Wednesday June 10

We left Catania today - first we had to get a taxi to the airport to pickup a hire car - this was all a bit stressful: firstly the pre-ordered taxi arrived 15+ minutes late, then he dropped us at the wrong hire car depot so we had to roll our luggage some 200 meters - all the while stressing that we would make it to Siracuse by noon at which time there check-in at our hotel closes until 3pm. We finally got our car, an MG3, and were on our way - it took about 1 hour to reach our hotel, Fortalenza Charm House, a boutique hotel right in the old town. Francesca met us (more or less right on noon) and showed us the parking garage and fortunately our room was ready. It was a large junior suite with a small mini-bar/kitchenette. The hotel was only renovated in 2024 so is really in top condition - even the lift.

We did a mini-settling in and then walked over to Ortegia island (2 minutes) away to check out the fresh food market, restaurants and supermarket. Our "excursion" was only partly successful - we got yoghurt but no fruit as when we returned to the market they had pretty much closed up shop. We checked out a couple of restaurants as our kitchenette is not suitable for cooking; maybe sambos. Later (after 4pm when another local Coop re-opened we found some berries). We went for in dinner at Puros, one of the top rated restaurants on Trip Advisor.  It was fine but really a pizza place - service was excellent.

Thursday June 11

We drove to Ragusa today - a highly acclaimed ancient village on a cliff side. As usual the driving presented some navigation challenges but we made it in 1+ hours. It was quite hot tramping around but it was very quaint and picturesque. We opted not to make any more stops as by 2pm it was really too hot (for us) so we drove home arriving around 3:30pm.

We spent some time trying to figure out where to have dinner - all restaurants are either pizza places or have a very similar combination of Sicilian dishes (including such specialties as sardines, octopus, tuna, whole fish, ...) none of which really appeal to us. We finally opted to go to the "salumiere" in the market area - it was packed out at lunch time but quite at dinner - the food was very disappointing but they had an excellent wine selection. We took our bottle of wine home and finished off the evening with a final glass on our terrace - lovely.

Friday June 12

In the morning, we walked to the Greek and Roman ruins in the city. On returning to the hotel we had to move our car to a paid spot which we found on the island of Ortegia; however, it seems we may have violated the ZTL zone (local traffic only).

In the afternoon we took a 1.5 hour small boat tour around Ortegia then walked around the old town for a while before returning to the hotel for showers.

We had dinner at what seemed the best restaurant in town, Osteria Siracusa - recommended by Michelin - it turned out to be real fine dining. We arrived at 7:30pm (opening time) and were almost the only guests - seems to be a pattern here and in Malta - higher end restaurants are not at all busy.  Anyway the dinner was the best so far.

Saturday June 13

We set off for Noto this morning - about a 35 minute drive away and another very scenic ancient hillside village. It was very enjoyable - with only a few navigation challenges.  We returned around mid-day and found a parking lot on the Syacuse side (as we may have violated a ZTL area by parking in Ortegia yesterday - we'll see if a fine is forthcoming).  A ZTL area is one with traffic limited to locals only during certain times.

We walked over to Ortegia and found a lovely cafe overlooking the super yacht marina - we had a beer, Aperol Spritz and a shared sandwich - all very good. We spent another hour or 2 walking around the old town and visiting the cathedral. 

Later we returned to our hotel for showers and decided to have dinner at Agape (highly recommended by TripAdvisor) - it was, over all, disappointing.

Sunday June 16

Off to Taormina this morning - see next entry.