A few of my favourites things in Ortigia...

Truffling

Whether in shops or street markets, there are few things I like more than finding lovely things in new places - a perfect velvety peach, and an equally soft vintage suede jacket were some of this trips' prizes, but the treasures I left behind - like these punnets of luscious lemons and a woven handbag - were often what made it into my sketchbook pages. Ortigia has a fantastic daily produce market, and more than its fair share of great vintage shops - Depot, Gods of Vision and Ecru were my favourites.

Being as beautiful as it is, Ortigia is inevitably a magnet for tourists, though it never once felt crowded.  Every shop sells these classic souvenirs in the hundreds, arranged in colourful mosaics on boards outside. Many are the usual plastic imports, but these ones were particularly special and a couple made it home with me - handmade from clay and painted in Italy, they are tiny sculptural works of kitsch delight.

Given Sicily's mafia associations, this title is perhaps in poor taste, but snorkelling off the rocks at Forte Vigliena, the town's main swimming spot, was incredible - the water is as green as the sea-glass that washes up on its shores, and crystal clear to the very bottom; it teems with exotic looking fish. Gliding through a shoal of shimmering silver, each with a daub of black on their tails, is something I won't quickly forget. And the people-watching above is as fascinating as life below the surface - tourists and locals alike basking, gossiping, swimming and jumping off the rocks.

Cake for Lunch  

One memorable day, I managed to eat nothing but cake for breakfast (a traditional Sicilian cassatina) and lunch (see below) and spent the afternoon exploring the Greco Roman ruins and limestone caves at Syracuse - including one vast specimen given the name Ear of Dionysus by Michelangelo de Caravaggio.

I have never eaten so well - or so reasonably - in so short a space of time. Even in the jaw-droppingly impressive main piazza, a cappuccino will cost you no more than 3 or 4 euros, and you can gorge on brioche stuffed with three huge scoops of gelato for 6 euros at Gran Caffe del Duomo. 

I'm still dreaming about the zuppa Inglese and cassata from Gelati Bianca, and the Fior di Latte and Mandarino from Gusto Gelato, both on Via Roma. And my happy place of an evening was sharing a table at Enoteca Solaria - the best bruschetta I have ever eaten, and wonderful wines.

The Sicilian love of almond paste rivals my own, and I pressed my nose up against many shop windows to marvel at the masterfully realistic marzipan creations on display, and carefully carried a selection home.

Drawing Connections

One of the unexpected joys of travelling with a sketchbook as companion was the curiosity it inspired in others, and the unexpected connections you make as a result. As much as possible, I left my phone at home in the evenings, packing Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and my sketching kit instead. 

After an exceptional dinner at Carnezzzeria, I lingered over a glass of (delicious) dessert wine and scribbled the scene in front of me - faded striped market umbrellas, trussed up for the night, and stacks of colourful vegetable crates with their many logos. Completely absorbed, I had no idea until she appeared beside me that the woman on the table behind had taken my photograph. She asked for my number so she could send it to me - and she did!

I have a thousand photos of the Giudecca's ancient rambling streets, the white sands and glassine waters of Fontana Bianche, the Baroque duomo built upon the remains of a Norman church, previously converted to a mosque, and all built upon an Ancient Greek Doric temple...

But it's the imperfect and incidental sketches in my notebook that transport me straight back, a uniquely personal record of a precious moment in time. 

And scribbling also offers an opportunity to capture things a camera really couldn't, or shouldn't - like the lady I spotted on my walk back from the beach doing her cleaning in nothing but a swimming costume and bright blue rubber gloves!

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