Syracuse, Sicily.

After the driving and the freakishly narrow roads it was time to park the car and not drive for a few more days. It was our last stop before we were to head back home and it was to be Syracuse, a city which has around 2,700 years of history to it. Having been part of differing groups history such as the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines, who all used this city as a safe harbour and base to rule Eastern Sicily.

In more recent years you could see distinct quarters dedicated to different trades and skills. Even now walking around if a door is open you can catch a glimpse of someone working on a boat, a fishing net or stone plinth. It makes the winding laneways an adventure no matter how many times you walk them.

winding ways

The antenna brigade.

Yep, more stone churches

But this one had a wedding

All the locals dressed in their finery 

Notice the drone top left

Bald spot photos must be all the rage in Italy.

Back to my growing collection of Sicilian street cats.

looking tasty.... for ceramics.

Syracuse Market, Sicily

The market is the life blood of many towns around the world. Something Warsaw had missed out on in a reality for years as the bazarek is handy but not always consistent in regards to volume, freshness, variety, protection from the elements, and the push for local goods. This is changing now, and you are really seeing people talk with pride about their own produce. A great move. In Warsaw you can find small market stalls that spring up on roadsides in summer, but they vanish again come winter, this is why I have a love of the Adelaide Central Market. A place where things have a history behind them, local is promoted and you can visit in all seasons. It set me on a path for the rest of my life. That is to seek out markets in every town I visit. Italy, is a magical place for this. The market life here is full of vigour, love, passion and quite often humour. On a "fresh" morning in Syracuse we got up a little earlier than normal to visit the market before it closed and was too flooded by people. It is certainly worth the visit, purely for the fresh fish. I think the volume and variety here is great, Trapani to me was better in one way, because it was a lot of small boat owners selling their wares. That said, the vendors here in Syracuse were great with us and our pigeon Italian but desire for good food.

Parking can be hard to find, but I don't recommend parking your hire car in the harbour.....

The local and DOC registered tomato here is sundries. I do like that it is called the Pomodoro di Pachino, makes me think "Hollywood diet" but of course that is the name of the region it is from and the one we just visited from Noto to Ispica to Syracuse

One of the tastiest things around, a blood orange. I strongly recommend them, we brought back 2kg of them!

The cutest little artichokes, I still haven't mastered the eating and cooking of these yet. Very fiddly.

One of my loves, Octopus.

We bought some of this for lunch. It was really lovely.

It is not just about the display, but that helps. These are also locally grown.

bucket of fish.

One of my favourite photos.

Wrap it up Buda.

Time to wrap up our short and hot stay in Budapest. It is a really cool place, all is well priced and there are some great things to see and do.
 Points of note:
- The baths at Lukacs are great http://www.lukacsbath.com they are less crowded than the others as all the tourists go to the other "prettier" ones.  
- The State Opera is a beautiful building the parliament is pretty too.
- Walking alone Kiraly st is really nice, there are lots of cafes and wine bars there. You will also find a great restaurant Bordo not far from Kiraly. 
- In general the Hungarian wine is really good and really cheap. There are lots of different styles and it depends on what you like but you can get it all really cheap everywhere, so try lots of glasses and see what you want to buy for dinner that way. I also recommend the bar/tasting centre Cultivini it is a great place and has fabulous wine to try either as a taster, or by the glass, you simply buy a card there and go around tasting what you want. The guys speak great English and have the best knowledge about Hungarian wines that I found in Budapest. I really recommend visiting them if you want to taste and learn. 
- Some nice pastries are things like Kürtőskalács. Papsapka, I liked Retes the best because they come in so many different flavours

the metro is a retro metro

I do enjoy the architecture

Great Market hall

But to be honest, it is just super touristy and more expensive.

The lovely Cultivini shop/tasting room

at Bardo

"ok now pretend I am not here"

old vs new

dragging behind

instead of the Great Market Hall, if you are looking fo some fresh fabulous produce to make for dinner or just to take back home, maybe try the market at Lehel Ter Metro stop. Quite possibly the ugliest building I have seen but great fresh, cheap produce.

cream with your bun?

so that is the end, time to drag ourselves home once again.