However, once we were inside the town and began our walk, we were taken by the Baroque building facades. Some balconies [of now private apartments] were richly adorned.
After a brief stay we drove on to Syracuse [Siracusa], historically a city of significant economic and cultural importance. An archeological site contains several noteworthy attractions. For example, a 5th century B.C. Greek theater, where the tradition of staging ancient Greek plays was revived in 1914 (top image), a less well preserved Roman amphitheater (middle image), and an enormous cave [The Ear of Dionysius] that once served as a prison (bottom image). Numerous caves in this area were originally quarries for extracting stone for building.
Below are some of our group boarding a small boat for a harbor tour. Our tour leader surprised us with a buffet lunch.
It goes without saying that we visited the archeological museum, strolled through narrow streets (se below), and made sure to check out the local public market.