Siracusa marks a bit of an end for us this season. We’re not done cruising, but we need to leave Schengen territory (only allowed 90 days in an 180 day period in much of Europe) and Siracusa is our last stop. It’s also the last place we’ll visit in Italy. And what an end! We’re in a huge, calm bay at anchor, overlooking a city that was once considered the center of the western world. The skyline is spectacular, showing centuries of architecture all melded together, with the odd mega yacht (and plenty of mini-mega wannabes) along the way.

Our last night in Taormina was a sleepless one, with forecasted thunderstorms, and wild winds from unexpected directions. Multiple boats dragged in the anchorage, and though we didn’t, I was up most of the night watching the activity. The forecast the next morning wasn’t great for leaving (either no wind or winds against us) but the same forecast wasn’t great for staying either. Even worse, some of the models were completely and wildly different, with 30 knots predicted down in our destination! We held our breaths and left and had the most wonderful sail instead (most of the forecasts turned out to be dead wrong).

Siracusa is one of the biggest cities in Sicily, has a major bay, and sees a lot of boat traffic coming and going from most of the eastern Mediterranean. You have to call the Guardia Costiera (the Italian Coast Guard) upon entering the harbor. They get the details of your boat and then assign you a location to anchor by latitude and longitude. The great thing about this is that you anchor approximately 100 feet from any other boat, and combined with the thick mud of the harbor, the risks are low of hitting another boat should you drag or shift position (and we constantly shift position with the changing winds). Genius solution of the Coast Guard!

Unlike the rest of Italy that we’ve seen, there’s an easy place to leave your dinghy (the rings to tie off are huge!), and laundry and provisioning is easy to do. The only downside is that given the drought here we can’t get potable water at the docks. We have enough in our tanks to get by till Albania, and we can get non-potable water at the dock on a daily basis which will be fine for dish washing and showers till we leave.

Laundry was my first priority. We had visited so many remote-ish islands over the last few weeks without facilities, that our dirty laundry had really piled up. I did four loads over two days while Trip sorted out formalities with the authorities (figuring out how to check our boat in, as well as looking for the passport office where we will need to clear out).

We found a little place for lunch where I sampled traditional Sicilian pasta with sun dried tomatoes, capers, anchovies, pistachios, and bread crumbs, while Trip went for gnocchi in a pumpkin sauce with grilled fennel sausage. Then we simply wandered through the streets of this amazing town.

We mis-timed the castle/fortress at the edge of town, but we’re able to visit the Duomo, an ancient Catholic Church built on top of an ancient Greek temple. It’s hard to wrap your head around staring at the exterior, which is ornate and baroque, to the interior, which is massive and has basic Doric columns from the temple to Athena. Of course the building is a UNESCO world heritage site (actually I think the entire town is a world heritage site). And of course they were setting up for a wedding (Italy. Summer. Church)

We also had a chance to visit the Greek Theatre, Roman Amphitheatre, and quarry remains in the new town. The Greek theatre is the largest in Sicily, and is still in use today.

The Greek Theatre

Just steps away is the Roman Amphitheatre, the home of many a gladiator fight.

The Roman Amphitheater

But in my opinion, the most fascinating part of this park is the grottos left from the quarries, worked in by many a prisoner over the centuries.

The quarries where stones were cut out for buildings, temples, etc.

We also had a very sobering sight in the harbor. The sailboat Astral of the NGO Open Arms was at the dock. Open Arms works with local authorities to perform rescues of migrants crossing from Africa. The boat was part of a complex rescue off the coast of the Sicilian island Lampedusa over the weekend with at least two dead and many missing at sea. Conditions were horrible, as a mistral (fierce northwestern wind) was blowing down from France creating dangerous weather. Over 2,000 migrants have made the trip in these conditions, showing the increasing desperation to flee.