April 10 – Siracusa (Syracuse), Sicily, Italy. This is a new city for us although we have been to Sicily before. Since a number of infamous Sicilians migrated to the US we are more familiar with them than most other Italian regions. A friend of mine was a second generation Italian from Calabria. He claims that we were lucky that Calabrians did not migrate in large numbers because they are way tougher than Sicilians. To quote him, "We kicked those people off the mainland years ago and scared them so badly they went to the US rather than try to come back." I'm not sure about all that but I will say that I thought Sicilian food was spicier than most Italian food, and it is, but Calabrian food is even hotter in general. One of my favorite seafood restaurants in San Francisco served chiopino both ways and the main difference was the Calabrian was hotter. Enough of the food stuff, I'm not even eating at the moment.
Although this island is firmly and resolutely Italian much remains of the Greek culture. This city's name for instance, very Greek. People from Corinth settled here in 733BC as the site has a nice harbor, a great strategic location and is easy to defend. A city-state structure developed that lasted until one of the cities, Gela, got too powerful and decided to take Syracuse into his custody in 485BC. He was so feared by the islands other cities that no one opposed him. However his growing power worried the Athenians who attacked him in 413BC. Amazingly the Athenians were repelled and the port continued to grow and increase in importance and power.
As the city grew it became a focal point for philosophers and scholars, Plato among them. Aeschylus premiered many of his tragedies in the theater here. Syracuse was the birthplace of Archimedes in 287BC. This was not a good time as the Romans were starting to extend their sphere of influence and when they seized the town in 212 BC he was killed. Archimedes Principle is still how they list the weight of ships, by the weight of water they displace.
We are heading out into the countryside to see Ragusa Ibla and Modica. It was about a 90-minute drive to our first stop Ragusa Ibla. There are two Ragusas; one is the newer upper town (just Ragusa) where the landed gentry lived. This section was newly built after the earthquake destroyed the city in the 1700s. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site based on the Baroque architecture found there. The lower original city (Ragusa Ibla) is where the ordinary people live. This section was rebuilt after the earthquake.
Our busses had to drop us off in the valley, as the old city's streets are once again far too narrow for them to get inside. They had vans ready to take us to up into the city as far as they can go, which turned out to be the Saint Trovato Square right next to the Giardino Ibleo a very nice garden developed in the 1800s. It was here that I first noticed a young boy, about 12, in an Italian Boy Scout uniform riding his bike. I wished him a good day and he responded with "Hello." His English was better than my Italian but not by much. He did confirm that he was indeed a Boy Scout.
Inside the garden is the 14th century Church of Saint Giacomo (James). Just outside the garden is the only remaining part of the original Church of Saint George. It's one of the transept entrances, I can't remember if it was North or South (It was almost noon and the sun was to the back side of the structure so it's probably North), but there's the iconic image of the church's namesake on the tympanum, with his spear in the dragon's throat. Saint George was a big deal all over Europe and his image on horseback slaying the dragon is endemic.
From Trovato Square we had to walk up the hill for a few blocks to arrive in The Piazza San Giovanni (George) in front of the church of the same name. This plaza slopes downhill and at the very top, up an impressive flight of stairs, in the new Church of Saint George that was completed in 1760. My new Boy Scout friend showed up here after just a few minutes. Apparently the tourists are interesting to him.
The statue on the main altar is supposed to be one of the best representations of Saint George in existence. Unfortunately, they hang a large painted cloth picture of the crucifixion that covers the entire archway leading to the apse for Easter. It's currently in place and the statue is not visible. I guess I'll have to come back some other time. Being Sunday, Mass was underway so I just stayed in the back of the church so I wouldn't disturb the service.
After looking around for a while and nosing into the few shops that were open we gathered at the bottom of the square to have lunch at La Piazzetta. Lunch was great! The antipasto course was a plate of vegetables (eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms), grilled in olive oil and spices, five types of cheese, a deep fried ball of something that appeared to be rice, a small pizza like square made with filo dough and a small salad of marinated vegetables. It must be the olive oil and finely chopped spices they use in the grilling process because I try to do this and, while the results are pretty good, mine never taste quite as good as theirs. Guess I'll have to start springing for the Extra Virgin olive oil when I shop. I asked about that and our guide told me that Extra Virgin oil is from the first few squeezes of the olives and has to be done cold. Hot pressing is not allowed if you want to call it Extra Virgin. He assures me I'll be able to taste the difference. I always had the nagging doubt that it was just a marketing ploy.
The first course was pasta with a mildly spiced red sauce. The pasta shape was unfamiliar to me but then they have thousands here most of which are unknown in the USA, at least where I shop. It was good.
The second course was Italian sausage and veal. The veal was fine but the sausage was very good.
