Siracusa is one of two cities we stayed for several days on the eastern part of Sicily. Taormina is the other, see our earlier posts about it here and here.

The city of Siracusa itself is not very scenic, so we stayed instead on the island of Ortigia (or Ortygia in English) at the southeastern tip of Siracusa.

The island of Ortigia at less than 1 square km is the oldest part of Siracusa.

While we explored the island, we managed to walk pretty much the entire perimeter of the island, except the very tip where there is a fort. See the Italian coast guard’s boat at the port of Ortigia.

Fontana Aretusa – apparently a fresh water source – right next to the sea ! No wonder the ancient sailors liked the place.

A typical narrow street on Ortigia, often with a view of the sea in the distance.

Luongomare Alfeo along the western side of the island

The island is surrounded by the Ionian Sea.

Luongomare d’Ortigia on the eastern side of the island

The pictures here were taken on different days at different hours.

The name Ortigia originates from the Ancient Greek ortyx (ὄρτυξ), which means “Quail”.

A line of rocks were deposited here to break the waves on the eastern side of the island.

The fortification here looks modern but we suspect that it was built on top of an older base.

On the east side of the island, one can see the city of  Siracusa in a distance.

We will show you more of the streets of Ortigia in our next post.