A Weekend in Sicily

Italy has always been one of my favourite countries to visit. I have now been there 5 times: once to Sanremo on a day trip with my family when I was 15, then 3 times when I was living in Austria during my Year Abroad (to Udine, Florence and Venice), and then to Sicily last month, which is what I'll be writing about today. It was my first time visiting Italy in 5 and a half years, and also my first time in the south of the country, so I was very excited!

Once I found out that I'd got my internship in Malta, I knew I had to take the opportunity to visit Sicily while living here - it only takes a couple of hours to get there by ferry. Plus, I had a hotel voucher I'd earned from doing surveys which was about to expire, so I needed to book something as soon as possible!

My initial idea was to go to Agrigento to see the Ancient Greek temples there, but in terms of timings, it wasn't very practical, as it actually takes quite a long time to get there from Pozzallo, which is where the ferry arrives. (Hopefully I'll get to visit some other time!)

In the end, I decided on Syracuse, or Siracusa, as it is closer to Pozzallo and has Greek and Roman archaeological sites, as well as a very nice historic centre!

So it was at around 4am on a Saturday morning in June that I boarded the ferry to go over to Italy. It was an early start, but the process of boarding was simple and the journey itself was much more comfortable and relaxing than taking a plane.

Before going on to Syracuse, I wanted to spend some time at the beach in Pozzallo, as Syracuse doesn't really have a proper beach. Pozzallo's beach is huge, with golden sand and a historic watchtower, Torre Cabrera.

I spent a nice hour or two relaxing and reading on the beach and swimming, or rather paddling, in the sea, which was very shallow.

I had read online that there were plenty of trains throughout the day between Pozzallo and Syracuse, so after my time at the beach, I headed on up to the train station to see when the next train was. The station itself was closed and there was no departures board to check, so I looked at the Trenitalia app and was shocked to see that the next train was apparently at 3pm (despite the fact that according to a train timetable stuck to a noticeboard, there were trains to Syracuse every hour).  A member of the public confirmed this, and said that the previous train had left at 9:15, meaning I'd just missed it!

It turned out that the only other person at the train station, a French girl called Élise, was in the same situation as me. She's also currently living in Malta and had come over by ferry to spend time in Pozzallo and Syracuse. But unlike me, she was going back to Malta that evening, so there was no point in her getting the train to Syracuse at 3pm. While I could have spent 6 hours killing time in Pozzallo, I didn't particularly fancy it, as it's a small town, and there isn't much there besides the beach.

So we waited to see if the 10:15 train that was listed on the paper timetable would turn up, which of course it didn't. And then we went down to the bus stop to see if there would be an earlier bus - it turned out the next one was at 4pm! In the end, we didn't feel we had any choice but to order a private taxi. The fare for the journey, which was a little under an hour, came to 60 euros each (120 in total), which seemed like a bit of a rip-off, to be honest. But at least we had finally arrived in Syracuse!

The taxi dropped us off just outside the island of Ortigia, which is considered to be the most beautiful part of the city and is where the historic centre is located. We entered the island and soon after saw our first important sight of the day: the Ancient Greek Temple of Apollo, which dates back to the 6th century BC and is still in pretty decent condition considering its age! I've always found the Ancient Greek and Roman periods of history quite fascinating, so it was a great start to our sightseeing.

Next we had a wander through a street market and then had a huge lunch at a traditional Sicilian restaurant. The portions there are so generous that I almost could have gone to sleep afterwards! But of course, there was more sightseeing to be done!

In the afternoon, we walked through the baking hot streets of Ortigia to get towards the heart of the city centre. Almost all the streets and buildings are really picturesque, which is something I've always noticed about the cities I visit or pass through in Italy (Pozzallo being the exception to that rule, haha!).

Eventually we arrived at the most famous sight in Ortigia, the cathedral, which was constructed around the Ancient Greek Temple of Athena. It's a beautiful building both inside and out, and a nice place to escape from the heat for a little while!

In the same piazza, you can find another beautiful church: Chiesa di Santa Lucia alla Badia.

Next we walked over towards the sea, where we found Fonte Aretusa, a natural spring that was mentioned in Ancient Greek and Roman texts. There were some cute geese living in it!

Right at the far end of the island, you can find Castello Maniace, which dates back to the 13th century. This is a place I hadn't heard about before coming to Syracuse, but which I enjoyed seeing, as I love castles!

