syracuse

If the 7th letter is authentic, then Plato visited Syracuse twice. And apparently he still has some influence here.



That's not grass in the small roman theater below. It's water; even after 2000 years, the place is ready to stage a naval battle.


The famous temple was all dolled up - that is to say, its beauty was dulled by bad Italian stage-setting - for a festival of Greek drama. Alas, it was in translation.

The sun was so bright here, and the limestone so white, that I could barely open my eyes even with my sunglasses on. But the camera caught the beautiful view out to the bay.

About 100' away are the quarries where the Syracusans stuck their Athenian prisoners of war; the cave is called 'Dionysius' ear', because it was supposedly built to allow someone, for instance a certain tyrant, to sit in a small alcove at the top and eavesdrop on the prisoners. It certainly is shaped like the inside of an ear, in any event.



The Cathedral in Syracuse. The roof is supported by the columns of the temple of Apollo, which are exposed on the inside, though covered here by a Baroque facade. Pretty cool; it gives a better sense, in some ways, of how it would have felt to be inside a Greek temple, than do the ruins in Agrigento. I would produce pictures to substantiante that claim, but I'll have to plead cameratic suckage.