Sunday 8th May, 2016

Safely in Syracuse (?Siracusa) after a week sitting out bad weather in Ragusa . The Fischer-Panda was mended there by a nice guy who found that the service chaps had let the fuel pump short out and he took only 1 hour and 50 euros to mend. The horn doesn’t work. Then an overnight stop in Marzanemi. Nothing much there but very helpful.

The Rod Heikels and tripadvisors of this world say the  Syracuse ‘marina yachting’ is crap but we disagree. It’s small enough that we don’t need a taxi or bicycle to get to the office or exit and the people are charming. The town itself (Ortigia) is OK (at one time it was bigger than Athens) and the chandlery is quite close and very good.

We’ve had loads of really horrible meals in Sicily so far, but broke the mould yesterday by finding a really nice ordinary restaurant which features in no guidebooks at all. It’s a bit like theatre/opera/film critics; they’re always wrong and their only use is to tell you what not to see when they say it’s good, and vice versa.

K

Archimedes lived here in Syracuse and we will visit his square today. His tomb and the amphitheatre are apparently covered in scaffolding so we have given them a miss. I hit an all time culinary low. A deep fried cheese sandwich. I thought I was ordering a toasted Panini but 2 triangles appeared of white sliced bread , filled with a thin layer of mozzarella, coated with breadcumbs and deep fried. Not worth the calories. I had a lovely chocolate and nut ice cream on the way home instead.

C