20 March 2024 – Ragusa

Miles driven today = 56

Total Miles to date = 2,590

I mentioned yesterday how most of the people staying at Camping Luminoso appeared to be there for the medium to long term but I didn’t appreciate quite how long that was in some cases until we had a quick chat with our Swiss neighbours just before we left this morning.  They are catching the ferry to Genoa and heading home from there next week, but they had been there since October.  Five months living on the same campsite!  It’s not for me but each to their own.

Since we hit the North coast on our first day in Sicily we have barely ventured more than a few kilometres from the coastline, so we decided to do something a bit different today and head inland a bit.  We quickly left Polytunnel-land behind and were surprised to see lots of very well constructed dry stone walling which wouldn’t have looked out of place back home in the Pennines.

After about 45 minutes of predominantly uphill driving, and a quick dive into Lidls, we found space in a carpark from where we could see up the precipitous hillside to the town of Ragusa.

In 1693 this portion of Sicily was devastated by an Earthquake.  Ragusa, like many of the surrounding towns and villages, was flattened. After the Earthquake many of the residents built the new town of Ragusa Superior, seen here on the left, whilst those who stayed in the original part of Ragusa Ibla rebuilt their town in a classical Baroque style.  It was the latter which we decided to explore today, a decision enthusiastically approved by our erstwhile Swiss neighbours when they asked us where we were headed.

We started to climb.  At the top of the hill is the Villino Arezzo,  We didn’t quite make it all the way up there.  It’s privately owned and is 20th Century Art Nouveau in design.

Onwards and upwards via narrow streets and occasional staircases.

Looking back across the gorge to Ragusa Superior.  Imagine having a paper round there!

We stumbled into some great little courtyards.

On a couple of occasions we got ourselves a bit lost.  This is the first time in the whole of our time in Italy that our data signal has let us down a little.

We had hardly seen a soul until we found our way, via a side entrance, into the Cathedral, which was teeming with kids on school trips.

The organist belted out a couple of numbers while we were there.  Lisa said “impressive organ”.  I said “thankyou very much”. Fnaar fnaar.

I thought we might have stumbled over another 1,000 year old Saintly corpse but apparently this is a statue of Christ which they parade around the town every year on Good Friday.

Front view of the Cathedral and the Piazza Duomo.  Just about as Baroque as you can possibly imagine. 

If you want a pint of milk round these parts you have to visit the depths of Despar.

A quaint little square with a restaurant and fountain.

The Church of San Giuseppe and the Palazzo Comunale.  Note it was a little cloudier today and a mere 16 degrees.  I still didn’t bother with anything more than a T shirt which I’m sure had the locals thinking I was as mad as those postmen back home who insist on wearing shorts for 12 months of the year.

The green door belongs to the Church of St Mary Magdalene and next door is the Palazzo Monelli.

The Portale di San Giorgio is the surviving doorway of the 12th Century Gothic Church of St George.

Dragon conquering George may have survived the earthquake but unfortunately the elements haven’t been so kind in the intervening years.

At the far end of the town are the Ibleo Gardens with the Church of San Giacomo Apostolo.

Fabulous views up the valley.  Or there would be if it weren’t for the pylons.

We made our way back to the van.  We had pondered also visiting a second hill town, the nearby Modica, but decided that we’d probably had enough for one day so we drove on past and back towards the coast.  At times the road was like cobblestones thinly covered with a layer of tarmac but then, inexplicably, somebody thought that it would be a good idea to add rumble strips to a road which was effectively already one continuous rumble strip.  We’ve definitely got a few extra rattles and squeaks in the van now which weren’t there this morning.

We have made our way to the Club Dragonar Sosta near Marzamemi.  It’s just a few kilometres up the coast from Sicily’s most Southerly point and so therefore, at less than 37 degrees North, also represents our most Southerly stopover on this tour.

We can hear the waves from the van once again, although this time we are facing East onto the Ionian Sea for the first time as we start our journey up the final side of Sicily’s triangle.

But before we do that we are going to put the brakes on for 48 hours.  There isn’t much of a beach here.  It’s rocky with a disheartening amount of plastic and other litter, but we like the feel of it nonetheless and we’ll get the bikes out in the morning to explore a little more before we move on again on Friday.

The camping facilities in this part of the World seem to get frequent visits from assorted salesmen.  We bought our breakfast croissants and lunchtime rolls from a guy in a van at Luminoso and they also have grocers, butchers and fishmongers doing the rounds there.  This evening a very persistent chap insisted we bought a huge bag of tomatoes from the boot of his car for €2. The car was also stacked with artichokes, which we declined as we have absolutely no idea how you would cook them in the van.  But he did chuck in a big old freebie lemon for good measure before going on his merry way with his boot still wide open.

21 March 2024 - Marzamemi