Siricusa, How I Love Thee

The stomping grounds of one of my mathematical heroes and another mathematical ideal, Archimedes and Pythagoras respectively, Ortigia Island in Syracuse was a highlight for me.

It was also a highlight for our niece, Lola.

We stayed on Ortigia Island, AKA Old Siricusa, the ancient center "town" part of the Old Town. Ortigia Island is the southern-most nubbin' that juts out into the Ionian Sea on the almost-southeast corner of Sicily. The streets get smaller and smaller as you get inside the tiny island, and the vast majority of people are tourists.

Here's an artists rendering of Ortigia Island:

I found a spot to stash the car and snapped some pictures of the environs, and our two bedroom, two story place.

The east side of the rock wall on the Ionian

Our front balcony, showcasing our "street"

Heading up to our loft

Living room/kitchen/dining room

The key to our place was brand new and part of the modern renovation, but it looked like THIS!:

We had access to the rooftop patio area, and the view looked like this:

On the first day there, we walked around and eventually let Cass play in the water. The following picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip, as you can see him eyeing the stairs off in the distance we would use to get down to the rocky coastline he could play in:

Before getting there, we'd explored the main Duomo square:

And took a few breathers along the way:

The next day we explored the ancient Greek stuff, the Greek Theater and Dionysus's Ear.

That worked out like this: Leave our place, drive to the ruins, then head to a beach to go swimming. After getting back, we would explore some more, since we were rushed for time, having lost the day to the ferry in Villa San Giovanni.

Dionysus's Ear is a popular spot in the ruins complex, and here the family shows off the opening's height:

Once inside the ear, at the back of the curved orifice, the light plays neat tricks:

Then, following the arrows, you  can get to the ancient Greet Theater, which today is still an operating venue:

Afterwards, we came here to go swimming, and Cass was asleep. I got in. Lola got in. Cass eventually woke up, and we moved along to a nicer spot, but here the water was so blue and wonderful:

Later that night we returned to some spots on Ortigian Siricusa, and tried to find as many spots as possible:

Dense streets

Greek columns subsumed by Roman churches 

In the picture below, a sacred well of fresh water still exists among the city (bottom frame), with the ocean water off in the distance (far right in frame):

We even visited Archimedes Square, with a particularly non-Archimedean fountain:

It was fully night time when we made our way back to our place, a few doors down on the left in this picture:

I could have spent many a month here; it reminded me of Venice, with its Mediterranean-medieval design sensibilities.

From Father's Day, a shot I sent to Rob, Lola's dad:

We left Syracuse for Collesano, a tiny mountain village far away, but on the way we were going to stop at the Temples of Agrigento.