Blanca & Ian's Travels

Sicily

Trip Report - 2009

Doin' the Ruins
(With a slice of Roma thrown in)

Roma, Taormina, Siracusa, Modica, Menfi, Palermo

Modica

Le Magnolie
Via Campailla, 25 Modica (RG) - 97015, Sicilia Italia

http://www.lemagnoliehotel.it/

Accommodations:  Rm La Calle.  110€  Very nice double-twinned (pushed together to make a double).  Satellite TV via SKY, mini fridge, Jacuzzi tub, small balcony, good-sized shared rooftop balcony, breakfast room, wine tasting room

Located in downtown Modica Bassa

The Negatives:   Can't really drive up to it.  Park & walk.
 

Day 9 Sunday May 31

Up until this point of the trip, we had visited places that are very common destinations.  Taormina & Ortygia are ancient & they were touristed in Roman times let alone by the bused in cruise ship visitors of today.  When I was planning the trip, we decided that it would be a good idea to base ourselves in one place for 4 nights after the initial flurry of activity to visit those ‘must see’ spots.  After playing with the itinerary in many ways, it finally made sense to rest a bit around the baroque towns in the south east part of Sicily.  So the decision was Nota, Modica or Ragusa or one of the agritourism places in the countryside.  This would give us time to relax away from the tourist masses although Ortygia never exhibited this to any real degree.  All of the options offered charm with seemingly easy access to each other & to other nearby towns as well as a beach area if the temps hit the searing level (like they did in Roma).  I eliminated the agro option because we didn’t want to be trapped for that long rurally, without easy restaurant options.  Driving at night in a strange hilly country was not in the play book.  And I like to drink wine with dinner which made it a double no.  Nota didn’t appeal either as a base for one reason or another, so it was down to Modica or Ragusa.  After a lot of reading & studying, I decided that Modica was the best option for us.  It was.  I will explain as this unfolds.

We packed & left Ortygia easily Sunday morning.  Traffic was light – except when I pulled over in Siracusa to adjust my GPS.  Why is that?  The roads can be absolutely empty, but as soon as you do something different – turn around, pull over etc – there will be an endless parade of cars for the next 5 minutes?  I know, Murphy at work . . .

Anyway, even Siracusa’s rotary was vacant of mania so the drive to the highway was fine.  We jumped on the nice 4 lane freeway (E45) that looped southwest heading towards Modica.  No traffic.  Beautiful scenery.  The sun was shining.  I wasn’t really minding the map since my English honey was telling me what to do.  I knew the 4 lane freeway ended just past Nota.  We skipped Nota btw because we planned to side trip to Ragusa & just how many Baroque towns can you handle in 4 days anyway?  The highway ends & throws you off at Rosolini.  This is where SHE decides to take us on a scenic route.  Note to self:  always review the GPS route before you start.  SHE took us north through the streets of Rosolini & then on to a narrow 2 lane road heading towards the Cava d’Ispica in the hinterlands.  I am sure that SHE calculated that it was 100 meters closer via this route versus staying on the good 2 lane version of E45 all the way to Modica.  All was well however, because it was actually a great drive with nice ups & downs as we dove into the hills & vales of this farmland area.

A really nice side benefit of a GPS is that you can eliminate 90% of the map arguments that you have with your spouse aka your navigator.  Now you have an anonymous, inanimate object that you both can swear at.  Ahh  . . . togetherness . . .

So around noon on Sunday, we approached Modica from the east.  And entered into mayhem. 

