This was a week of the amazing limestone and lava buildings which have been built in Sicily by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, and Spanish, an extraordinary and beautiful mix.
Here in Ortygia cathedral the 7th century (A.D.) pillars in the shadows are built inside the fourteen 6th century (B.C.) pillars of the orignial Greek temple of Athena. If you look closely at the Greek pillar (in the light) you can see a fish has been carved high up hiding in its rocky cave (looking strangely like Nemo’s friend Dory).
The Greek theatre at Syracuse (where Aeschylus sat and watched his plays) was covered in scaffolding for the opera season next month so no picture. This is the quarry which was used as a prison. Caravaggio called it the Ear of Dionysus as the echoes made it easy to hear what prisoners were saying.
The limestone turns a glorious colour in the evening sun. Here’s Noto with its incredible cathedral.
We stayed in a B&B where a fantastic breakfast was layed out in the street as vans and people went by!
And so to Catania which we loved. It’s built in black and white using the lava of Etna. Messy, fun, full of amazing markets, graffiti and life. We loved it. We arrived in the evening. time for another Aperol spritz and a walk through the streets and past Bellini’s opera house.
The elephant is the symbol of Catania. Prehistorically there were dwarf elephants here and this elephant in the Piazza del Duomo is a prehistoric carving made of Etna’s black lava stone. Alex’s drawing below connects the smoke of Etna with the elephant. We’ve subsequently found that the elephant was said to be able to predict Etna’s eruptions.
Mount Etna is a daunting place. It looks amazing from a distance puffing into the sky (a few days ago it was blowing vast smoke rings) but the nearer you get the more alien it becomes. We got up to 2000 metres but chickened out of the final haul up to 3000 metres as it was very windy and the lava grit and dust was whipping into our faces. We went for a walk. The refuge and well in the lava below give some impression.
This one above shows the funicular which goes up to 2,900 metres and the ski run (seriously!) which is used in the winter. We’re heading back down to the green of the lowlands!
The lowlands are full of glorious yellow flowers, especially beautiful is the wild fennel which grows everywhere up to 6 feet high. Here is my attempt at an iPad drawing with considerable assistance from Alex!
And so tomorrow it’s farewell to Sicily and off to Southern Italy. Here we are on the map so far currently in Montalbano Elicona in the North East of Sicily.
