Three seaside cities in Sicily

Say that fast five times. 😉 I’ve already described Catania, but we ventured through three more charming coastal towns along the eastern and southern coast of Sicily on our way to our winter berth in Licata. Each town worth a visit.

These journeys took anywhere from 4-6 hours, and we were treated to near perfect sailing conditions, calm seas, and clear skies. Even in light winds, we would raise sails – we’re getting better and more confident utilizing them and will be ready to use them more often next season!

We left Catania at 8am so we could arrive to Siracusa before 1pm. The Italians take their midday lunch and rest period very seriously. (Like siestas in Spain.) Unless you’re in a very large city like Rome or Venice, everything (and I mean everything) will shut down anywhere between the hours of 1-5pm. Ok, restaurants will serve lunch. It can be a bit frustrating and you just have to plan and work around this. We had yet to discover a marina closing down during these hours, so that was a new one for us. In any case, we made it before the lunch hour, and we successfully docked at Yacht Club Lakkios sandwiched between two other boats tighter than we’ve ever been. Great job, Skippy! The only exciting thing that happened along this journey was the snapping of our outhaul (which holds down the bottom of the mail sail), so we had to take the main down after only a couple of hours in, unfortunately. Easily fixable and already fixed, though.

This was our second “yacht club” stay. I put the phrase in quotes as they are not what you’d think of as a yacht club in the US. Not much in the way of facilities and generally catering to locals who sail or fish and want a place to keep their boats along with some camaraderie. This one was newly owned by two brothers and they could not have been nicer. The location was perfect as it was just across the bridge from Izola di Ortigia – the island where Siracusa’s Old Town and many attractions exist. Several more exist on the mainland, and we feel we only saw a fraction of what there is to see here.

Siracusa as a city is actually over 2,700 years old. It was the main Greek city in Sicily founded in 734 BC. It played a very key role, rivaling Athens, so it has much in the way of Greek (and Roman) history to see. The old island was beautiful. The prolific Roman writer Cicero called Siracusa “the greatest and most beautiful of all Grecian cities.” I’ll let the photos do the talking. Trivia for you: Syracuse, New York is named after Siracusa. 🙂 

We then hopped to Marzamemi, staying at yet another “yacht club” – the rustic Marina di Marzamemi – where again the staff were super nice. We had low expectations for this town as it had been described as a little fishing village. However, we were very pleasantly surprised. It had beaches, lovely holiday homes, and a very nice village with plenty of restaurants, bars and shops with local Sicilian foods and goods. The marina was about a twenty minute walk into the village along a main road with all of the interesting abodes to see. Sorry for so few photographs here – I left my phone on the boat when we walked into town!

Finally, we visited Ragusa, staying a night at the pretty Marina di Ragusa. Technically speaking, we haven’t actually visited the city of Ragusa. We learned it and its Old Town, which are supposed to be lovely, are about 15 miles away. So, we’ve added that to our list of land sites to visit once we are in Licata and have a rental car. Having said that, Marina di Ragusa has its own nice village in its own right. We strolled along the sea on a nice wide promenade filled with families, bikers, and people of all sorts enjoying what really looks to be a popular beach town. We haven’t seen a beach this busy in a long time. Tons of restaurants and bars and what looks to be a lot of life in this holiday spot. 

Interestingly, there seems to be a friendly rivalry (though that’s too strong a word) between cruisers who winter in Ragusa or Licata. Each team seems to love their location best. Now we know what Ragusa is like, we’ll see about Licata! We are headed to Licata today with excitement to see our new “home” for the upcoming winter. I’ll be honest and say I’m currently a little nervous too – what have we gotten ourselves into?! – along with a bit sad that our first cruising season is now coming to an end. What an amazing season it was, filled with so many beautiful sites, family and friends, and lots of learning. On to our new adventure – living in Sicily for potentially six months. We hope to learn Italian, learn some Italian cooking and culture, and take in new sites via land. Stay tuned!