Geographically, Modica’s main drag with several forks lays in the bottom of a valley in the old riverbed of connecting rivers.  Since a massive flood in 1902, the rivers are now buried underground & the town climbs up from these ‘riverbeds’ on all sides.  So it’s actually easy to drive through once you descend into Modica's 'valley."  Except on Sunday at noon when every resident in town is parked on this main drag & or circling looking for parking.  The main street was a zoo.  People, cars, buses everywhere.  My GPS – yes, HER again – kept insisting that I turn up alleyways that dead-ended with stairs or were blocked by parked cars or were seemingly too narrow for a car.  I knew the hotel was on a street that ran parallel & only one block west.  After driving up & down the main street (Corso Umberto of course) I spiked up a side street thinking there might be a back way in.  But in Modica, a side street takes you up.  And up fast.  After a couple of hairpin turns we were high above Modica when SHE tells me to turn right – and down a 50 ft staircase.  No, I don’t think so.  I have no desire to relive that scene in 'The Italian Job.'  I parked the car briefly to calm my nerves.  Then it was down into the fray on Corso U again – which sports not 1 but 2 rotaries smack dab in the middle of things.  I finally located a parking spot at the north end of the lower town on a street near the bus stop.  We locked the car & walked to the hotel – again.  This was getting to be a habit.  

And yes, the hotel was exactly where I thought & exactly where SHE said it was.  But there was only one narrow laneway in.  I deduced that it was a ‘no way’ road for me.  There were also several staircases that led up to this street from the Corso U.   We immediately christened the closest one bird shit stairs for obvious reasons.  The lady at check-in was great & calmed us down.  She told us to wait an hour or so until siesta time & there would be lots of parking on the Corso U much closer to the hotel.  She even offered her spot if we really couldn't find one.  And she told us that parking was free on Sundays but come Monday morning at 8:30 am, we would need a parking ticket that she could supply for 1.60€ for ½ day parking in blue areas.  They were the scratch & win type of tickets but you didn’t win anything.

We went for a coffee & a Panini across the road at a corner café.  At 1€ it was the cheapest espresso we had seen in Italy .  This trend was to continue in Modica.  As the hotel girl had told us, there were lots of parking spots by the time we finished & the whole town quieted down.  We moved the car & hauled our bags up to our room in Le Magnolie Hotel.

This hotel was also a roll of the dice.  It was a new boutique hotel with only 7 rooms & very few reviews anywhere.  Once again it proved a perfect spot for us.  Our room had a large living room, a large bedroom & a bath with a Jacuzzi tub.  Very modern décor & as needed - a balcony – a small one looking over the alley in front & the rooftops but big enough to feed our habit.  The hotel also had a rooftop terrace that looked over the main part of the town.  No one used this but us.  They also had a breakfast room – with a modest breakfast every morning & a wine tasting room that we never used.

Touching briefly on the traffic patterns on Corso Umberto, it seemed to peak at 3 different intervals.  Morning between 8 am & 10 am but parking was still available.  I always had to go down to the car with a parking ticket before 8:30 am because I never seemed to be able to remember the night before.  Around noon, from 11:30 am to 1 pm was another peak as people drove through downtown or stopped to shop.  And then after 5:30 pm as people got off work.  No real surprise, but useful to know if you intend to park & want a spot near the hotel.

For dinner, I handed my recommended list to the girl at reception to make a reservation.  She nixed most of my carefully compiled list as over priced or too 'Italian.'  She did accept one of my choices - the Osteria dei Sapori Perduti (Cosro Umberto I, 228 – 0932944247).  We arrived at 8 pm as the 1st customers – as usual.  We sat in a sidewalk table.  This restaurant was a treat.  The menu was in Sicilian but they had a translation book with English, Italian & German & pictures of the dishes.  We ordered jug red wine & split an antipasti.  We also split a wonderful meatball pasta soup.  I had pork & my wife had mixed meats.  The whole bill was only 28.70€!  And the food was great!  We got into a lengthy talk with our table neighbors who were vacationing from Stuttgart.  They were midway through an itinerary that was basically the reverse of ours since they had started in Palermo.  A great evening.  A definite recommendation.  

After dinner we took our mobile bar up to the hotel's terrace for after dinner drinks.  Very, very nice.
 

