Made it to Ortigia, after another morning at the beach & a quick lunch using up some of the stuff we still had in the fridge / on the counter at La Casa Piccolina 
Driving into the town gave my PIC heart palpitations, what with all the tiny alleys — one of which being where our hotel was located. Thank goodness for the valet, who took the car off our hands just around the corner, where we’d parked.
We walked around to get a feel for the place. It’s gorgeous. It’s also very crowded. There are a LOT of tourists, which is quite the contrast to the relatively quiet and underdeveloped sliver of the island we were just hours prior.
Naturally, we had to grab a gelato around 5pm — hard to choose from flavors like mascarpone with pistachio pesto 
or pistachio cheesecake.
My PIC got the Sicilian Brontë pistachio & a very good espresso gelato, and I had a hazelnut, almond & pistachio gelato & dark chocolate with rhum and amarena cherries.
We walked along the ocean promenade surrounding Ortigia, watching the city dwellers cool off
and many cool street cats along the way 
The most beautiful surprise, however, awaited us at a popular hangout / photo op for newly weds — a piazza near the marina: two dolphins, a mother & their offspring joyfully jumping around.
(I tried posting the short video I took, but it refuses to load anything but an insignificant jpg of water, so… you’ll just have to use your imagination I guess 
)
A worthy candidate to follow The Best Day of 2024 (and counting), which also happened to be in Sicily & also involved a group of dolphins in the sunset. How serendipitous. How lucky we are 
Dinner was at a place away from the tourist mayhem, near the fish market & entirely populated by locals.
We split a very good seafood “salad”
with perfectly cooked squid, octopus, clams, mussels & a few shrimp for our antipasto.
I was in the mood for some meat & ordered the bistecca Siciliana. It was not exactly what I expected, TBH:
a lightly floured, pounded beefsteak dressed with olive oil & lemon. It was alright, but… well, not what I had in mind 
My PIC had the very good salsiccia, and we shared a plate of grilled veg as our contorno.
Cheap house white to drank with.
A martini at the hotel with a local gin that was pretty uninteresting for our nightcaps.
It’s hot as ballz today, 36˚C, so the amphitheater in Siracusa proper will have to wait till tomorrow. Time to get lunch now
