Sicily...3 restaurants in Ortigia

After what we considered our first semi- disastrous restaurant in Ortigia, recommended by the hotel .......with a request from us for a non touristy and simple place, which it definitely wasn't, English being spoken at every table!... we decided to make our own choices!

First was Trattoria O'Scina......

down a little lane which thankfully didn't seem to have any cars passing through.....................

The Amuse bouche.......

had we known we would not have ordered one of the Montalbina specials....which seemed quite similar.....

very home made sausages but apparently excellent!

I had noticed on Trip Advisor that someone nixed the Tiramisu....... I spent a week once in Tuscany comparing Tiramisu each night in different restaurants... and can attest that this particular one was excellent!

Then Ristorante L'Ancora..  we were late for lunch after treking through the Archeological site etc and chose this restaurant because it was fairly close to the hotel(parking!) and also very close to the daily fish market.....

The fish was very fresh and excellent.............. and the place seemed to just cater for Italians.....perfect!

and our #3 was the hotel itself the Hotel Algila...... unfortunately closed 2 of the 3 days we stayed there! Had we eaten there the first night we would probably have returned!

 We can definitely recommend all three.....

and I noticed a nice B&B de charme La Via della Giudecca which we might be tempted to book into if we were to return.....

Sicily.......Ortigia explored......

Our first day in Ortigia was supposed to have been a day for exploring archeological sites and museums ( as we were unable to start on arrival....early closing!).....

However it was a Monday and everything in Italy is closed Mondays..... happily we were staying for three nights....
So it became Market day and Memorial day and wandering around instead...

We love checking out local markets when visiting places.....

In Ortigia the emphasis was definitely on fish.......

Many not seen by us before.....

and it was fun to watch them swatting away the flies.....

And even in the fruit/vegetable section there were some unknowns.....

It is cactus fruit time........tried one at breakfast...lots of pips!

We heard a band playing and decided to check it out..... we also noticed lots of Carabinieri..... initial thought ...demonstration??....lets check it out....

But no......turned out it was Memorial Day and all the main services were represented......

obviously in true Italian fashion...... with lots of pomp and circumstance.....

Loved the matching red iPhone!!!!!!!

We did get to walk around the whole island......and wander the maze of streets....

 watched the blatant disregard of the no entry sign.......

and this is a two way street......

We checked out a few historical sights en route.....
The Temple of Apollo....

 The Fonte Aretusa ....

The Temple of Athena, incorporated into the Duomo...

and ended up in the Duomo Piazza...

where even the nice cafe we liked the day before was closed!

Sicily.... and on to Ortigia, Syracuse

We left Modica slowly.....our GPS couldn't quite work out how to get us out of the town.Many very narrow streets...... eventually we got to what looked like a road......but still narrow! It had decided to take us the quickest way......as the crow flies!  We hadn't a clue where we were......

However we did eventually get to the Autostrada and then it was a breeze to get to Syracuse.  We headed straight for the Greek theatre and the Archeological park....to find that it had closed exceptionally early because of the holiday weekend......the Italians are very serious about celebrating the Day of the Dead.

Getting to the hotel on Ortigia was easy as it is close to the sea. We had originally booked in to the  centrally located  Hotel Roma ...

but one week prior to arrival we were advised that it was closing for renovation and we had been moved to another hotel, the  Algila Ortigia Charme hotel owned by the same group. So we were essentially upgraded!  We weren't complaining!

The hotel is beautiful.....

the rooms small but that is fine......

And when we arrived I asked if we could have a sea view......and again we were upgraded!
Our view next morning...

and just across the street.....

We decided to do a little exploring as the sea view room was not quite ready when we arrived and we made our way via the Piazza Archimede...

to the Duomo square.....

and of course got tempted to sit at one of the outdoor tables with a glass of wine watching a different kind of sunset......

It was a Sunday and many restaurants were closed, including the hotel, so they  booked us a table at a local restaurant, Dioniso...
this restaurant does get good reviews on Trip Advisor......
however we have mixed views.....
it is full of tourists.....english at every table. In contrast to the 3 prior restaurants we had eaten at which were essentially all Italian guests....except us!
The food was just OK.......

 a pumpkin risotto with amaretto.....which didn't quite work!

 Dorade baked in salt..... actually over baked and way too dry!

Calamari in tomato sauce.... again overcooked!

The pistachio flan was an offering to make up for the dry fish......and it came with 2 glasses of Marsala!