Day 10 Monday June 1

After breakfast we decided to head to Ragusa for a day trip.  I had read enough to know that the town – the old town - is car challenged so we inquired about bus or train options.  Sure enough, there was a regular direct bus that left from the lot at the north end of Corso Umberto to Ragusa.  It ran several times per day so we decided that this might be the best.  We bought tickets in the small eatery across the road – east side – from the stop.  3.70€ roundtrip per person.  The bus trip offered stunning views for this short ride (only 20 kms or so but much of it up & down).  There are 2 stops in Ragusa Alta.  One on a main retail street in the upper (new) town & a major bus stop (with ticket kiosk) further along in the new town.  We got off at the latter.  The new town is exactly that.  All of the tourist goodies are in Ragusa Ibla – the older one - the lower one.  Except its not really lower.  Think of Ragusa as being divided into 3 parts.  All 3 are on hills with valleys in between.  The new town is further south & has no real appeal.  Ibla is split in the middle with a valley in between - albeit a smaller one than the surrounding valleys.  Bridges connect the new with the western Ibla but it is the eastern part which has tourist appeal.  A circuitous road connects the 2 parts of Ibla & there are stairs too for the physically fit according to my Michelin guide.  We were not that adventurous.  There also appears (on our photos & on the map) to be a newer road on the south side that allows access to the eastern Ibla – think tourist buses.

The bus stop where we started was 4 kms from the touristed center of the ‘eastern’ Ibla.  Are you understanding the problem here?  It was hot & 2 passersby who we asked independently told us not to walk, it was too far.  They both suggested the ‘autobus’.  Easier said then done when you don’t know which bus or bus stop or where to get tickets or schedule.  We walked for 45 minutes or so in the blazing sun & ended up hailing a taxi when desperation kicked in.  10€ well spent.  The driver left us in the main piazza by San Giorgio which is tourist central for the eastern Ibla.  The road connecting the 2 Iblas was narrow & twisty & descended down & then headed back up circuitously.  This part of Ragusa Ibla is the Unesco part – and it showed.  All of the buildings were nicely cleaned & ‘prettified’ - this place was geared for tourists even though they were pretty much a no-show on this day.  Pretty shops & pretty streets etc.  Not like the grittier Siracusa or Modica at all.  We stopped for lunch in a ristorante at the east end of the piazza (U Saracinu) & had an OK, albeit expensive meal of mixed appetizer & pasta primis for 29€ (my wife said rip-off).  We walked out to the beautiful park – the Giardino Ibleo - at the eastern end for some photo ops & it didn’t disappoint.  But overall, Ragusa Ibla just felt slightly unreal somehow.  Hard to describe why, but too polished I guess.  We taxied back to the bus stop in the new town.  We were too hot & tired for any other options & we wanted to be on the 5 pm bus.  The ride back to Modica offered spectacular views of Ragusa Ibla as we left the town.  We discovered that this bus also drops people in the center of Modica if you ask.
 

Ragusa Ibla - Piazza Duomo

By far, the best views of Ragusa Ibla were from the bus.  Maybe that is my problem with Ragusa .  You can only be awed by it when you are out looking in.  And that’s what we liked about Modica is you are always being awed by the geography of the town.

These were shot by my wife through a bus window hurtling around corners just south of Ragusa.

Ragusa Ibla
Note:  dip in between Iblas on left

Back in Modica, we wander across Corso U to a café for espresso.  I forget the name but it was the one with black awnings directly across from the BS stairs if it matters.  A couple near us got ice creams . . . so, of course . . . we ordered one too.  Yummy.  The waiter disappeared inside so I went in to pay.  Three ladies were buying these fried flat thingies (filled with meats, sauces, tomatoes, cheese etc).  Anyways, the process of paying took 15 minutes.  This is something that I commonly experienced in Sicily.  The clerk & the customer often engage in long ‘discussions’ about . . . who knows?  It wasn’t idle chit-chat from the tone.  Are they negotiating?  Talking about the gov’t?  Berlusconi & his girlfriends?  It happened in shops & at sites many times.  I don’t know.  As an ignorant fast-paced North American, I had to remember to keep my fuse turned down & wait it out.  Have patience, my son . . .

