On Friday, June 16th, we headed east, through hilly country and wheat fields (until the Romans conquered Egypt, Sicily was their breadbasket). After a lengthy drive, we arrived at the Villa Romana del Casale, the ruins of a large villa from around the year 300 A.D, with many, many gorgeous floor mosaics, protected over the years by a 12th-century mudslide. The villa was so large and sumptuous that it no doubt belonged to someone of very high standing, maybe Diocletian’s co-emperor Maximian.
After spending all our allotted time (about an hour-and-a-half) viewing those mosaics, so that we had to rush at the end, we drove on to a rural estate near Lentini, which the owner is apparently preparing to turn into an agriturismo (a working farm B&B). There, we had another wonderful lunch, with two different types of delicious pasta (one with lemon, the other with tomato).
Next, we went to Siracusa, the ancient Greek city of Syracuse, staying at the Hotel Gutkowski on the island of Ortygia, the old center of the city. Here was the only place on the tour where we used the earplugs that Rick Steves Tours gives its tour members an allowance to buy—on the second night, there was a lot of noise from the restaurants and bars below our window.
After the orientation walk, we weren’t really hungry, so instead of dinner we had granitas on the main piazza, across from the Cathedral, then wandered around the island before heading back to bed.
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