We’d been on trips to Europe twice before where we’d spent Christmas there, and each time it was rather dull. Unless you’re visiting family, I’d avoid travelling at Christmas if you can help it. Everything is always shut so it’s a ghost town, we always travel light so we can’t really do the whole gift-giving thing and one of my favourite parts about Christmas is the big Christmas food spread, which is a bit hard to organise. We did find a buffet open last time we had a European Christmas at a Hilton Hotel, but as I mentioned in an earlier blog post it had a most regretful conclusion.

So this time we had a plan to avoid the Christmas blues. We had booked a room in this big fancy hotel which had a restaurant, so there would be people around and we wouldn’t have to go out. We thought we were so smart.

We arrived in Syracuse and decided to walk to our accommodation. By that I mean my parents said they were leaving the decision “up to me”, but really they just wanted a scapegoat for whatever disaster would unfold. They also notably emphasised the problems with taxis, such as how they cost a lot of money and by the time we find one we could’ve walked to the hotel already.

So naturally since I was the one who made the call to walk, it was a complete catastrophe. For starters it was madness anyway, since we had multiple bags each, and mine was a suitcase on wheels that weighed about 20kg. The footpaths (charitable use of the word footpath there) kept disappearing, were narrow or would swap to the other side of the road unexpectedly.

Another thing I was promised as an advantage of walking was the beautiful scenery (my parents are obsessed with taking the scenic route and will take it even if it means some great big long detour). So we took the “scenic route” which was supposed to be along the sea, which I guess technically it was, except that there was a wall of buildings between us and it. Not attractive buildings either. I don’t want to offend anyone who lives in the area, but it looked like a set from Mad Max. Worn down old buildings in the wrong part of town, covered in decades of dust.

The walk took around 45 minutes in total, then we finally arrived at our hotel. I was so exhausted from the walk, and just thoroughly relieved that we’d arrived. This relief didn’t last long. When we checked in we found out that the restaurant was closed over Christmas, and the hotel wasn’t close to anything so we’d have to walk through the apocalyptic wasteland (at night too) to get to a restaurant a couple of kilometres away.

As we walked up to our room it was like the hotel from The Shining. Long corridors with not another soul in sight in the entire hotel. Honestly aside from the woman at the front desk, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only ones at the hotel, aside from an old woman in a tub and two twins holding hands. My parents were very disappointed with the hotel, and decided that they would go and ask if we could leave, as we hadn’t yet paid for the hotel.

I was so embarrassed, I refused to go downstairs with them to ask. When they came back, they told me to get up and that we were leaving. We tidied up the room, and walked out the front door, me anxious that the front desk woman would be sitting there, burning a hole in the back of our heads.

Apparently she had been very good about the whole situation, and had let us leave at no charge. So now we were sitting in a cafe across the street, trying to find accommodation for the night. I joked that we would be sleeping on the streets tonight, but honestly I wasn’t really joking after an hour had gone by.

By some miracle though we found a place in Ortigia, which is an island connected to Syracuse by a small bridge. The apartment was a very reasonable price, we could check in there immediately and it was actually one of the nicest places we’d stayed so far. I’ll admit up until that point I’d been a little annoyed at my parents for making us almost homeless. Yeah there’s no second clause in that sentence, I was just glad we finally had a place to stay for the night.

The location we were in was absolutely beautiful. We were staying in the ancient heart of the city, with little winding stone alleyways going off in every direction. It was a labyrinth of cobblestone and charming little boutiques, but not far from supermarkets, bigger retail shops for last minute Christmas presents and a breathtaking view of the coast. It’s no wonder the area is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Christmas was a quiet affair; we built a tree out of a chair, a broom, green plastic rubbish bags and stars cut out of chip packets. We had dinner in our apartment including specialty desserts from the local region, exchanged presents (I got a blue leather backpack that I absolutely love, but then I did pick it out) and walked the streets at night, where shops were still open and there were people aplenty. Turns out Christmas isn’t such a big holiday in Italy, and the main event for them is Epiphany on January 6th.

On Boxing Day we did some exploring further afield, and got “hop on hop off” bus tickets, toured around a bit listening to the audio guide, then visited the archaeological park, or the Parco Archeologico della Neapolis. The park is the biggest attraction in Syracuse, and is home to two ampitheatres, the largest of which is the Teatro Greco, which was built in the 5th century BCE and can seat 16,000 people. From May to July Greek theatre plays are still performed here. The other is the Anfiteatro Romano which was used for gladiatorial combat and horse racing, but was ransacked by Spaniards in the 16th century, and the stone re-purposed for Ortygia’s city walls. Aside from the ampitheatres there is also the Latomia del Paradiso, which is a former limestone quarry which was used to build the ancient city, and the Orecchio di Dionisio or ear of Dionysus, which is a 23m by 65m cave called that as the legend goes that the tyrant Dionysus used the excellent acoustics of the cave to eavesdrop on his prisoners.

Despite the unpromising start to our trip to Syracuse, we ended up having a very lovely Christmas. However our trip is still very much cursed, and to add to the list of misadventures is a full blown (pun intended) natural disaster. The day after we arrived in Syracuse Mt Etna erupted. There were 130 shocks in four hours, and it was said to be a “massive explosion”. We didn’t feel any of them, but you better believe I demanded my apology and then some for being told I was paranoid. I don’t want to rub it in, but I was right!!! Thank you, and goodnight!