Category Archives: Culture

Information about the current culture of a location we visit.

Kayaking Siracusa and Passage to Malta

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Yesterday we decided to get some use out of some more gear we have been lugging around the world with us, our kayaks. Eric has used his twice and Christi has used hers only once.

We paddled through the canal to the ocean on the west side of the island, and then followed the coast around the island back to the marina. It was a nice day, perfect for a paddle. It was 2.2 nautical miles around the island, so it was a good workout without being too long of a ride. The island looks pretty from the sea. Here is a shot of the fort/castle looking structure on the southern tip of Ortygia that we have mentioned a couple of times.

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We returned to Kosmos to find a Nordhavn 47, Bluewater, tied up next to us. The owners, Milt and Judy, are friends of ours and we had been coordinating this rendezvous with them over e-mail for the last few days. It was great to see them. They were one of the many more experienced boaters that helped us with picking options for Kosmos and with understanding what we were getting ourselves into with the full time boating life.

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We visited with them for a while, and then Eric and Christi took the bikes Continue reading →

Making Friends in Siracusa

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Yesterday morning, Christi went to the open air market, which is a collection of folding tables with awnings lining one of the streets of Ortygia, near the canal. Most of the vendors were selling produce or fresh seafood. There were a few venders selling cheeses and cured meats, such as ham and salami. And a few vendors selling thinks like olives and sun dried tomatoes. There was also a random assortment of durable goods, with vendors selling everything from clothing, to cloth, to toys, belts, purses, jewelry, etc. We had been told it is the best market on Sicily and it really was good.

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While Christi was out, Eric flushed out the DC water maker and changed the pre-filter. He was doing some computer work when he noticed Continue reading →

Exploring Siracusa and Catania

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This morning we went out for breakfast. Lonely Planet had warned that in Italy they eat only pastries for breakfast. Of course, we only found pastries. We tried ciambellas, which are like Krispy Kreme donuts, but instead of the goopy glaze they are rolled in granulated sugar. No joke Krispy Kreme must have stolen the recipe from the Italians. You can get plain, chocolate filled, cream filled or ricotta filled. Eric went for cream. Christi got a chocolate and a ricotta. She found the chocolate to be too rich, but loved the ricotta one. The donuts here are also noticeably larger than Kristy Kremes.

After breakfast, we rented a car so to do some sightseeing outside of the Ortigya. Beyond the island, it is still mostly very old buildings for quite a ways. How old they are is questionable — probably not Baroque, but certainly in the more than a hundred years category, probably multiple centuries old. It turns into an industrial area with a mix of crumbling old buildings and new buildings. Beyond the industrial area was the outskirts of town.

We turned around and went another direction, driving around what seems to be the heart of the newer city. The buildings are mostly mid-rise, 3 10 stories tall. Most are built in the 20th century and plain, blocky structures, though here and there are a few aesthetically appealing modern buildings. Occasionally, you’d see a few historic buildings scattered in and amongst the new buildings.

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We passed by three churches, all of them very Continue reading →

Exploring Ortygia, Old Town Siracusa

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The plan was to get up early and move the boat to the sea wall, then go site seeing. Eric ran over to the wall to make sure there was still space, and much to his dismay, there was none. The wall was completely full. Darn.

It is now peak tourist season and the marina we are at has cranked up its prices, and for this month only they were charging a crazy $105 USD per night. It’s a rolly marina , too. We decided to anchor out. The anchorage was flat as a pancake and had less traffic than the marina, so it should be calmer than the marina.

We decided to move after lunch. We went back through the gate into Ortygia and found a little café located in the walkway between two apartment buildings. The actual restaurant was run out of one of the apartments, with tables and chairs set up along the walkway. Of course, there were no tables in front of anyone’s door, so at least the residents could get in and out of their houses. We thought it was neat that the tenants of these buildings had a restaurant not next door but literally at their front doors.

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Eric likes proscuittio and melon. He was excited when Continue reading →

Trip to Ephesus

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Ephesus was founded in ancient times. One of the ancient seven wonders of the world, a temple devoted to the goddess Artemis (also called Cybele) was built here around 330 BC. By 600 BC, Ephesus had become an important port town. After Jesus’ death, the apostle St. John settled in Ephesus with the Virgin Mary prior to his exile to the nearby Dodacanese Island of Patmos towards the end of his life. It is believed that John wrote his gospel (his account of Jesus’ life which is now part of the bible) while in Ephesus. Ephesus was included as one of the seven churches that the book of Revelation was directed to (Revelation was written from Patmos). St. John and Mary are both buried in Ephesus. St. Paul spent three years in Ephesus, and while there wrote a letter to Christians in Corinth that was canonized in the bible as 1 Corinthians. During his later imprisonment in Rome, Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Ephesus, which became canonized in the bible as the book of Ephesians.

In the early Christian days, the city was home to 250,000 people and the Romans had put a lot of energy into making it aesthetically beautiful. The problem with Ephesus’s location was Continue reading →