Noto to Modica & a day in Ragusa

Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th February
Noto to Modica
The wind had really got up in the night, and we had to save the washing off the line on the balcony at 3.am as it was in danger of ending up in Tunisia. However it was a lovely sunny day so we left to go to Modica. We had spent hours pouring over the (somewhat inaccurate) map to work out how to miss the very busy road which went directly there. So back down the Squashed dog road for the first 5 miles and then we turned off on to really quiet rural roads. It was quite the prettiest part of the world we have been in for some time - rolling farmland surrounded by terraces of stone walls, a few vines but mostly fields of artichokes or almond and citrus fruit orchards. There were only the occasional farm vans and fruit pickers.





A tree with both oranges and lemons on it!






Man stripped to the waist picking the elusive artichokes.



It would have been bliss except for the eye-watering very strong west wind straight into our faces. We arrived in Rosolini after 4 hours of biking having only done 17 miles. Going up the hills my speedo registered between 0 and 2.5 miles an hour and I was pedaling/pushing like hell.
We collapsed exhausted into a cafeteria in the town square and were very excited to see a girl in the bar tucking in to some delicious looking globe artichokes, so we asked for them too, only to be told they were for staff only! This happens quite regularly in the restaurants we visit. We are given the menu, nearly always the same selections of pizza and pasta, choose something only to see someone else tuck in to some wonderful local seafood or vegetable! Somewhat dissappointedly we filled ourselves with a carbohydrate feast of pizza and ice creams and set off again. However, we had another 18 miles to do and it would be all uphill to Modica. It was my lowest point so far of the entire trip as I had to admit defeat and say I couldn’t do it. Alec was very considerate and we stopped to decide what action to take. Fortunately the local garage man was full of bonhomie and pointed us towards the train station just outside the town. We were lucky to find ourselves there 15 minutes before the train to Modica and it was such a relief to sit on a train for the next hour.
The people here are the most extraordinary mix of amazingly kind and helpful to outright hostile. On the way into Rosolini we had stopped for a breather and a man stopped his car to see if we needed help. The garage man was a delight and then you get on the train and the ticket man was thoroughly unpleasant. Luckily the train driver, who I think pulls rank, wanted us on board and was kindness itself. We are not entirely surprised by these attitudes as the graffiti, the videos on sale at the stations and the lectures advertised at the town hall all portray some fairly strong right wing and xenophobic views!!
On arrival at Modica there was a certain amount of scratching of heads as to the whereabouts of our hotel, with most people just pointing up to the sky and telling us to go ever upwards - so we did. It was necessary to push the bikes for a couple of miles but we made it to a most comfortable 4 star hotel in a very run down part of Modica. (it was on a very cheap deal probably because someone had started building a large block of flats directly in front of their view and then given up, so you now look out on a concrete monstrosity and not many tourists would go to that part of town)
On Thursday we took ourselves off to look at the baroque capital of Ragusa. This involves a bus ride (you wouldn’t do this route on a bike) up a very windy hillside road. The views were stunning but unfortunately the company on the bus left a bit to be desired and the constant whooping and shrieking quite spoiled any pleasure one might have had from the scenery.

View of Ragusa from the bus!

Now Ragusa is built on two hills with a seriously deep gorge between them and a rather optimistic flight of steps down from one side and up to the other. The bus dropped us off on the wrong hill – not totally bad as we are beginning to feel ‘baroqued out’ and this saved us a looking at too many churches and baroque buildings, but we missed St George’s which is the one building we would have particularly liked to have a look around. We walked over the bridges towards Ibli and found the lady in the tourist office who definitely wins the award for ‘most helpful in Italy’ and if she’d been any more persuasive we would have walked all the way to Ragusa Ibli – down the steps and up the other side, but fortunately the need to catch the bus home and common sense prevailed.

The awesome gorge between Ragusa and Ragusa Ibli - St George's Duomo is the dome in the middle.

We did however make it to the church of St John the Baptist which adequately compensated for everything we missed!

A station of the cross in St John the Baptist Duomo

Amazingly on the way home we were rewarded by finding out that there are buses that go up the hill to Modica Sorda where we had pushed the bikes yesterday (a very long way up from Modica where the station is) and we could hardly believe this our luck – we were on one.
50yds on up the hill we passed a gents hairdresser and momentarily forgetting the Van Gogh school of hairdressing I spontaneously popped in for a trim and a polish! Vivi sat in the corner and I had memories of my mother supervising my haircuts when I was 5. All the conversation about how much to take off was conducted with her – she having done Italian O level at school! The result is I shan’t need another for at least 4 months.
We had supper in a pizzeria where we were the only diners and one girl cooked the lot, ran herself ragged and did a very good job. What we hadn’t realized when one of us ordered pizza and the other chicken was that they had to be cooked in different kitchens!