Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum in Siracusa

Sunday we drove on to the ancient Greek city of Siracusa, for a big day at the museum, the archaeological park, the medieval city, and the best Doric/Baroque temple/cathedral so far. Siracusa was settled by Greeks from Corinth in the mid-8th century BCE. And was said by some to rival Athens in its splendor. The museum's collection seemed to emphasize the everyday rather than the monumental, which was fine with us.

Entrance to the Paolo Orsi; Orsi was a regional archaeologist responsible for 
many of the area's important finds; it is a beautiful, new, capacious complex, 
already getting filled up...

The Orsi's particular strength, we thought, was in its paleo- and neolithic 
collections; the Greeks were not the first to settle here; above is a beautifully-
perfect 4th millennium BCE cup

Other neolithic pottery of unknown use--but interesting to speculate about

Just a smidge of the neolithic collection

Bone totem sticks, 2nd-3rd millenium BCE

Other devices of unknown use

And still more neolithic stuff

Gorgon image from one of the Greek temples in Siracusa; wait a second...
didn't we see this guy in a museum in Auckland?!

Votive City; hundreds of votive figures from the Temple of Ceres (or was it 
Demeter?), all carrying bundles of grain or even baked breads

Etna

I got up early Sunday morning for some pix of Etna, on whose northeastern slopes we are parked. It had clouded up by mid-morning every other day we have been here, so I figured this was my big chance.

So there it is, from our campground more or less

Closer-up, you can see a plume from one of its four summit

craters

Closer-up still

On down the road to Siracusa; I was getting concerned

about the black river of lava on the left there

But the barista at the service area assured me there was no

cause for alarm; Sicilian coffee is every bit as good as
Naples'...the best

A Day in Catania

Catania is half an hour or so down the coast from Sicily's Bay of Naxos, where we were camped. Rather than drive, we decided to make it a Saturday day-trip on the municipal bus. We are using the municipal buses a good deal, but not always with the greatest efficiency. But that's another story.

The Bellini statue in Catania; the composer

of Norma, he was quite influential in earlier

19th century opera

Remains of the Roman amphitheater in Catania; Catania is

Sicily's 2nd largest city (300,000), but it is most notable for

having rebuilt from one of Etna's major eruptions, in the

1690s; the theatre is buried under many feet of lava; much

of Catania's construction is from black lava blocks

The main square, Piazza del Duomo (I think...del Duomo is

always a good bet; and the cathedral of, well, St. Mary

would be a good bet)

The main attraction of the Square, however, is the 8th

century elephant carrying, interestingly, an Egyptian

obelisk; the elephant is Catania's symbol



Still life in the market area

In the meat market

The Square is evidently a good site for wedding pix



"OK, cut, stop action, finito..." (there will be plenty of time

for that later)



False-front church



Rather than wait for ther 6PM direct bus, we took the 4PM

local bus back to Naxos, and enjoyed an hour and a half's

leisurely views of the coast and coastal towns, not to

mention the local color one sees and hears aboard such

conveyances (at least a thousand "Mama Mia's!")

And another parade; the road was barely

wide enough for the bus and the float

And the kiddies; we're still not clear on

what all this pageantry is about, whether

pre-Mardi Gras, Don Corleone's birthday,

or something else

Taormina: City Views

The main drag is a km of beautifully preserved Medieval 
buildings, up-scale shops and restaurants



E.g.

Plus alleys shooting off in every direction

Ditto

Ditto again

An occasional church

The tiniest alley we have seen yet

A shop Tawana would like

Busts of Mussolini

A plaque honoring Italian mini-submariners who sank British battleships

And, not least, a parade and kiddie pageant

Brooding upon how to get back at parents for this latest humiliation...

Taormina: the Theatre and Views

Taormina was founded by Greek colonists in 832 BCE. Sicily, as I'll probably have many occasions to observe, is a cross-roads of the Mediterranean, with indigenous paleolithic and neolithic populations, the Greeks, the Carthagenians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spanish, and more recently, the Italians, the Mafia, and the Japanese tour buses, all putting their stamp on things. The sun never sets on Japanese tour buses. Sicily endures, nonetheless. Taormina is one of the oldest of the Greek colonies, occupying a strategic site, and displaying the traces of all the passing conquerors. These days, it's quite the fashionable resort, even in March.

Photos of Etna in the PM were not so good from Taormina, so here's one from the 
road our campground is on; morning; Etna is 11,000 feet, dominates Sicily, is one 
of the world's most active volcanoes, summit completely coveredin snow this time of year

The road from Giardini Naxos to Taormina absolutely rivals the Amalfi road, 
at least for the short stretch; again, we took the bus; this is one of many hair-pins, 
so tight there's barely room to walk...

Most resorts have tele-cabins heading up to the slopes; Taormina has them 
headed down to the beach

Anyhow, Taormina is known for many things, chief among which are its 3rd 
century Greek theatre, its view of the surrounding mountains and coasts, and, 
its long, beautiful Medieval street (next post)

Theatre proscenium

The views: looking north to the Straits (the Italian mainland on the right)

Looking down to the little cove and beach

Looking south, across the Bay of Naxos; our campground is on the point

Looking west, to the Saracen castle and an even higher hill town

It's a big theatre, remodeled by the Romans, now used for summer festival 
performances

Us

Looking up at the still-higher town