Once again we asked the girl at reception in our hotel for dining choices – there were actually 3 different girls but one of them was the best with restaurant suggestions it seemed.  She suggested a restaurant in Modica Alta (yeah, that’s right - the high part) for dinner – at the La Locanda del Colonnello.  This restaurant is across the street in an alleyway from its partner hotel, the Palazzo Failla - which was out of our budget. 

Since the restaurant was in Modica Alta, we decided that this was our opportunity to walk up.  This would allow us to see the Church of San Giorgio with it’s 300 steps which is ½ way up the hill.  Boy, are we out of shape.  It was a long, long walk up that came close to slaying both of us.  It was nice to see the architecture of the church & to wind through the streets & stairways but it was much, much more fun coming town ½ drunk after dinner.  That was a lot of steps.  We arrived at the restaurant at 8 pm & we were the 1st ones there by 25 minutes.  We had the server’s full attention.  And the chef’s too.  Dinner was very, very good.  Almost high-end type of presentation & atmosphere in either the outdoor patio (with resident cat) or inside in 3 dining areas.  Shared antipasti, ravioli, a bean soup with a shared cortorno which was a meat stuffed pepper that was too large to finish.  47€ with a bottle of ’06 Morgante Nero d’Avola.  The service did slide quite a bit as more customers arrived.  Only one waiter was serving & he needed help to keep up.  And he had seated everybody in different sections of the restaurant.  Highly recommended with that proviso.

Day 11 Tuesday June 2

Excursion Day!  It’s Excursion Day!  I know, I know that yesterday's trip to Ragusa was an excursion but to a Road Warrior like me, a true excursion involves driving & in particular: driving into the unknown over interesting roads.  I got what I wanted.

So we got an early start because we were heading to Caltagirone for ceramics shopping & on to Piazza Armerina for the Villa Romana del Casale & its 'best in the world' Roman mosaics.  We hopped on E45 which is a fast 2 lane road (and goes right across the bottom of the island).  After the Ragusa exits, the hwy changed into SS514, the traffic tapered off & it was clear sailing with stunning, stunning vistas everywhere on a good road.  Beautiful.  Impossible to capture with photos so we didn’t even try.  But believe me, its gorgeous countryside.  Arriving in Caltagirone, we had no idea where to go.  I should have done more research.  We looped around the northerly outskirts of Caltagirone & parked so I could GPS something.  I ended up picking the town center & we looped to the south.  Following the GPS we started going up (what else is new?).  Up is often 'not so good' but after a few twists & turns I spied a parking spot that looked promising.  The GPS said we were .7 km away, so we parked & hoofed it.  It was actually closer since we could go the wrong-way up one-way streets which would have distressed HER.  It was easy.  We just aimed up & we popped around a corner & there were the famous steps – the Scala di Santa Maria del Monte.

Just in case you are not familiar with Caltagirone, it is ceramic's central for the physically fit in Sicily.  When you see ceramics in Taormina or Palermo, they always tout the fact that they are from Caltagirone.  It has countless shops selling tourist drek with a small mix of real art from local artisans.  The physically fit part comes in because many of the shops line the aforementioned Scala di Santa Maria del Monte, which climb ominously up.  A long way.  The city puts flower pots on the ceramics-faced steps to make artwork that you can only understand at a distance.  In past travels we have hit other ceramics meccas like Deruta in Umbria & La Bisbal d'Empordà  in Catalonia, Spain.

Now this was Tuesday June 2 - which is Republic Day & therefore a national holiday.  Only about 1/3 of the ceramics shops - which are on either side of these stairs all the way up - were open.  But we visited every . . . single . . . one.  I had my patience generator on high.  I had been promising this shopping op for months so I had to follow through.  The advantage to Republic Day was that the tourist body count was way, way down both here & at the Villa later, which eased the pain somewhat.  Much of the ceramics were touristy ticky-tacky but some of it was very good.  We did discover a store at the bottom & south of the square which was much, more high-end & the quality & prices reflected this.  Always in our mind was:  you have to get it home intact – so we (or she) bought accordingly.  I finally wrestled her away with a panini lunch (actually not bad from some cafeteria style place at the bottom west side of the street). They was a noticeable a surge in police & crowd activity - I had read that there would probably be a parade & we wanted to get on to Piazza Armerina.  Seeing the parade would have been cool but places to see, things to do . . .

