Ortygia is the island where Syracuse began. Greek colonists from Corinth landed here in 734 BC, drawn by a harbour and a freshwater spring, and the town they founded grew into the most powerful city in the Greek world, rivalling Athens. The island is small enough to walk across in fifteen minutes and holds an astonishing density of history. The cathedral is built into the columns of a Greek temple of Athena, so the Doric pillars are still visible in its walls. A few steps away, the freshwater spring of Arethusa still bubbles up beside the sea, with papyrus plants growing in the pool.
Archimedes lived here, and the Roman general Marcellus took the city after a long siege in 212 BC, with his orders reportedly to spare the great mathematician, who was killed anyway. Later centuries brought Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spanish, and the baroque rebuilding after the earthquake of 1693 gave the island its honey-coloured piazzas.
For a rider, Ortygia is lovely but awkward. The island is mostly a restricted traffic zone, and its lanes are narrow and full of people, so leave the bike in a car park on the mainland near the bridge and walk across. Syracuse itself is a busy city of nearly a hundred thousand with pumps all around, and you will find fuel before you reach the island. The market near the Temple of Apollo in the morning is full of swordfish, tomatoes, capers and cheese, and the stalls will sell you a sandwich that does the job of lunch.
The rest of south-east Sicily is excellent for riding. The roads toward Noto and Scicli run through limestone country, with carob trees, dry stone walls and the bright baroque towns of the Val di Noto, and the surface varies from smooth to rough. Spring is the best season, with wildflowers and warm days, while August is too hot for comfort. Wind can blow strongly along the coast.
Evening is the best moment for Ortygia, when the stone glows, the sea turns pink and the lanes fill with the smell of grilled fish.