Day 29 30-09-2013 Mon Siracusa

Several things I forgot to mention about yesterday – firstly that being a Sunday, road traffic was quite light, especially in the afternoon, allowing for an unhurried and unharried pace. Not that we have been speeding much. Let me qualify that. On autostrada we generally travel at considerably less than the usual 130 Km/h limit. On secondary roads though, which are variously posted as 50 / 60 / 70 / 80, we generally travel in excess of that, often by a considerable amount. This is because the limits are often not in agreement with the actual road alignment or conditions. On one occasion several days ago when the limit was 50, we were traveling at twice that speed, but 20 or 30 over is not uncommon and it's not just by us – we take our lead from the locals.

I have mentioned elevation several times so far – one of the benefits of a GPS – as I now watch this on our drives. Yesterday on the way to Ragusa, at the end of a climb up to 600m, there was a fabulous view to the south, overlooking two towns in the distance, and even the sea, and there was even a place to pull over for a look-see. Unfortunately the morning haze meant that the photos are uninspiring.

Due to time and distance, we have had to give up on our intention of visiting Inspector Montalbano’s house in Punta Secca, so today we are spending here in Ortigia, which is actually an island, but firmly anchored to the mainland by two bridges.

We spent the morning having a closer look at Ortigia, mainly around the foreshore. We started at the markets. At first we thought this was just the usual tourist goods, but it soon morphed into a produce market around the first corner. And what a selection there was on offer – mouth watering. The fish were particularly impressive, with tuna and swordfish on display.

Note the swordfish

We were disappointed that the castello at the point was Zona Militare, so we could not enter. 

Not the kind we are familiar with

Fascinating church we have yet to visit

Roman temple

Will he or won't he jump?

Typical Sicilian souvenirs

Fruit-shaped marzipan

On the Duomo piazza

Goose menacing a duck

Public solarium and bathing beach!!

We had lunch at the Piazza Roma with a direct view of the Fountain of Diana.

After the obligatory siesta we dashed south down the autostrada to the hill town of Noto. This is probably the most beautiful town in Sicily because of the large number of well-built and maintained baroque houses, palazzos and churches.

We visited three churches: San Carlo, the cathedral of Madre di San Nicolò, and Montevergine. We also visited the Palazzo Nicolaci near the cathedral.

After viewing the interior of the first church – very tasteful - 

we mounted the very tight (less than 2m interior diameter) spiral stairwell of the campanile for a magnificent view of the cathedral precinct. Noto is south-facing so the light is probably always good here.

View to cathedral

Looking down on tourists

The second church, the cathedral, was disappointing as the interior was being renovated, with high scaffolding obstructing the middle. Its exterior and setting were superb though, especially when viewed from the campanile at San Marco.

Our first impression inside the third church was that we had inadvertently entered a KKK stronghold as the church was filled with costumes draped on stick dummies, with hoods or plain-cloth faces, giving a sinister appearance. Closer inspection revealed that these were simply costumes of religious orders used for festivals.

We had intended to have dinner on the Duomo Piazza, but it was a little windy and the restaurants weren't waiting on outside tables, so we headed down to the lungomare and ate outside in a place that was protected from the wind. It was unusual in that the lower floor inside was glass with seawater underneath, perhaps a bath from Roman tmes (or so they might have us believe). Poor service and indifferent food.

Day 28 29-09-2013 Sun Siracusa

We were a little sorry to leave the Villa Trigona as it had been such a pleasant, if too short, stay there. We elected to take in several hill towns on the way to our next lodgings in Siracusa. The first was Ragusa Ibla, the old part of town with a good early baroque cathedral. The stained glass (perhaps of recent vintage) was most impressive, and the cupola unusually had high clear glass windows. The rest of the interior was restrained and tasteful by comparison to some others.

We had both coffee and then later lunch at a little café at the bottom of the duomo piazza where we were briefly entertained by a performance of a dancing school. Arancini again – yum.

Next stop Modica – Basso and Alta (lower and upper). Coming in to town was a treat as part of way in was via the Panoramica overlooking the lower town – just fabulous the whole town laid out before you. A similar view was later afforded from the other side of the valley in the upper town. It’s one thing to see two churches from above, it’s another trying to find them at ground level. We happened on the smaller of the two first and thought we had found the big one, but it took a while before we realised our mistake. Compounding our errors, when we found the big one – San Giorgio – we too eagerly attempted the climb up the many steps in 30+℃, only finding out when we got up there that we could have driven. Being after lunch time, on a Sunday, the churches were closed – we are used to that now.

We wound our way circuitously up the upper town where we had a quick glimpse at the exterior of the church there and then hastened to the belvedere (lookout) for the view from the other side of the valley. It’s quite wonderful that you can get such a comprehensive overview of a town (the lower town).

The drive all day had been through very scenic landscapes, mostly at an elevation of about 400m. I forgot to mention that on our drive yesterday we passed through areas where there were strange reflections from the surrounding hills. At first we thought it might be solar farms. In fact, large tracts of the countryside are swathed in plastic sheeting to protect the viti- and other cultures underneath, from birds one presumes.

From Modica we drove on the SS115 to Ispica and Rosolini to catch the autostrada. I am naming this the cow shit road as there were deposits every few hundred metres for 15 to 20 kilometres, without any cows in evidence. Toward the end, a warning sign made it all clear – Animali vagrante.

We had the usual GPS issues finding our hotel in Siracusa, rescued in the end by a helpful local. We took a stroll to Ortigia, the old part of Siracusa. It was a bit late for photography but the Duomo piazza came out rather well.

For PJB: Stray cats waiting for fish bits at the harbour

From our hotel roof

Rather drained by the high humidity caused by proximity to the sea and the lowered evening temperatures, we wimped out and patronised the pizzeria next to the hotel. We were pleased not to be the only ones there and had just settled in at our table when music began blaring intermittently. It was so loud it was at industrial deafness levels, impossible to hold a conversation. The staff were unperturbed and unmoved by my holding fingers in my ears. It was supposed to be a restaurant/pizzeria, so we could not work out was going on. Then we noticed texts of the music being display on a projection screen. We collected our drinks and moved to a table outside, where it was still quite loud but bearable. The salad and pizzas were very good though.