Syrakus, Ortigia & Catania

Being left alone again, I’m taking the train going to Syrakus so that i can visit the Island of Ortigia. I planned on renting a scooter, but apparently it was going to rain so I thought it best to take the train ride instead. I arrive in Syrakus at around lunchtime, upon where I immediately digest my sandwiches that I prepared back home. It’s suppper hot again, I felt like i was melting. I continued to push my body on until Ortigia, where I had to do some organisatory stuff including booking our next AirBnB, the ferry going from Palermo to Livorno (from where I am writing this blog right now) etcetc.

Shortly after I dive into the old town of Ortigia which mainly consists of light-coloured stone buildings, paved streets and angled streets. The heat confronting me on the main plaza pushes my heart activity to another level - it’s all worth it though as the plaza is a real gem. Here, I use my amateur photography skills to take some pictures with Yaels Camera (she lent it to me for the day). 

Soon I feel the urge to find some more shadow. I check out the castle located at the very tip of the Island. It costs money to enter and I am not in the mood to explore castles in this heat so I ask a local lady a whether there are any beaches in town.

There is in fact a small beach right around the corner, where I take a refreshing bath. The water was only around 50cm deep but it was good enough for me. I continued reading my books before disappearing in the old town once again to head back to the train station. On my way back I find a delicious ice cream shop; here I met the friendliest girl ever who, on top of all, served me huge amount of ice cream and introduced me to the concept of Italian Slushies (i forgot the name). 

On my way back home I stop in Catania to visit a friend of mine coming from Basel who also happened to be in Sicily with a friend of hers. Trying to meet them I pass the Catanian red light district, interrupting hookers from their washing routine and more. Reaching Catanias main street, I experience some sort of physical low point - it felt like my muscles had no more power within them. –> I ate a vegan burrito and then I felt alright again.

Meeting my Basel-friends Tanja and Iljana, we straight away head to their main bar that they visited (probably a bit too often) within the last week. We order food and Cocktails, starting with Negronis, Gin Tonics, Passion-Fruit-Mojitos, shots and idk some more too (upsiies). We had an amazing time!! We hopped from bar to bar, met strangers on the streets etcetc. I decided to sleep over in their apartment as they had another double bed left empty, where I could take a short nap going from 3 AM to 9 AM.