Sparkling blue waters, dazzling white yachts and gleaming cruisers, beautiful baroque piazzas, lively cafes, mazes of fascinating old narrow streets, magnificent churches and cathedrals, and spectacular medieval ruins - Syracuse certainly has it all as a splendid Mediterranean destination.

We arrived in downtown Syracuse in the late morning. Carmelo provided us with a brief orientation tour of the city and the island of Ortygia where our Des Etrangers Hotel was located and where we would spend the afternoon at our leisure. And a leisurely afternoon on this beautiful island was sounding good. A drink on the top floor of our beautiful Des Etrangers Hotel was sounding even better.

Ortygia is an island joined to the mainland by three main bridges. Ortygia was settled in 734 BC by the Greek Corinthians and became the nucleus of the rapidly growing city of Syracuse. It was one of five major zones (together with Neapolis, Achradina, Epipoli and Tiche) of the ancient Greek city of Syracuse and today is jam packed with attractions including historic Greek and Roman sites, medieval Norman buildings and Baroque styled architecture. This designated UNESCO World Heritage Site is just one kilometer in length and 600 meters in width, making it a perfect place to explore by foot.

Des Etrangers Hotel and Spa is located on the Passegio Adorno, right on the Ionian coastline and within walking distance of the major attractions of Ortygia. We were delighted with our hotel. A private mansion built in the early 1990's, it was later converted to a top class hotel. Sadly, the hotel fell into disrepair and was closed in the 1970's where it remained untouched for another forty years. In 2003 it was refurbished at great expense and is now a world class beautifully appointed hotel, with wonderfully restored art deco furnishings and beautiful black and white marble stair cases. Guests' rooms have high ornate ceilings with beautiful intricate friezes, and french doors leading out onto balconies overlooking the azure Mediterranean and the quaint sun bleached houses of the Sicilian Ionian coastline. It is a lovely hotel in a stunning location.

Lovely as it was however, the staff appeared unhappy and somewhat distant and disinterested with the guests (not just us) suggesting to us there may be possible internal problems. Interestingly, similar staff attitudes were apparent in the hotels we stayed in during our visit to Catania and also Palermo. I am sure our readers would identify with "the forced gritted smile and only just pleasant manner" you sometimes run into in even the best hotels. A small matter that certainly did not cause us any problems and we rated the hotel very highly. It just left a slightly sour taste. In our opinion, you don't forget the lack of spontaneous and friendly service that makes any top class hotel stay so special.

We could not fault however the beauty of the hotel or of the very lovely top floor which houses a fine dining room and a wonderful bar and terrace overlooking the gorgeous Ionian coastline. And as you can see from the photos, Alan and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves!

In the late afternoon we enjoyed a pleasant roam around Ortygia. As Australians, we never ceased to be amazed at the scenic diversity of Sicilian cities. A brief stroll can lead you through markets and busy cafes to ancient ruins around one corner and then tempt you through delightful piazzas and alleyways to a surprising palace or a medieval cathedral. You cannot escape from history or religion in Sicily. It is literally around every corner.

Our wanders took us through the Piazza Del Duomo, a large elliptical "square" or piazza flanked by stunning Baroque palazzi, trattorias, bars, restaurants and souvenir shops, and which was once Syracuse's ancient acropolis or fortified citadel.

Dominating the Piazza Del Duomo is the magnificent Baroque styled Duomo or Cathedral of Syracuse. The splendid Duomo incorporates the remains of the 5th Century BC Greek Temple of Athena whose roof was once crowned by a golden statue of the goddess Athena and which served as a beacon to sailors out to sea. In 1693 an earthquake caused the destruction of most of the Temple and in the 18th century the Baroque Cathedral was built over the site.

Entrance is free of charge and the Duomo is open daily from 8.00 am. The interior of the cathedral is exquisite and the remains of the 26 Doric columns of the temple of Athena are still in place.

Just opposite the Duomo is the pretty church of Santa Lucia alla Badia dedicated to Saint Lucia or Lucy, Patron Saint of Syracuse. Saint Lucia was martyred near this site in 304 and each year in December a feast is held in her honour.

Wandering around the ancient laneways of Ortygia was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours. We even found the small restaurant the Osteria da Mariano which Carmelo had recommended and to our surprise were advised by the staff to book a table for that evening. It was just a very ordinary looking tavern located in an out of the way back lane but we were very pleased we did book as that evening it was totally full. We were to find out during our travels in Italy just how popular eating out is for Italians.

We spent the rest of our afternoon window shopping in the old medieval lanes of Ortygia. Despite its obvious tourist orientation, the nice aspect about Ortygia is that it is still a working city and the delicatessens and small markets were full of local shoppers. I was trying hard not to buy too much as we had long road journeys ahead of us through Tunisia and Morocco but I could not resist buying a small packet of exquisite rainbow coloured pasta.

Just below our hotel was the pretty Fonte or Fountain of Arethusa, a sunken artesian pond which flows out to sea. The site has a rather watery mythical history which I found appealing even though poor Arethusa did not come out of the story all that well.

Arethusa was a mythical nymph* who was a great friend of the goddess Artemis. Like her, Arethusa was a virgin huntress who was supposedly not at all interested in men. As the story goes, she was extraordinarily beautiful but found her beauty somewhat of a nuisance, preferring her own solitude within the freedom of the forests. One hot day, Arethusa stopped to bathe in the River Alpheus and was sighted by the River God (Alpheus) who was enamoured by her beauty. She refused his overtures and fled. Alpheus pursued her and fearing he would eventually capture her, Arethusa prayed to Artemis to save her. Artemis obliged and carried her off in a mist to Sicily where she became the Spring of Arethusa. Alpheus followed her and eventually his river waters mixed with hers of the spring. It was said that if a flower was thrown into the River Alpheus in Greece, it would eventually find its way to the Spring of Arethusa in Ortygia, Sicily.

Today, the attractive mythical spring houses clumps of papyrus and is accompanied by a sculpture of Arethusa. Surrounded by a high stone walls and huge ancient figs with massive rope-like adventitious roots, the Spring of Arethusa was a very peaceful and attractive place to sit during the long shadows of the late afternoon.

Our stroll back to our hotel took us past some very luxurious cruiser boats, the most impressive being the huge Carla Maria moored at the nearby marina. There is some serious money in the lovely Ortygia.

Our evening at the Osteria da Mariano was quite delightful. The friendly and very popular tavern is owned by an old Syracuse family who claim to use local fresh ingredients and old traditional recipes. Sadly, we are not great fans of one meal pasta dishes but we did enjoy the fresh cavatelli (small bun shaped pasta) with pork sausage and cheese sauces.


*According to Wikipedia, a nymph is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or land form. Different from goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are believed to dwell in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, and also in trees and in valleys and cool grottoes. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms.