Ortigia Island is in Siracusa as well. This very walkable town is filled with plenty to explore and enjoy. Our Go Ahead bus parked across the waterway and we took the very short walk over the bridge onto the island.(click on the photos to see the full size image)

Arethusa Fountain is in the middle of the town. This sea nymph fountain features many of the Greek mythological figures including Poseidon.

My favorite was of this mermaid riding with her baby on a crazy looking fish. Her face just looks so open and friendly while the baby, clearly, isn't buying the fun part of the ride.

As crowded as the shop areas of Ortigia are, there are also plenty of quite areas to explore. Especially during the siesta period between 1 and 4 pm. The shops stay open but the homes shutter up for a quite family time.

Mmmm, cappuccino is a weakness. I'm a true coffee person, extremely picky in what I drink here in America, so Italy is a pleasure to visit and I get coffee whenever I can. So when we stopped for an afternoon snack I was very happy to find this one set before me.

As a cake artist I have come to love food photography. It's totally different from anything I had ever tried to do with a camera before so I'm always honing my skills. This is blood orange gelato topped with limoncello liqueur. Served in this pretty glass and on a coordinating saucer with the light blue tablecloth was just too gorgeous to pass up taking a photo of it. My friend graciously held off eating this so I could take a photo first.

These little courtyards are everywhere you look. Little areas where the residents park a car or a bike, more often a moped since they rule the streets in this town, and then walk into the real part of their homes.

The new and the old meld awkwardly in Italy. You will see the centuries old buildings with new lights or air conditioning units and always the wires traversing the outside of each building. They can't dig up the streets to run the electrical lines under them so everything is attached to the buildings. "Modern" Italy is now a part of each photograph but the ancient still wins in the end.

More tomorrow as we head to the countryside and a gorgeous Manor owned by a Contessa. If you love the food of Italy you may want to go check out my Pistachio Cream filled cupcakes on the new Cake Blog today.

Cat