We retraced our steps & rescued the car quite handily & hit the road north aiming towards the Villa Romana.  Now, there are 2 basic ways to get there from Caltagirone.  You take the longer easy way with the good 2 lane hwy all the way - head towards Gela & then north toward Enna - or – you opt for the scenic route.  SHE (I swear, I swear) chose the scenic route (much to my secret delight).  This was another one of those drop dead view roads that test & delight the good driver & terrorize the passenger.  After that fun, the blast north on the straighter highway was a breeze.

And then . . . SHE kicked in again & demanded that we exit just before Piazza Armerina.  Silly me, I listened & 2 turns later I was heading down a narrow paved one lane road through a forest.  And then it turned into gravel.  Hmm.  This can’t be right.  I backed up until I could turn around.  Then ignoring HER squeals, I got back on the main hwy & SHE came to HER senses & directed us through lower Piazza Armerina, back under the hwy & on to the Villa Romana del Casale.  

From the entry road there is a parking area to the left for 1€.  You then run the gauntlet of ticky-tacky to the entrance.  This site is a Roman villa that they are gradually excavating.  Most of the site is covered with aluminum structure suspending a light-reducing roof.  You view from walkways built well above the ground to preserve the site but let you get inside.  It spoils your photos though because of the crosshatching of the roof supports.  I know: whine, whine, whine.

The structure

The latrine

Work in progress

The mosaics were very, very good as you can tell from the slightly enhanced photos above.  This site is a work in progress & was very dusty & needs a good application of Mr. Clean or something.  Just kidding.  You can see everything in ½ hr or so.  We chatted with some elderly retired doctors from Westchester, CT.   They were quickly relating something about Ephesus & then Crete & how it was better in someway due to Arthur Evans' controversial reconstruction.  Overall, my wife thought that this wasn't worth the drive.  I disagree because the mosaics are the best I have seen & the drive was a big chunk of the adventure for me. 

Except starting back . . .

We left the Villa & SHE (that English bitch on the GPS) kicked in directing us into Piazza Armerina.  I was wary after HER forest trek so when SHE told me turn right, I turned left in the southern outskirts of PA.  Bad move.  We went up.  And up.  Into the narrow abyss of upper Piazza Armerina.  I met a woman in a Fiat on a narrow one lane car-lined incline & she refused to give way.  Both me & the truck behind me had to back up & dive to the side to let this bimbette through (my wife’s term btw or close to it . . . the driver was young & blonde).  This is where I needed my electronic emergency brake trick again.  I scorched the clutch nicely here.  After another block, I bailed on that route & tried another.  This time, I followed a car ahead of me.  I figured that he knew where he was going (northerly) & if he fit through the street, then I should be able to also.  This was not fun.  Some of the streets were really narrow & some of the turns were . . . well . . . tight.  After a harrowing couple of minutes of roaring down teeny-tiny alleys & through small piazzas, we reached a main piazza & a sign pointed towards Caltagirone, so I went for it.  It spit us out of town onto an extension of SS124 . . . yeah, the twisty one mentioned above.  

By this time, my wife was in near-hysterics & just wanted back onto the nice calm highway that we had arrived on.  But we were heading in a different direction & I refused to go back through Piazza Armerina again in case I got into the maze of narrow streets . . . again.  I also knew that we were headed in the right general direction.  After about 15 kms of twisting roads & a near miss on another more modern hill town, I saw a sign for Gela & went for it.  After more twisties (but very little traffic thankfully) we got back on the highway heading south & marital bliss returned to our car.  But at least we could blame HER.  And I checked the map on return & sure enough, when she wanted me to turn right in Piazza Armerina, she was leading us back through that forest trek which SHE thinks is a viable route.

