Market, more Wandering, and the Miqwe

Monday March 7 started as a beautiful, warm, sunny day.  We went to the open-air market nearby to get some vegetables and fish for dinner.  We have really been impressed by the produce in Sicily, and the prices are extremely reasonable.  We ended up buying another orata (dorade) from the same fish vendor.  Our fish was filleted by Roberto.

Roberto filleting our fish

Orata (Dorade)

Gorgeous shrimp and octopus

The guy on the left was our buddy

Tomatoes galore

 After we dropped the food off, we went for a coffee and cornetto at Caffe Morettino, around the corner from the apartment.  The Caffe and bar occupies a very compact space with a counter, but it has a few tables and umbrellas outside.  The woman who runs the Caffe is very nice and there are always locals who drop in while we are there.  We sat outside to enjoy the sun.  

Beautiful sunny morning

Alonso in front of Caffe Morettino

We proceeded to walk across one of the bridges connecting Ortigia with the main part of Siracusa.  Our destination was the train station, where we wanted to buy our tickets for Taormina, where we are headed on Friday March 11.  The station is about 1½ km from our apartment.

Ships in the port

Another view

Coast Guard building

It was quiet in the city, and there were only a few bars and cafes open on Monday early afternoon.  We passed a small park with a plaque noting that it was the Giardini (Garden) Principessa Mafalda di Savoia (1902-44) in memory of an Italian princess who died in the Buchenwald concentration camp.  Mafalda was a daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III, and married to a German, Prince Philip of Hesse (1896-1980), who joined the SS in 1930.  The Prince later fell out with the Nazis and was arrested in 1943 and sent to Flossenburg concentration camp where he survived the war.  After the 1943 armistice, Malfada was deported to Buchenwald, as Hitler wanted revenge on the Italian royal family.  She died there in 1944, after being severely wounded during Allied bombing of an armaments building she was housed next to. 

Giardini Principessa Mafalda di Savoia - Vittima del Lager de Buchenwald

Church at far end of park

The train station was quiet.  We bought our tickets and then waited for the small electric shuttle bus that makes a number of stops around the perimeter of Ortigia and then goes to the Train Station in the main part of Siracusa.   Of course, the shuttle did not stop where we thought it was going to, but we saw it in time and got on.  After the first stop, the driver got out and went to a cafe for about ten minutes.  We figured out that was the start of his loop. He then drove into Ortigia.  The fare was only one euro and the ticket is good for ninety minutes.  There are two other shuttle bus routes- one that we will attempt on Wednesday to go to the archaeological park.

We decided to visit the Miqwe (Mikveh) in the old Jewish quarter, know as the Giudecca.  The miqwe lies buried 20m beneath the Alla Giudecca Hotel.  

Alonso in front of Hotel

Bagno Ebraico

There are hourly afternoon tours led by the Hotel.  We were joined by a couple from Virginia and a woman from Chicago.  The guide took us down a winding stairway to the baths.  She told us that the Jewish community dated back to the first century A.D., and that the baths dated to around 500 A.D.  The baths were once connected to a synagogue, but were blocked by members of the Jewish community when they were expelled from the island in 1492.  The baths are fed by deep springs.  The synagogue is now the site of a church that we passed the other day.

The guide indicated there had been some problem with the pump and that we might not be able to visit the baths.  Luckily, there was no flooding and we were able to see the baths.   The main room has three deep pools, which contain fresh water, which now have to be pumped out of the chamber to prevent flooding.  There are two side rooms, each with a small private pool.

We managed to get a few shots of the baths in the small side rooms.  The baths were discovered about 25 years ago.  A fascinating piece of history.  The Hotel itself had some lovely artifacts.  Not a person in sight. 

Steps to bath in side room

Passageway to side room 

Another bath in second side room

Hotel interior

Hotel puppets

 It was starting to get cloudy and we stopped for a salad at the Caffe Minerva, just off the main Piazza del Duomo.  We went back to the apartment at around 4:30 p.m. and found that our Internet was not working.  As we were not sure whether it was the Internet connection or our server, we went back to a lovely small bookshop cafe (Biblios Cafe), which had just opened for the evening.  Alonso had a coffee and we checked our WiFi, which was working.  When we got back, we called our host, who came over and called his Internet provider, determining that there was a problem with the external telephone line, not his modem.  However, the service could not be restored and there was no one working to fix the problem during the evening.  Service has now been restored (fingers crossed) and we are posting Monday's blog.