On my recent Sicily tour, our group’s day in Syracuse was one I was looking forward to. Syracuse has a rich history, being one of the most powerful Greek city-states, home to the famed Archimedes, and even serving as the capital of the Byzantine Empire for a brief period. What I found, while not bad by any means, was a huge disappointment.

Syracuse was founded in the 730s BCE on a peninsula in southeastern Sicily. (That peninsula is now Ortygia Island, having been separated from the mainland by a canal dug by the Spanish.) By 415 BCE, Syracuse was second to Athens in size, holding a whopping 250,000 inhabitants, about double what it has now. Wars with Athens (Syracuse won) and Carthage (Syracuse lost, though remained independent) ensued before the city was ultimately conquered by the Romans in 212 BCE.

Even under Rome, Syracuse would remain important, serving as the provincial seat. And from 663 to 668 CE, the Byzantine Emperor Constans II made it the imperial capital. Ultimately, Syracuse would lose much of its status under the Kingdom of Sicily, when Palermo would replace it as capital.

So with such a fascinating history, one would expect Syracuse to be awash in remnants. Well, one would mostly be wrong. Within what was the city itself on Ortygia Island, only a few small ruins remain of arguably Hellenistic Greece’s second most important city. (A theatre exists inland, but is only reachable by car from the city center.)

The centerpiece of Syracuse’s Greek roots is the Temple of Apollo, although what remains is a few columns and the wall of what was a church (this will be a bit of a theme, the conversion of arguably better buildings into churches over the millennia). The entire site was buried for centuries, only uncovered in the Mussolini era. However, it dates to the 6th century BCE, making it one of the oldest Greek remains in Sicily.

The columns are the clue to how far back the temple dates. Later columns were built in sections, laid on top of each other. These are one solid piece of stone.

Beyond the Temple of Apollo, Syracuse still retains a small ruin of what were once solid city walls, built to help fight off the Athenians.

Why does so little remain? As with much on this side of Sicily, the majority of Syracuse was destroyed by earthquake, especially the major one in 1693. So what is designated a UNESCO World Heritage city today is mainly the “new” baroque-style center. It is pretty, no doubt, but no more so than any number of Sicilian cities. What it has more than the others is volume of tourists.

Syracuse is overrun, and while one can escape the mobs by turning down smaller streets, like those in the former Jewish quarter (Jews were expelled from Sicily in 1492 as it was a Spanish domain), seeing the central sights will involve some tight quarters with pedestrians and the ever-present motorbikes heading down what are supposed to be car-free streets.

(As a note, if you do wander the Jewish quarter, you might stumble across what was once the synagogue, also converted into a church.)

The centerpiece of Syracuse is the cathedral. This one, however, is a bit different. If you walk down the long side (to the left of the main facade), you’ll notice columns built into the side. That is because this was once the Temple of Athena, although the space between the columns was filled in to create a church. (See the pattern?)

So why are all these tourists here if the sights in Syracuse are average at best, especially when compared to the incredible things Sicily has to offer? The answer lies more in the water than in the city. With Taormina (an hour north of Catania as Syracuse is an hour south) apparently even more crowded, the mobs have begun to come here for a weekend escape to the seaside. But a small city like Syracuse can’t handle them, try as it might. Restaurants are packed, gelato stands have long lines, and finding a place to sit in the shade on a summer day is an exercise in futility.

You can, however, book a boat tour of some nearby sea caves. They are pretty, but nothing special.

So what about Archimedes, Syracuse’s most famous resident? A single statue and an overly touristic museum that focuses more on Leonardo da Vinci and his use of Archimedes’ principles than the man himself are all that is here.

Sicily is an amazing place absolutely brimming with incredible sights. Well, you can skip this one.

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