Sicily - Modica

After four nights at Mandranova it was time to head to our next destination, the lovely hill town of Modica some two hours away by car. We left early as we planned to stop at a couple places on the way, first of which was the amazing Roman villa near Piazza Armerina. The villa hosts some of the most extensive and best preserved Roman mosaics in the world and they were definitely worth the time and price of admission. After a couple hours at the villa it was time to head to Caltagirone, a local centre of ceramic production. Unfortunately, our timing was bad and we arrived in the mid afternoon, when all the shops were shuttered! 

So we drove through the town and then headed on to Modica, arriving around 5pm. Our first night in Modica saw us dine at a local seafood restaurant where Lisa had a tasty piece of tuna while Christos enjoyed seafood pasta. After dinner we headed down to the main street where we discovered live music!!

We only caught the last two songs but it was enough to remind us how different social life is in Southern Europe compared to Canada; whole families with young kids were in attendance and it was after 11pm on a weeknight! We made it back to Casa Talia around midnight and laid down on the not so comfy bed they provided to drift off to sleep.

Our first full day in Modica was a leisurely one. After a delicious breakfast with freshly squeezed OJ  (and a magnificent view) we opted to see the town. We clattered down the steep stairs to the main drag of Modica (Via Umberto I) and wandered about for a couple of hours visiting the local Cathedral done in the Baroque style before making a fateful decision .... Wine with lunch!

With "day drinking" underway, we ended up a little tipsy by the mid afternoon and stumbled back to Casa Talia for some more drinks and eventually a much needed afternoon nap. Rising in the late afternoon, we decided to read a bit in the garden of Casa Talia, looking up every few pages to take in the stunning view of Modica. Finally it was time for dinner so we wandered down into town and had our most disappointing meal to date. While the appetizer was quite good (poached cod), both of our pastas were thoroughly uninspired and bland. Ah well, they can't all be winners! This night there was no live music in Modica so we found our way back to Casa Talia (many narrow winding alleys later) and settled in for a night's rest.

Our final day in Modica involved a road trip to the nearby (20 km away) town of Ragusa.

We arrived in the late morning and after parking in the new town, we walked to the old town with the sun blazing down on us. Like Modica, Ragusa is another charming hill town that was largely rebuilt in the Baroque style after a devastating earthquake in 1693. We visited a map museum at Christos' request on the way to the old town and a church in the old town but otherwise just spent the afternoon wandering about scrambling from one shaded area to the next as it was hot as the devil's backside! Lunch was at an awesome trattoria just off the main square called "Angelo's".

The hole in the wall had only three tables inside and two outside and a staff of two; Angelo behind the bar and a waitress. We ordered a bruschetta sampler and a meat/cheese plate. The bruschetta sampler had six different offerings ranging from the traditional tomatoes and basil to cheese with honey and cheese with tapenade. It turned out our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we could not finish the cheese/meat plate which Angelo promptly bundled up for us as takeout. Angelo insisted we try a local dessert wine (after we had paid the bill) which is similar to a Muscato but less syrupy. While we dined at Angelo's lovely tunes were being played on vinyl, much to the approval of Christos! We left Angelo's and shopped a bit on the way back to our car before embarking on the short drive back to a Modica, arriving around 4:30pm.

While we had initially planned to relax for the rest of the day, we changed our minds and decided instead for another walking tour of Modica, this time visiting the other side of the valley that hosts the town. We discovered a local artist but declined to buy anything, stumbled into a wedding where we watched from the sidelines for a bit and found a curiosity shop where Christos purchased an old print of a camel, a favourite animal of his. We finally made it back to Casa Talia around 7pm where we sipped white wine purchased earlier in the day at Ragusa that was unfortunately not quite up to par before heading down to dinner at a highly regarded new restaurant in town called "Accursio". Dinner was decent but not as good as we had hoped, portions were small and the food was good but not great. We were also disappointed that the chef came out to talk to most of the local tables but not ours. Finally, the service was poor; we ordered red wine and were brought white wine, they failed to bring the right utensils and we felt ignored for most of the evening. Christos refers to the restaurant as "Accursed".

We stumbled up the winding stairways of Modica back to Casa Talia late in the evening, finished off the mediocre white wine and slipped into sleep well after midnight.