Honeymoon Day 6: Syracuse, Sicily

The small beach near our hotel on the island of Ortigia

Only five months late and I am getting close to finishing the blog post from our honeymoon!

On our final full day in Sicily we decided to stay on the island of Ortigia after our big museum adventure the day before. We started with a walk along the sea wall on the Eastern side of the island. Ortigia only has a few small beaches and rocky outcrops, but they were busy with swimmers which I thought was quite surprising for an early weekday in May.

As we reached the northern end of the island, it started to get less picturesque and a little grittier so we cut inland through backstreets where it still seemed possible to pick up a run down house ready for gentrification. (Although I doubt at a knockdown price.)

Once we'd arrived back in the historic centre we hit the shops! I managed to comprehensively out purchase Becks (poor form from her) and leave with a new wardrobe. I justified it by telling myself it was cheaper than shopping in the UK and we were doubly benefiting from a strong exchange rate.....

Piazzo Duomo Ortigia

We returned back to our hotel via the Piazzo Duomo, the main square in Ortigia which is home to the cathedral, town hall, the majority of tourists on the island and a couple who were having some wedding photos taken on the steps of the church.

Needing some lunch we headed to a cute little cafe on the same road as our hotel called Cala Piada. It turns out they haven't been open very long and the friendly lady running the shop explained to us that that all of the bread is homemade and how long each of the hams had been aged for.

Inside Cala Piada

We took the freshly made, and still warm piadino, back to the terrace of our hotel. The flat bread was possibly still a little doughy, but the eighteen month old ham, soft fresh cheese and rocket filling went down a treat. It was a bargain at around 5 EUR.

Ham, soft cheese and rocket piadino

After lunch and some time reading, we decided to go for another spin round town to see if we could find a honeymoon present to buy and to soak in the delights of Syracuse for one last time. We'd been joking all week about sampling the brioche ice cream sandwich which is apparently a speciality of Sicily. As we passed a gelateria near the Duomo I could resist no longer and we dived in to buy one.

Brioche and ice cream sounds like it should be a perfect combination, however, I didn't think the brioche added that much. I think I prefer my gelati in a cup.

Ice cream in brioche

With the honeymoon memento purchased, I headed to the small beach near our hotel for my final paddle in the sea. Having only had one swim on the holiday it seemed right that I dipped my feet in the water for a second time even if it wasn't a fully fledged swim.

We were indecisive over where to go for dinner having eaten at the places on the top of our list already. I also had the nagging feeling I should have a pizza while in Italy (even though it isn't a Sicilian speciality). Takeaway pizza and beers on the roof terrace of our hotel for dinner it was. Such a romantic end to our honeymoon!

Final dip in the sea of our honeymoon