This time I took the calmer route back to Caltagirone & on down to Modica & ignored the SHE bitches request for the scenic route.  I swear she was pleading.  We had an uneventful drive with jaw dropping scenery in all directions.  Wow.

It certainly was an adventure!  My wife got her ceramics - although, never enough, never enough . . .  And I got to see those fabulous mosaics.  And to top it off, my wife even complimented me on my car piloting skill threading through Piazza Armerina - and this is an extremely rare occurrence.

Back in the warm cocoon of Modica, we opted for another suggestion from the hotel girl:  the Ristorante Torre d'Oriente (Via Posteria, 29 – 0932948160) which was up the hill again but only part way.  It had gotten windy so we couldn’t eat on their terrace – which has a great view btw.  We snuck out for windy cigarettes & enjoyed the Modica sprawl at night.  Dinner was superb.  The food & presentation was at least 1 Star Michelin but like the Locanda above, they slipped a bit on service as the restaurant got busier.  They gave us teasers & sparkling wine on seating.  We split a beef carpaccio.  Then we split an incredible ravioli – stuffed with eggplant, ricotta etc.  A simple pasta shouldn't taste this good.  Then we both a had a roast pork contorno with 6 - yeah 6 - French fries.  All wonderful.  All local produce.  With a bottle of local ’06 Serasuolo di Vitoria – Valle dell’Acate.  This was our best meal of the trip.  89€.  Just go to this one & put up with the mild service irritation.  The food is stunning & the location/view is equally stunning.

Day 12 Wednesday June 3

Since we arrived in Roma, we had been on the go - doing something, going somewhere - every single day we were in motion.  This day was our holiday within our holiday.  We didn’t get in a car, a bus, a taxi or a plane all day.  So we did nothing on Day 12.

Well, not completely nothing but close.  We visited several of the local chocolate shops & bought some giveaways.  Modica’s chocolate is quite different than any I have had.  It has a grainy texture & shops sell it in a variety of cocoa percentages & flavors.  My wife saw a blouse she liked & went back without me later to try things on & she bought one.  We replenished our dwindling duty-free liquor supply.  We had lunch at the café with the black awnings & ate one of those "fried flat thingies" for 1.50€.  They looked much better than they tasted btw.  We had some gelato.  You get the drift.  We needed a no-pressure day.

For dinner, we repeated - yes repeated - at Osteria dei Sapori Perduti.  This time we blew the budget & had a great meal for 34€.  A litre of jug red wine.  That great pasta/meatball soup again.  An appetizer with a mix of goodies - arancino di riso, cheese, olives . . . veal with eggplant for contorno for me & fried 'meat' (veal) for my wife.  Good basic Sicilian food.  A winner again.

We really liked Modica.  Every corner, every turn offered a different view of the city.  The people we bounced off of were very friendly.  They tolerated our nearly complete lack of Italian & helped us smoothly wherever we went.  The Corso Umberto had a wonderful mix of modern shops, palazzos, schools, chocolate shops, cafes . . . modern small town Sicilian life.  They were used to tourists, but we were still the rarer exception rather than the rule.  Everything you needed was closely at hand but a café was never more than 50 meters away.  Step a block up the hill & you stepped back 300 years.  Every time you looked around, you were surrounded by amazing vistas of stone houses, piled on stone houses with a splattering of churches.  A little rough & basic in the stark Sicilian way certainly.  And yet you could be on the hwy in 10 minutes.  It was a good base.  The Le Magnolie was also a great choice.  The staff was very nice & very helpful with rock solid restaurant suggestions, transportation questions etc etc.  We had the biggest room in the house (La Calle) for 110€ per night including breakfast – albeit pretty basic - but the waitress did make outstanding espresso doppio & cappuccino every morning.  And the view from the rooftop terrace is not to be missed – day or night.  Highly recommended.