Sicily.....finally the Greek/Roman part of Syracuse........

Finally on the Tuesday morning.....early!......we went to the Archeological Park, and it was open....just!
It is definitely worth visiting......

First the Roman Amphitheatre....

and the steps leading down seemed in fantastic shape......after almost 2000 years!

Then the Ear of Dionysius..... this was in the quarry area and the acoustics within this cave are fantastic..

I don't like caves.....so opted to not go any further!

and then the Greek theatre which apparently is one of the largest built, actually hewn out of the rock, and could accommodate 15,000 people!

We wondered about this lone house on top...... a hold out for a higher price???

and the Altar of Hieron......
this was where apparently 125 bulls were sacrificed at any one time.....but no more than 500 in a year!!

Then on to the Archeological museum which is supposed to be one of the best  in Sicily.......
We wouldn't know.......sign on the gate said closed until April 2014!!!!!!

So we decided to go on to the Castello Eurialo..... about 8kms away.... which was part of the defense system for Syracuse/Ortigia.

Initially I thought this was just a series of shallow caves......

but they actually go for at least a km under the main fortress area to come out on the sea side...

Again as I don't like caves/underground tunnels..... I didn't check them out but heard that they were great........ very,very long tunnels ......  and as I waited and waited I felt I should be sending in a search party!  There was apparently lighting in the tunnels.........but we had lost electricity for many hours while in Noto so that did not entice me in!
They did have light wells  and we weren't sure whether this was a filled in light well or a water cistern...