In love with a Harris hawk

Today was excellent as we got out of Catania (always a good thing) and made it in time to the coach station and caught the coach to Siracusa (Syracuse). It took about an hour and twenty minutes. Just on the edge of Siracusa is an impressive amphitheatre; we were all ready to get off the coach and visit it but the coach did not stop there, so another day maybe.

going from Siracusa to Ortigia

Me with Harris hawk

I say Siracusa but in fact we walked across the bridge to Ortigia, a little peninsula connected to the mainland. It was a lovely sunny day and so we wandered around the narrow streets, which have pretty balconies and architecture. The whole place was much quieter and cleaner than Catania. It is surrounded by sea. On our way through a piazza, there was a man with a bird of prey. I've never held one and he didn't seem fussed about how much it would cost, so I put on the glove and the bird hopped on to my arm. It was a beautiful bird, not heavy at all, with a lovely white and brown tail and big yellow talons. I really enjoyed being so close to such an intelligent bird. I have just contacted the Hawk and Owl Trust on Twitter and they kindly identified it for me as a Harris hawk. Jo also had a turn holding the hawk.

We stopped for pizza in a small restaurant. I had a delicious ricotta and spinach calzone; Ella thought she had ordered a pizza with salmon on but when it arrived there was no sign of the salmon. Instead it turned out she'd ordered one with pear on, yes pear - and had asked originally for extra onion. The Italians may turn up their noses at our version of pizzas with pineapple on them, but pear? I tried a piece and it really was unpleasant. The pear was cooked and just tasted slimy.

We wandered along the coast and went down to the sea. The sun was shining and it got quite warm. The water was very clear and the shore was shingly, with a fascinating mix of pebbles. Some were pieces of house tiles, like Jo and I have seen before at Giardini Naxos. Jo and Sticky, Ella's mate who is visiting from the UK, are excellent at skimming pebbles. I gave it a go and was pleased just to manage three skims, the one time. As usual, we all found pebbles or shells we wanted to bring home, and yet they never look as good once you get back.

As we were walking around the coast, with the sea below us, I saw a sudden flash of unmistakably electric blue - a bird, it must have been a sort of kingfisher, was perched halfway up the sea wall. As everyone tried to see what I was looking at, it took off again and the blue flashed for everyone to see. Jo and Sticky seemed interested even if Ella and Luna weren't! It flew on to a rock in the sea and then away.

On our way back we stopped for ice cream (Ella wasn't tempted by the pear) but I chose a bad combination of strawberry and turron. Having to match flavours is not my strong point, despite getting practice whenever I can!

Ella's aunt has sent her a "selfie stick", which is an extendable stick for your mobile phone so you can take photos of yourself from a distance - because your arms aren't long enough to get a good shot. So we had to (on her orders) get into lots of group shots, but it was nice and she got some good pictures of the five of us. It was a really nice day because we all got along well and it felt really good to be out of Catania. Everyone was keen to do more trips so I hope it happens more regularly in future. There are plenty of places in Sicily that we would all like to see and the coaches seem to go everywhere.