If it ain't baroque...

Our morning day trip out of Siracusa took us to Noto, less than an hour away by coach, reputed to be the gelato capital of Sicily, and one of the locations used in The White Lotus series 2 (Daphne and Harper's overnight trip). Our local guide was full of information about the architecture and history of the town. Our walk took us through the Porta Reale o Ferdinandea along the Corso Vittore Emanuele and sometimes off to either side a bit.

Could have rested here a long time

We strolled through a block of what used to be different cloisters and associated churches. We passed the Chiesa di San Salvatore and came to the Chiesa di Santa Chiara, a stunning baroque church in white marble and gold. For me, this was a take-your-breath-away kind of place. I think our tour guide, a masterful whistler, might have whistled Ave Maria or some baroque song. I might have cried.

Farther down the street, we saw Noto Cathedral (Cattedrale di San Nicolò), which was reconstructed in baroque style in the 18th century with a neoclassical dome, also reconstructed. On the volcanic island of Sicily, periodic earthquake damage, and sometimes destruction, is a thing.

Above the cathedral stands the Basilica Santissimo Salvatore e Torre Belvedere. It didn't wow me the way Santa Chiara had, but it did have a feature normal perhaps for a synagogue but unusual for a church: high in the apse, the Tetragrammaton, Hebrew letters Yod He Vav He, the unpronounceable name of God. This was not the last example of Sicilian syncretism that we saw.

Not your typical church decoration

There was another church in there that I failed to identify (didn't snap a sign with the name), and then we had about a half hour to wander before lunch. Sweetie and I didn't go far. We took some pictures on the steps of what I think is Chiesa di San Francisco d'Assisi all'Immacolata. We probably at least window shopped. Being as we were about to have lunch, we did not go looking for gelato.

Thanks to our group's astute drone flyer, documentarian, and website photo publisher, I know that we ate lunch at the Trattoria Ducezio (I failed to snap the sign), but I don't remember what we had, other than that it was (happily for us) cucina tipica siciliana. A cold seafood salad, and pasta with a seafood sauce, as I recall. I remember the non-seafood eaters having some lovely giant cheese ravioli in marinara. I'm pretty sure we ate some more octopus, which makes us a little sad, because they are very intelligent critters, but they are also tasty, and plentiful.

Clever descent of Holy Spirit design

Unlike one of our comrades, who had gelato both as we arrived and before we left, we never managed to hit a gelato stand with enough time to get through the lineup. That was among the many reasons that we took our free afternoon in Siracusa near the hotel rather than to go along on a walking tour (which our guide graciously volunteered to do) through Ortigia, the old city, a much more interesting part than the neighbourhood in which our hotel was situated. We were determined to find gelato! Also, it was threatening rain, and we weren't up for touring while damp.

So instead, we got adventurous and set off with a screen-capped Google map and directions to a nearby gelato shop. We walked about a kilometre from the hotel, making a slight left here and a sharp right there, along barely-there sidewalks that periodically vanished, dodging the fecal leavings of small dogs the entire way. It was not the most pleasant walk we had ever taken, and when we reached the shop, it was closed, probably for afternoon siesta time. This was not in a touristy area. Majorly bummed, we retraced our steps on the marginal sidewalks around the poo back to the hotel. At least we didn't get lost. 

Yr humble narrator with natural hair

A magnificent orange, or maybe two, from a market in Palermo eaten on the only slightly damp (at that point) roof deck put us in better spirits. The honour-system rooftop bar, however, was lacking in choices, so we headed to the main floor, where Sweetie had a spritz and I had a beer. It was a shame to be in Siracusa and miss Ortigia, which apparently is like going to New York and not visiting Manhattan, but we benefited from the downtime.

The previous night's abundant but not-very-nice hotel restaurant dinner was best left unmentioned. This night's dinner was only somewhat improved. Here was another hotel chef who seemed to find seasoning a challenge. Adding the missing salt at table doesn't work as well as building salt into your food during cooking to bring out the best flavour, grumbles the amateur home cook and disciple of Samin Nosrat.