Day 4 - Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 - Syracuse, Sicily, Italy - Part 1

 Day 4 - Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 - Syracuse, Sicily, Italy - Part 1

Our ship pulled into port at 7:30 am so we woke up & went to breakfast right at 7.  We were loving the dining room breakfasts that were made to order.  We all got some sort of an egg breakfast (scrambled, fried, omelets, & burritos).  At breakfast, Bladen broke the news to us that he lost his shoes on the pool deck the night before.  He had NO SHOES.  He was wearing Trek’s sandals.  We made him go up to the pool deck to look for them.  They were nowhere to be found so he checked with the towel guy on deck 9 to ask where the lost & found was.  Bladen made his way to deck 6 (guest services) to ask about his poor shoes.  These employees were the very best.  They had them stored & ready for him.  We were SO grateful.  He promised to keep track of his shoes from here on out.

We got off the ship & made our way over the bridge onto the island of Ortigia.  It had a beautiful old town with lots of fun shops & an open marketplace.  The kids LOVED the marketplace full of jewelry, clothing, spices, dried fruits, & fish.  They even yelled “Fresh Fish” which reminded us of Aladdin. 

After the marketplace we found the Diana Fountain in the middle of the city which was beautiful. 

Old Town was just a hustle & bustle of people.  The shops were SO fun.  Taya found an amazing dress shop where she bought the most adorable teal/yellow Sicily Lemon dress. 

We all got some yummy gelato (I got Americana & it was the BEST gelato I’ve ever had. . . It had caramel & peanut butter gelato with chocolate pieces, peanuts, & gooey caramel) & I even found a cute little ceramic nativity for my nativity collection. 

The cathedral in the middle of old town was gorgeous & there was a wedding going on while we were there.  The girls LOVED all the pretty dresses everyone was wearing. 

After exploring old town, we walked to the “famous” Arethusa Spring (which really wasn’t much), but there were ducks & the kids love ducks. 

Finally we explored the huge Castello Maniace at the edge of the island which was beautiful.