We were feeling pretty tired and hot after all this walking and sightseeing, so we stopped at a nice café for gelato and homemade lemonade.

By this point, it was time for Élise to take the train back to Pozzallo. It had been really nice to have a travelling companion for the afternoon, and I'm glad that we were both able to get to Syracuse in good time - the taxi ride had been expensive, but it was worth it!

After saying goodbye to Élise, I made my way back to the main island of Sicily, crossing over the bridge between the two islands.

I passed through a park where lots of stray cats were having their dinner and arrived at my hotel shortly afterwards.

The hotel I stayed at was Vergilia B&B, which was a really lovely place and so spacious and comfortable. (Doing all those surveys to get those hotel vouchers was definitely worth it!) I chilled out in my room for a while before going back out to pick up some food and do my last bit of sightseeing for the day.

Very close to the hotel, you can find Basilica Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime, a very modern and absolutely huge church. It's a big contrast to the architecture that we saw in Ortigia, and really reminded me of the cathedral in Rio de Janeiro!

After a good night's sleep, it was time to get my second day in Sicily started! The first place I went to visit in the morning was San Giovanni alle Catacombe church. The actual catacombs beneath the church weren't open, but it was interesting to see the church, which was originally built in the 6th century. 

I then went to a nearby café and bought a soya latte for 1.70 euro - and it was one of the best coffees I've had in my life! Another reason to love being in Italy!

I walked with my coffee over to the place I had been most excited to visit since I started planning this trip: Parco Archeologico della Neapolis. This is where you can find the most important Greek and Roman archaeological sites in the city!

After buying my ticket, I headed for Orecchio di Dionisio (Ear of Dionysius), passing ancient ruins and stunning Mediterranean nature on my way.

The "ear" was carved into rock in the Greek/Roman times to provide water storage for the city. Inside, it's nice and cool and also very echoey!

I passed through some more beautiful scenery before arriving at my next stop.

The Greek Theatre is the star attraction of Parco Archeologico della Neapolis and perhaps of Syracuse in general. Even though it's located in Italy today, Syracuse was in fact one of the biggest and most powerful cities in Ancient Greece, and the theatre is the most impressive creation left behind from this era. So I was very excited to see it!

Unfortunately, nearly the entire thing was covered over with wooden seating in preparation for a performance, leaving only a few very small sections exposed. It was a little disappointing! At least you could still see the size and shape of the place, but you had to use your imagination to fill in the complete picture of what it should look like.

Near to the theatre, you can find Grotta del Ninfeo, a little waterfall where there were statues of the Muses in Greek times.

The last place that I visited in the archaeological park was the Roman Amphitheatre. It's smaller than the Greek one, but at least it was fully on display!

After a snack at the park's café, I started walking back down in the direction of Ortigia, stopping by Santuario di Santa Lucia al Sepolcro. There was a service taking place inside so I couldn't go in, but it was nice to see the church from the outside. It consists of a 17th-century basilica and a 18th-century hexagonal chapel.

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Italy without gelato! So I went to Gelateria Dolce Idea and got myself some vegan pistachio gelato - it was absolutely delicious!

By this point, I had seen the sights I wanted to see in Syracuse, but I had a bit of time left before I needed to get the train back to Pozzallo. So I decided to take a boat trip around Ortigia! This was a very fun (and very splashy!) way to finish off my little holiday. The tour took us around the edge of the city and also to some caves, which we went inside!

I had changed into my bikini in a rather unpleasant public toilet prior to the boat trip, as the vendors had said that we'd have the opportunity to jump into the sea at the end. However, when we reached the end of the tour and the driver asked us if we wanted to swim, someone said "Già ho fatto il bagno! (I've already been swimming)" in reference to the splashiness of the ride and the driver just carried on into the harbour. All the same, I enjoyed this little excursion!

Then it was time for me to get the train back to Pozzallo, in order to catch the ferry back to Malta. The train was nice and clean and quiet, and I really enjoyed seeing the Sicilian scenery during the journey.

Overall, I had a great time on my Italian adventure! I loved visiting all the cultural sights of Syracuse, and I hope to go back to Sicily in the future to see more of the island, especially Agrigento.