For desert they served canoli that was very nice, not nearly a sweet as the versions I've had in the US. Right across the plaza was the DiVinci Gelato Shop so I wondered in to see if they had anything unique. They had one called Coco de Maya, Mayan Chocolate. I asked what made it Mayan and she said it has orange spice in it. It was then I remembered that the Mayans made chocolate by a cold process that included some hot peppers. Of course, I had to have some. The lady behind the counter said that it's best if you eat it with cinnamon ice cream so I got that too. I tasted them together but preferred the chocolate by itself. Diana did as well. So I threw myself on that hand grenade and ate the cinnamon first. We split the chocolate and while it didn't seem too spicy at first, they used the chilies that have a cumulative effect with lingering heat. It wasn't very hot, just a pleasant tingle.
Soon our vans arrived for the trip back down the hill to the busses. When we arrived at the bus parking my favorite Italian Boy Scout was there to greet me. I said Hi again and we talked a little about his school and the scouts. As I was leaving to board the bus our lone female van driver collected my friend and headed for her car. He wasn't looking for me at all but following his mom around town. Quite a let down.
Next we're headed to Modica, reputed to be one of the prettiest towns in Sicily. Our guide called ahead only to find out that the cathedral is closed. She saved us walking up the 300 stairs to get there and most everyone appreciated that. We stopped at an overlook to get some great shots of the city. I don't know if it's a rule but no one here paints their house and noticeable color. Shades of gray seem to be the style. If you look carefully there are also some very pale yellows but that's about it.
Because the colors all merged into a sea of grays it was hard to spot individual buildings from a distance. The cathedral, another George's Church, was somewhat easy to se as it is a large building with a very wide set of stairs leading down to a park and plaza. Because the stairs were the only space for blocks that did not have windows in it, they stood out quite nicely. The church itself is a masterpiece of Baroque architecture. The front façade is not flat but bow shaped to accommodate the slight protrusion of the round central tower. The church has 5 front entrances instead of the usual 3. The transepts appear to be very tall as there's a raised gable running across the roof about where they would be located. I wish we could have gotten inside. I'll bet it's great.
From the overlook we drove into the valley at the foot of the city and drove to Antica Dolceria Rizza (Rizza's Old Sweet Shoppe), a manufacturer of chocolate that is reputed to be world famous. It's a bit unusual as they use the cold Mayan method. No wonder they had that Mayan chocolate gelato in Ragusa Ibla. They have made the traditional bar since they opened using a recipe brought back from the Americas by early explorers. The Maya made their chocolate with chilies mixed in to add a little spice. Their cold method uses heat only to melt the original unsweetened chocolate. After that is melted, everything else is mixed in without additional heating. Because the chocolate quickly cools most of the sugar that gets added does not dissolve but creates a little bit of a gritty texture initially that takes some getting used to. However as the candy is chewed the sugar melts and the mixture becomes very smooth.
The first modification of the recipe was to take out the chilies and produce a dark chocolate bar. Over the years they have started making bars with other inclusions such as milk, almonds, orange, pistachios, etc. I bought three bars, traditional, plain and almond because that was Diana's favorite at the tasting. They're only 100 grams each, about three and one third ounces. You can't tell by looking at the bars which item has been included as the nuts have been ground to a very fine consistency. As the mixture smoothes out the nut powder becomes noticeable.
After 6 hours of touring and several stops for acquisitions we are heading back to Syracuse and the ship. When we arrived at the port what had started out as a quiet Sunday morning had become a mini-festival. There were balloon sellers; candy, fruit and toy vendors open for business. They had no shortage of customers as couples, singles and children were all walking up and down the waterfront past the Prinsendam. I was guessing that this was pretty much a Sunday tradition here but as we were setting sail I noticed that a rather large crowd had gathered all along the wharf and the twin level stone walkway at the front of the port. As we left the captain gave a traditional naval salute on the ship's whistle to the port that is not routine for cruise departures, probably because this is the maiden call of the Prinsendam here and also to say goodbye to the crowd. As we sailed out the captain came on the intercom to announce proudly that the P-dam was the largest ship to ever dock in Syracuse. Other larger ships have to anchor out and tender to the pier. It did take a while to get alongside this morning. I guess he was proceeding carefully.
Our entertainer for the evening was Basilio Tabacchi, and Italian magician. I'm leery of seeing magicians on ships because you can only travel with so much gear when you're flying from ship to ship. Their illusions usually boil down to mostly card and rope tricks. Now really, how many times can you see the same gimmicks, repackaged, without getting bored? The only thing that has saved them is that they have all turned to humor. The patter is now laced with gags and jokes that keep you entertained. This is a good thing and Basilio was very funny. The combination of the humor with his broad Italian accent was unique and hilarious. It didn't hurt any that his assistant, Danielle, was a very attractive young woman.
No comments:
Post a Comment