Bride photo's with mega-yacht backdrop Siracusa (Syracuse) is described in various tour guides as “Sultry, civilised Syracuse stranded at the southernmost tip of Sicily” and “.. still manages to seduce visitors with it’s quiet decrepitude.” Well it certainly managed to seduce us, we stayed for 2 weeks, one at anchor and one on the town quay.

Syracusa Market The old town, situated on the island of Ortigia and connected by two bridges has been described as the “physical and spiritual heart of the city” perhaps because of the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral) and the superb open-air market. Spring water still gushes from Fonte Aretusa just as thay did in Greek times. According to the myth made famous by Pindar and Virgil, Arethusa was a nymph transformed into a spring by the godess Artemis.

Fonte Aretusa The day after we arrived Tan found a self-service laundrette so guess what we did the following morning, yes laundry. There is also a Eurospar supermarket, a cash and carry handy and a great panificio (bakery). On Sunday we had a great day sightseeing around the old town and had a superb lunch at a trattoria, best pasta I've ever had. I’ve also found a great gelateria, best ice cream I’ve ever had, as I said it’s seducing!

On Wednesday 25th we went onto the town quay for water and to recharge the batteries. The quay is free and water and electricity is available for a fee. There are no slime lines so when you go stern-to you have to drop the anchor and motor backwards until you can attach lines to the quay. The cockpit anchor windlass control switch I fitted last winter was very useful, it meant that we didn't need a person on the bow. This is the 1st time we've done this manoeuvre and it worked well, fortunately someone on the quay took lines for us.

Piazza Duomo The quay is very attractive and is the setting for a significant percentage of the population, young and old, promenading in the evenings, it is also the setting for wedding photographs with several newly-wed couples being photographed each day, some arriving in expensive limousines, some more modestly, but all promenade along the quay with photographers in attendance.

There is a procession of large luxury mega-yachts visiting the town quay, I suspect that Sardinia’s folly with the introduction of a serious tax on visiting boats a couple of years ago may be a blessing for Siracusa even though the Sardinian tax has now been deemed illegal and dropped. The tax applied between July and September and started at €1,000 for a 14m power boat (€500 for a sailboat) and increased rapidly with the length of the boat. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

Town Quay On the 30th, Admiral Tan gets an honourable mention in despatches. When our neighbours left they pulled up our anchor, Tan was down below having just showered. Tan had to throw some clothes on and get to her station whilst I unplugged the electricity, water and cast off mooring ropes, then we went through the re-anchoring procedure again. Fortunately it all went well but the admiral wasn't amused.

1st July Tehani-Li (Carol and Phil) our neighbours from Barcelona arrived, it was nice to meet them again. Next day we had to leave, nothing personal!