in full force today—along with women in big floppy sun hats, dripping in jewelry and oversized sunglasses. I just sat there under the cool shade of a large fig tree, smiling to myself as I watched the circus unfold in front of me.

It was around 10:30am, we continued our walk along the back of the amphitheater, following the water’s edge to a spot where the locals gather. It clearly looks like a daily ritual. The Nonnas would park their bums on park benches while their husbands stand waist-deep in the water, discussing the goings-on of the world. It felt like their own private hideaway—a hidden beach where they could hide from the tourists for a few hours.

We passed the "Arethusa Spring", which is worth a look and read about, it's where Nymph Arethusa returned to Earths surface after escaping her underwater home in Arcadia, it's now a world heritage listed site.

Our walk eventually led us out to the fortress, where there were boats in full "party mode"—"doof doof" music was pumping across the waves, drinks in hand, dancing on the decks and most likely no sunscreen, what could possibly go wrong.

The Castello Maniace is the fortress of Syracuse and is located at the very tip of the island of Ortigia, it is a medieval citadel and was built in the 13th century by Roman Emperor Frederick II and served as a royal residence and acting as a military defense for centuries. You can take tours through it but I only stuck my head and walked into a small museum which seemed free. It showcased artifacts from centuries ago and spend a good few minutes in there.

Just back from the fortress walls stood Icarus (Ikaria) stands facing the sea. Its inscription says It’s a powerful symbol of knowledge, courage, and awareness—rendered with no head, eyes, or arms, and a deep gash in its open wings. It’s based on the myth of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun until his wax wings melted, causing him to fall into the sea and drown.

The Ikaria statue overlooking the Ionian Sea

It was now hot and this morning's walk made us hungry, and there was only one spot I wanted to go to, and this was the “Sicily Fish & Chips Street Food.” It looked amazing yesterday, and we had to try it out. We got there around 11:45 before any of the camera-swinging tourists found it. As we arrived, Leanne ordered us a couple of beers first while we decided. We chose the mix “Misto Pesce,” which is mixed fish, consisting of sardines, octopus, calamari, sea urchin, and a big prawn on top and a side of chips. We plopped ourselves on small little stools and a table outside on the sidewalk-come-road and sampled this food which was amazing. Everything was so fresh and cooked in a very light batter and along with another lot of beers, that was our lunch for the day.

It was early afternoon and the sun was pumping out some serious heat, we needed to get back to the apartment and switch on the AC for a bit while got into our swimmers to test out the water in the Ionian Sea.

The swimming platform was just around the corner from us and it was pretty well packed out, but we managed to find a spot to put our gear down and walked towards the walkway leading to the water. You can just touch the bottom, which is full of round volcanic boulders that have been worn smooth over the centuries, so it gave you something to balance on if need be, and the temperature was just perfect; we spent a good thirty minutes just floating around. 

As the day came to an end the temperature had cooled down a little and it was perfect with a little cloud cover. After showering to wash off the salt, we dressed for dinner and headed out to a restaurant we had spotted earlier on our walk. However when we got there we were a little early and we went on the hunt for another place.

Leanne stumbled across this restaurant that had a nice beer garden under a massive fig tree in their courtyard, the canopy covered the whole dining area. We settled on a chicken and salad, which was chicken breast cooked in olive oil and other herbs along with lemon and a simple salad of cabbage and lettuce. Leanne’s was penne with swordfish, eggplant, almonds, mint, and cherry tomatoes. Unfortunately we can't remember the name of the place, but it had accommodation attached.

There was a blood moon tonight, too. So on our walk back, we went to the viewing point just above where we swam today, where a horde of people were standing around looking at a red moon. A person down below on the rock platform with a heap of others in the pitch dark was sitting there beating a drum endlessly. I suppose they were waiting for Poseidon or Neptune to sweep them out to sea...

So, with people trying to capture a small dot of a red moon on their camera for everlasting memories and swaying to the beating drum, we left them to their own devices and made our way back to our apartment where tomorrow we go on a food tour.