Island Hopping 2024: Parco Archeologicio della Neapolis

Wednesday April 17:  Today, with beautiful weather we headed down to Syracuse, a little over an hour away.  (Of course, like every day, first a stop at the café for coffee/tea and pasticcino.)  Our target was the Neapolis Archaeological Park.  This is a good site for viewing artifacts of the Greek, and a little of the Roman cultures.  Today was not a good day to view the most important site, the Greek theatre, as they were fitting it to put on a modern performance of plays, the same plays that the ancient Greeks would have seen.  So all of the stage and much of the seating was covered with temporary protective wooden structures that will stay there until September.  Still we could see the enormity to the theatre and see how those ancient Greeks could look out over the stage and on to the Sea.

Terraced landscape on the way to Siracusa

The Greek Theatre being covered by protective wood for upcoming performances of ancient Greek plays

Across the theatre to Siracusa and the sea (bay) beyond

This gushing waterfall from a grotto in the wall behind the theatre.  The source of this water is a mountain spring 15 miles away carried here by an aqueduct.

From inside one of the tombs carved into the rock cliff behind the theatre

The tombs of the necropolis above the theatre

Near the theatre stands the largest altar in the Ancient Greek world, Altar of Hieron II

What is now called the Quarry of Paradise was once a source for the stones that built Syracuse.  Manned by Athenian Slaves whom Syracuse acquired by choosing the correct side in the Second Peloponnesian War, this quarry provided the building material for the Greek Theatre and Altar (Ara Di Ierone) and many of the old Greek buildings now buried beneath the streets of modern Syracuse.  The quarry now is a peaceful and reflective garden.

The quarry of paradise, with every step we were enveloped in a gentle orange blossom scent

The quarry of paradise is a modern park built on an ancient site.  These ancient looking modern statues were found throughout the quarry

The ear of Dionysius, so called because the tyrant could sit at the top of this manmade cave and hear what was being said down in the quarry

Striking blue man sculptures

Sculptures in the quarry caves

The cave is flooded, adding to the peace inducing sculptures 

These sculptures were huge

We ended our trip with a stop at the café inside the park where we enjoyed granita, gelato, and arancine, which is the pointy version of aranini, the stuffed fried rice balls we find everywhere in Sicily.

Granita, Gelato, Arancine

Arancine guts

For dinner we grabbed a Sicilian Hot Dog

Rolled pastry, ham, ragu and a hot dog, what's not to like about this?