Syracuse was my number one in Sicily, for sure. It was just so pleasent to simply walk around and it was offering interesting sights from different historical periods. It actually has greek herritage, what came as a big surprise for me.
And finally, it was so much neater than Catania and much less touristy than Taormina. Perfect.
The city lies by the coast, about 50km south from Catania. The old part of the settlement lies on a island called Ortygia, and its easily accessible by bridges. On the island you enter a labyrynth of charming alleys, most of them in the colours of whites and creams, decorated with plants, mosaics and other ornaments.
On the opposite side of the island there's a promenade by the sea. Really nice, but the presence of graffitis kind of took some charm away. It was in a form of a bridge following the shoreline, I reckon its like that to protect the city from high waves.
On the mere edge of the island lies Castello Maniace - a citadel from the XIIIth century. We didn't enter it though, we preffered to get lost in the labyrynth of alleys again.
The main square by the Cathedral was suepr aesthetic. Fun fact - the Cathedral is built on old greek ruins and on its sides there are still authentic greek columns visible.
As the last attraction we saw was the Necropolis of Pantalica. A big area where historical sights from the times of Greek and Roman reigns are crumbled one close to another. A Roman amfitheatre, a Greek theatre (one of the biggest of them all), tombs and others.
The most famous cave in the area is called The Ear Of Dionysius, and it gained its fame because of a wild echo that's there. Legend has it that a word can be repeated up to 16 times. It was so much more impressive in real life than on the pictures we saw on the internet earlier, this is a must-see.
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