First Full Day in Sicily

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Today we decided to visit the ancient hillside town of Ragusa. Ragusa is the capital city of the region and is supposed to be absolutely spectacular. We hopped in the Peugeot and punched in the coordinates into “Bonnie”….Ron’s GPS. Now that she is working better, we had more confident in her that she would show us the way. After a quick 20 minute ride down the crazy Italian highway (it’s like the Indy 500 without the yellow flags), we were guided by Bonnie through the busy narrow streets of Ragusa looking for the “Centro”. We have never seen so many cars parked on either side of the street with inches between us and it. There’s a reason why all the cars in Sicily are damaged and their mirrors are all scratched up or attached with duct tape. Once we found a spot to park, we started walking up the hill to the old part of town high on the hilltop (hence why they are called hilltop towns). Our first spot was the info office where we got a map showing us how to tour the old town. We learnt that the town was destroyed in an earthquake back in 1693, and that all the century old buildings were destroyed. Ragusa is a splendid Baroque city separated by a deep narrow gorge that divides upper (modern) Ragusa with its ancient precursor lower Ragusa or Ilba. The first cathedral we visited was called Chiesa Del Purgatorio, the Church of Purgatory. We toured the church with utter amazement when suddenly we heard a big crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. Was the wrath of God upon us! Then the skies opened up and it poured buckets of water for about an hour. We had never seen it rain so hard! The streets looked like they were flooding, and formed small rivers running down the cobble stones. The church was our refuge over that hour while we watched the tourists run for cover under umbrellas and small café awnings. One family we befriend at the resort was hiding under an awning near an ancient stairwell, the water cascaded down the stairs like a waterfall.
After the rain storm, we carried on with our tour and headed for the main attraction and jewel in Ragusa the Duomo di San Giorgio. The cathedral is topped with a neoclassical dome and overlooks a pretty square with some fine palaces that include the Palazzo Arezzi and Palazzo Donnafugata. We went for lunch at a great little restaurant that was filled with Italian actors filming something in the square. It was really interesting to people watch and see what the beautiful people of Italy do. They had little servants getting them wine and holding out their chairs etc. Every once in a while they looked our way but clearly they knew we were tourists. After lunch we headed for the Giardini Ibiel (gardens) and took in all the well-manicured grounds including the Sant’ Agata e Cappuccini (church). They are re-modelling the church and we watched the stone masons chipping away at the ancient rock while Ron & Dan decided to nose into the front door. One of the old masons started talking to them in Italian gesturing that it was very hard work. I bet it was! We were just finishing our walk around the garden when the first drops of more rain came. Ron wanted to run back to a store we saw and grab some wine while we waited for the free shuttle bus to drive us back to our car in the streets below. A big rumble, crack and flash of lightning opened the skies and down came the big drops fast and hard. We ran for cover under an awning that looked like it belonged to a private residence. All of a sudden some man in the window above called out to us and gestured for us to come in. We looked at the big brass door and heard a buzz and the door unlocked. We went into this large foyer with steps leading up and little plants lining the walls and stone seats. This little old lady comes down the stairs in her slippers and apron chatting to us in Italian to come in. We told her that we spoke English and we would be okay in the foyer, as we didn’t want to intrude. Then her husband, the man in the window, came down and introduced himself to us in a flurry of Italian. We told them as best we could that we were from Canada, in which they said do you speak French? I said that I did a bit while Dan and Lissa said no way. The old women spoke a bit of French to me talking about the rain and that we should come in to sit down, but we didn’t want to do that since Ron had no idea where we were. The rain started to slow down, so we gestured that we should get going when the old fella went upstairs and came back again moments later with an English brochure of Ragusa. We thanked them kindly and took off to find Ron. Ron was around the corner, soaked, carrying two paper bags filled with bottles of wine that looked like they were ready to bust open. He wasn’t as lucky as we were! The shuttle came and took us back to the car and on our way back to our villa. We pit stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some breakfast food and water for the villa. I must say that the prices in Italy are very cheap, except for petrol. Cheese and meat is only a couple of euros and wine is no more than $20 euro a bottle. The fruit & veggies are super fresh and cheap, cheap, cheap!! There aren’t many grocery stores in Italy and most people prefer to shop in the local markets that line the streets. Fruit stands are at every corner and taste so much better than anything you would have in Canada. Once back at the villa, we got ready for our 8:00 pm dinner at the resort dining room. That evening we had a fabulous meal of Marsala chicken and of course another bottle of wine.
Our wine count now is at 12.

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Photos

Main Square in Ragusa
I loved this little bridge over the street.

Locked
Look at the size of this lock! Love the doors in Italy.

Overlooking the Gorge
This view showed us the gorge in Ragusa.