# Campari & Soda: 1, # Gelati: 1
Today the weather was lovely. Clear blue skies without a hint of cloud, let alone rain, and a mild temperature. I think it got to about 22C. Perfect for walking around in.
I started my morning visiting sites in Ortigia. My first stop was the Castello Maniace on the very tip of the island. The views were fabulous. You can see how it would have provided excellent defence of the port and the city. Although, I'm not entirely sure I would want to spend a lot of time under the roof of the main hall given how dodgy the supporting columns seem to be these days. Having to be held together by half a dozen thick metal bands isn't very reassuring.
My next stop was the Papyrus Museum founded by a Corrado Basile. Apparently, the Arabs brought the plant to Sicily when they ruled here and for many years Sicily was an important supplier of papyrus paper. The museum had a very interesting video on the history of the plant and its many uses, not just in the production of paper. Sadly I didn't get to watch the bit about paper making. There was a group of teenagers on a school excursion in the museum. The were so noisy it was hard to hear. When they eventually wandered into the room where the video was playing I just gave up and left. I'm not sure what is going on with the school calendar but every single site I've been to here has had a least one group of school students being shown around.
Fortunately, the students left soon after so I got to enjoy the museum itself in peace and quiet. At one point I was looking closely at a particular papyrus document when an little old man came up to me. He asked me if I spoke Italian and when I said I didn't, he launched into a long explaination about something - all in Italian. I think he was telling me there were several thousand papyrus documents in their collection and the particular one I was looking at he himself had bought in Paris. I can only assume he was Corrado Basile.
Next stop was lunch and I decided to have the pizza I passed up on last night. I chose to eat at the Trattoria Kalliope solely because they had an outdoor area that was shaded. It ws too hot to sit in the sun but too pleasant a day to be indoors. The reviews of this place are very average but my pizza was decent, the price fair as was the service. There were also cats. A small female was doing the rounds of the tables looking for anyone soft hearted enough to give her something (guilty as charged). She was soon joined by what looked to be a recently desexed male (he had a shaved area on one of his front paws). Later on 3 more cats appeared - one definitely male. All part of the same colony I imagine. There are a lot of stray cats around Ortigia. There is some sort of association that looks out for them as, while they are slim, they aren't skinny. I've seen feeding stations around the town and there is clearly a TNR program happening, although there is clearly more work to be done there.
My B&B is on the first floor of a converted palazzo. The whole building is divided up into apartments, B&Bs and offices. Someone on the ground floor has an intact male cat or at least the cat lives here. It is having territorial wars with another intact male. I can hear them at night fighting and smell their territorial markings in the foyer and at the base of the stairs. If I owned this B&B I would want to do something about that. If only regular cleaning of the entrance foyer. It isn't a very pleasant introduction to the place.
After lunch, I took the hop on-hop off bus out to the Archeological Museum on the mainland. While I was waiting for the bus a young man from the bus company came by to sell us tickets. I used my best Italian to ask for one but he quickly switched to English. He asked me where I was from. He said he loved my accent as it meant he couldn't understand a word I said. I was crushed.
I cheered up when I got to the museum. It is amazing. It covers the history of Sicily and the area around Siracusa in particular going back to prehistoric times. At one point there were tiny elephants here. They only came up to my waist. They must have been so cute. They died out long before human beings evolved.
The museum then had exhibits from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, settlement by Greeks, then the Romans and finally the Christian and Byzantine eras. There was so much. Too much in fact. I started looking at everything, then I just looked at one or two things in each display case but skipped the rest. Finally, I started skipping entire display cases. I think it would have been better if they had just selected a few pieces to display each idea rather than putting what seemed like everything they had out on display. One set of display cases was devoted to a collection of bronze items that came from what was a suspected foundary as there was about 500 items. They all seemed to be on display.
I spent all afternoon here but just got burnt out. A single bronze sword that is thousands of years old is amazing. When you've already seen 50, seeing another is just 'Eh'. I headed back to the hop on-hop off bus stop to ride it back to Ortigia. They are supposed to run every 20 minutes. After 30 minutes of waiting I told myself to be patient. At the end of the day, it is plausible that they get bunched up due to traffic. After 40 minutes I was getting impatient. After 60 I was just plain cross. I had read reviews that complained that while the website says the buses run until 7pm, in practice they stop much sooner. It appears that the reviews were true and the website lied, so I had to walk back to Ortigia. On the plus side, I was so cross by that point, I had no trouble crossing the roads. I just stomped out into the traffic and dared them to run me over.
After a soothing drink in a bar, I headed of to Cola Pasta for my dinner. They basically just serve pasta. You get to pick your shape and your sauce. I had spinach and ricotta ravioli with a simple tomato and basil sauce with a cannolo for dessert. My pasta wasn't anything I couldn't have had at home but it was pleasantly tasty for all that. This restaurant is very big on being green so they serve everything on biodegradable plates and cups (i.e. paper). I suspect reusing china and glass is better for the environment, even after taking into account the cost of making the items and washing them.
This restaurant also had a resident cat colony. However, there was also a feeding station nearby so the cats didn't bother the diners. One cat wasn't interested in the supplied food but was more interested in trying to take down a pigeon. It obviously can't be that hungry if it was happy to ignore free food.
Tomorrow I leave Sicily for Calabria. I wonder if it will be noticeably different.
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