Modica to Licata

Friday 26th February
Modica - Licata

We are familiarizing ourselves with the railway systems of Sicily as they seem to be the easiest way of seeing the island for those places that are out of reach by bike. We were taking the train to Licata on the coast this afternoon but had a free morning. We decided to brave it and drop in on St George’s Duomo in Modica, which we had slightly put off doing as it is up 250 steps. Anyway it was well worth the visit. Roger the Norman had laid the foundations for it in 1090 rather well so it had mostly survived the various earthquakes. Quite a lot of baroque bits had been added, but it was quite unusual in that is was painted pale blue and white inside and was very light and airy. St George is a favourite of ours as we were married on 23rd April, (his Saint’s Day and which really SHOULD be a bank holiday in England!) There was a rather nice statue of him and the dragon in a side chapel and also a good engraving in silver on the altar.

St George's silver altar

St George himself

Whilst deciding what to choose for our lunch in a little corner shop stuffed full of goodies, we met another British lady. She and Alec were both in a chatty mood and 20 minutes later the man behind the counter was still waiting to tot up her shopping. We didn’t discover what she actually does for a living but she lives in Northern Italy and owns a house in Modica, which she is selling. She mentioned various places we should visit, one being a restaurant with 2 Michelin stars in Licata.
We are becoming quite fond of the tiny 2 carriage train which goes up and down this part of the country and the views were spectacular. Licata is a little further along the coast from Gela which has a rather bad reputation so we gave that a miss.

Gela - not all bad, some very well tended vines.

Licata is very much not on the tourist route either which is a bit sad really as there are a number of interesting ruins in the hills, and 20k’s of good beaches. The town itself just hasn’t quite made it and money is obviously in short supply as it was mostly very run down. However we had booked into a b and b in San Gerolemo’s square near the port. Once we had found it winding our way through many very narrow alleys, it was great. The clever owner has been slowly buying up the very ancient houses around the square and turning them into a quirky b and bs. Our bedroom had the bathroom up some stairs on a deck suspended from the ceiling. There was much use of spiral staircases as some of the building was an old tower. The most lovely Sri Lankan boy looked after us so well. He is working over here having been sponsored by some Europeans who met his family in the aftermath of the Tsunami.

The view across the square

Our B&B the tall pink one!

Despite a concerted attempt at finding the 2 star Michelin restaurant, we failed, but what we found was more than adequate but it would have been good to see what 2 stars Sicilian style was like.