After fetching Roy, Elaine sanitised and stow all our purchases, while Roy set off in the dinghy again; his final diesel run to completely fill the tanks.
After lunch and before a nap, the winds picked up out of the southern sector at 10-15 Kts, as forecast, giving us some confidence in the data for the next few days.
SOS Humanity, a German flagged search and rescue ship, dedicated to saving refugees and asylum seekers from drowning while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, had joined Ocean Viking in the anchorage, a Norwegian flagged ship with the same mission, bringing home the humanitarian crisis Europe and the UK are facing. What was rather distressing, though, was Roy’s experience this morning on how many people were living in squalor in an encampment northeast of the anchorage and had us wondering whether or not these ships were escorting these people to Germany and Norway respectively or simply dropping them ashore in Italy or any other Mediterranean country that would accept them, negating the point of them leaving their homes and their loved ones to end up in the same conditions they left, having gained nothing and only served to benefit the people traffickers.
Setting these dismal thoughts aside, we dinghied ashore early evening to enjoy a few more historical sites, including the “Tempio di Apollo” (Temple of Apollo) and the “Fontana di Diana” (Fountain of Diana), passing “Chiesa San Paolo” (Church of St Paul) on the way, before enjoying a sundowner at Caffè Minerva just off “La Piazza Duomo”, followed by an authentic Italian meal at Ristorante La Volpe e L'uva overlooking “Duomo di Siracusa” (Cathedral of Syacuse).
The “Tempio di Apollo” is considered one of the most important Ancient Greek monuments on Ortygia Island, which sits on “Piazza Pancali” and dates back to the 6th Century BC. It is one of the most ancient doric temples and amongst the first with the layout consisting of a peripteros of stone columns, a style where the temple is surrounded by a portico with columns, the principal porch or entrance to the temple, roofed and open to the sides.
The temple underwent several transformations over the centuries until it was eventually incorporated into a 16th Century Spanish barracks and private houses before the remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1890.
“Fontana di Diana”, built in 1906 on the second most important square on the island, “Piazza Archimede” is inspired by the myth of Alphaeus and Arethusa, the latter associated with the fountain we stumbled upon yesterday, “Fonte Arethusa”. The sculptor depicts the nymph, Arethusa, protected by her mother, Diana, goddess of the hunt, as she flees from the god, Alphaeus.
For us, though, it was an enjoyable evening stroll around the ancient city on a rather blustery day, giving us a break from bouncing around on Paw Paw.
