The first thing you need to know about Ortigia is that you have to drive through Syracuse to get to it. And that, is not an easy task… good luck.
We decided to do the handy dandy Rick Steve’s historic walking tour of Ortigia using his book on Sicily.
One of the family members took on the task of leading the family through the streets and reading the information for each historic stop from the book.
During our walk, we passed street vendors who were painting and selling their pieces.
We also passed this candy store, full of pop culture statues and candies.
And yep, you guessed it, they had beautiful side streets that I always enjoy catching a glimpse of.
The end of our walking tour allowed for us to do some shopping and explore the town square a bit more. There was a street performer that my son loved because he made it look like a monkey was playing an instrument.
My favorite building was the cathedral that you can see was built upon throughout the centuries. It started as a Greek temple and had Roman and Norman growth. It’s really cool, but I didn’t go inside since it cost extra money.
Right across from the cathedral was a restaurant to eat at. Here and at other tourist locations, we did find ourselves hit with a per person fee to eat on top of paying for the food we ordered. It accommodated all 15 of us, and the lasagna was amazing, so it was worth going to.
We are down to 11 days before Christmas! And we got 2 inches of snow one morning this week!
On this day, I enjoyed Fortnum and Mason’s English Mint Infusion herbal tea. The only ingredient is peppermint, which is grown on the Malshanger Estate in Hampshire, England.
Delicious. Refreshing. Calming.
Have a great day!
Rory, Tea & Me 