The forecasts disagreed with each other and we expected anything between light variable winds and a steady force 5. In the event, we have nothing sailable and had to motor the whole way across to Porto Pallo on the South East corner of Sicily. It started bright but a couple of hours into the trip, we got close to some heavy rain - but thankfully passed between two storms. But it got overcast and cold - really cold - for the rest of the 8 hour passage. We had two other storms narrowly miss us and a couple of large ships within half a mile but we lead a charmed life all the way over.
As usual, the quay was chokka with trawlers so we anchored at 1800 with some difficulty - we had to try three different spots and brought a small cable up with the anchor on the first try. A thunder storm passed close but that was the end of the weather and we had a good nights sleep.
We started late for us the next day at 0800 and had a glorious gentle sail under spinaker all the way up to Siracuse apart from an hour when the wind swapped from land to sea breeze.
We got to Siracuse in the afternoon and just as we were putting the sail away, up came a large fast Guardia Finanza boat. I thought we were in trouble but they were friendly enough and told us to call Campamare Siracusa (whover that was). He answered but was so weak we couldn't hear him so we went slowly, under escort, into the harbour to try again. And he then refused to answer. We were now met by a police boat, an naval warship and a flotilla of customs boats all pointing and waving at us. Very worrying! In the end we figured out that they wanted us to keep well clear of a tripper boat that was skirting the old town, full of suits.
We were then escorted a mile across the harbour and watched while we anchored. I fully expected to be boarded and turned over - but off he went to intercept another sailing boat that had appeared in the entrance. We assumed that someone like Berlesconi must be in town.
On Sunday we met some friends from Malta who had been here a few days. It turned out that we had caught the tail end of the G8 conference - and we were lucky. If we had arrived in the previous 3 days, we woudl probably been denied entrance, and if 4 days previous would have been locked in the harbour and not even allowed ashore in the dinghy to shop!
We spent Monday and Tuesday shopping and nosing around. There was an amazing statue called "the Awakening" that had been installed for the G8 Environmental summit. The Duomo is impressive, the old town has charming backstreets and the Font of Arethusa is beutiful. the last is a large freshwater spring that comes up inside the fortifications of the old town and is one of the things that made ancient Siracuse so powerful as it could resist sieges.
The ancient ruins though were either closed or covered over in wood for a fashion show - and there is very little in the modern town to remind you that this was one of the most powerful city-states of the ancient world - until it was foolish enough to pick a quarrel with Rome that is.
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