It's taken me a while to write up this blog, partly because it's a long one, partly because I've been busy, and partly because my WiFi's been off for a large part of the last week due to heat-related power cuts in Malta. (It actually cut off again for the rest of the evening and entire night just after I wrote this sentence!) But after a few months of being behind on writing up my trips, I'm now finally more or less up to date with the blog.

Because I've had so much to blog about recently, I've neglected my Pinterest and Pexels pages, so I probably won't touch the blog itself for a week or two in order to work on those a little bit. But I have an exciting trip planned for this weekend, so I'll be back blogging again soon enough! I also plan to write a big post about everything I've been up to in Malta this summer, and there are many, many more things I want to write about after that.

See you soon! 😊

Mdina and Rabat

My mum lived in Malta between the ages of 5 and 10 and has many happy memories from her time there. Luckily for me, this means she's been able to give me some great tips of places to visit now that I'm living here for three months! One of her top recommendations is the old walled city of Mdina, so I made sure to visit it as soon as possible.

I made use of my bus pass to get to Mdina, which was a bit of a lengthy journey when you consider the short distances involved, but that's something I'm getting used to when travelling around Malta! In any case, the destination was worth the journey.

When you approach the city from the road, you get a really amazing view of all its buildings and fortifications. If I get the chance, I'll try to come back to the area at some point before leaving Malta, in order to have a look at Mdina from a proper viewpoint (and get a better photo!).

Edit (03/08/2023): Photo taken from bus replaced by better one taken from Ta' Qali National Park!

I got off the bus in the town of Rabat and walked over to the main city gate of Mdina. This is definitely the best-known sight of the old city - apparently it was used in Game of Thrones. I've never been particularly interested in watching that TV series, but I can see why the gate was used in it, as it's so well-preserved, and really gives you the sense of walking into the past.

 

The city itself is really small and can be walked around easily. The most famous building inside is St Paul's Cathedral, which is quite close to the city gate.

All of the city's buildings are old and golden-coloured, and reflect a range of architectural influences (which is something I learnt more about later in the day). There are plenty of palaces, churches and pretty squares and passageways to see. Overall, I really enjoyed just wandering around the city and soaking in its atmosphere. While there were a fair number of tourists there, it definitely wasn't packed out, so my visit there was nice and relaxed.

The city also has a second city gate, called the Greek Gate. This one isn't quite so photogenic because there's a carpark in front of it! But it's still nice to see.

After exploring for a while, I had a nice lunch in the Mdina Experience Medieval Tavern. This restaurant really does make you feel like you've stepped into history, and it even has a gorgeous kitty!

The Mdina Experience is both a restaurant and a touristic attraction - it has a little cinema where you can watch a film about the history of Mdina, and that's what I did next! The film teaches you about all the different groups of people who ruled the city over the centuries, and there were a lot of them. I don't remember all of the information, but I remember that the city was ruled by Romans, Arabs (which is how Mdina and Rabat got their names), Normans, the Knights of St John, and the British (I think there were more rulers who I've forgotten!). That explains why you can find such a mix of cultural influences in Malta.

After my time in Mdina, I spent the rest of my day out in Rabat. I had noticed on Google Maps that there was a Roman villa (Domvs Romana) not far from the Greek Gate, so I decided to check it out. It was definitely worth visiting!

The outside of the villa is obviously a modern recreation, but inside, there are plenty of artifacts from the actual Roman era, including mosaics, statues, and much more! I've always found the Roman times to be an interesting period of history, so I really enjoyed exploring the museum, and was surprised at how good the selection of exhibits was.

There are also Roman catacombs that you can visit in Rabat, but by this point in the day, I felt all museum-ed out! But I may come back in the coming weeks depending on how much time I have.

After visiting Domvs Romana, I picked up some vegan gelato from La Brioscia gelateria and went for a walk around the town, seeing interesting sights including the Basilica of St Paul and Casino Notabile.

Overall, I had a great day enjoying the historic sights of this part of the country. One thing I like about living in Malta is that there are so many historical places here as well as beautiful beaches - two of the things that interest me most on my travels!

At the time of writing, I've just passed the halfway point of my internship and now have a little under 6 weeks left here. I've seen quite a lot of the country (and even a bit of Italy!) by this stage, but of course there's still plenty left to explore! 

Next up I'll be writing about my time in Sicily, where I also saw some fantastic historical sights!