We get to Modica

Written early Sunday 5th October, in Modica, SE Sicily

Given all the eating, sleeping, drinking, swimming (true!), walking and driving in the last couple of days updating the blog has been difficult to say the least, but now we're settled into our luxury apartment in baroque and sunny Modica, time has become available.

Our last day in Castellammare del Golfo was given over to filling in the unexplored details of our local village and its immediate surroundings, as we faced a big drive on the next day.

Back at home in Noosa while doing a remote recce of Sicily I'd discovered the Tonnara at Scopello, a few kilometres north of Castellammare del Golfo and thought it looked idyllic, so bookmarked it. A tonnara is a place where tuna are brought ashore for processing close to where they're caught. This particular tonnara is no longer in use and has long since been tastefully converted into a tiny day resort for the rich (anyone who can afford the €3 entry fee), fit (anyone who can walk down and up the hill) and who has a car to get to the isolated location in the first place. Stupidly, I didn't even consider taking my swimming togs.

I dipped my toe into the completely clear water and discovered that the temp was in the approximate region 20°-23° celsius. Mullet were swimming around, as were a few grey coloured jellyfish which one waterside expert reckoned, dubiously in my opinion, were a stinging variety. Anyway, he, brave Sicilian, wasn't game to go into the water.

Reclining chairs were available so we reclined and ate our lunch, which we'd brought with us, in this patch of shade. Many cats and kittens appeared as soon as the lunch was unwrapped. Curiously, dogs, not as common as in UK, were banned.

Having used up a couple of hours basking and admiring our fellow baskers, Mary agreed that I could go and get my swimming togs back at our apartment and then we'd continue on to the local sandy beach to sample its delights. The beach, previously ignored by us, was within walking distance of home but we drove down and discovered that the sand was fine, the water was clear and warm, and there was rubbish and building rubble scattered along the back of the beach. Ignoring the rubbish, I went to the much cleaner water's edge and frolicked alone for several minutes in the small clean waves kicked up by the five knot northerly.

OK, I admit it, you've probably seen better beach pics.

The paid-shade spot a couple of hundred metres west of us. Pic by Mary.

Beach time over, we headed back to pack, eat our remaining perishable food and head out in the evening to the centre of Castellammare del Golfo for a last delicious meal at any small outdoor restaurant that caught our eye.

Saturday. Moving day. Out of bed at 7:00am, packed and driving away at 08:20. Initial destination, the Valley of the Temples, about two hours distant and half way to our ultimate destination, Modica.

The total journey, 285km, 4.5 hours. Valley of the Temples, two hour stopover, arrowed, near Agrigento.

Pic by Mary. The Valley of the Temples (expensive €10 pp entry, no concession for seniors) consists of an array of impressive Greco ridge-top ruins again dating from the BC era. It served as a useful stopover for us to have lunch and a break from the harrowing driving experience. The statue in the foreground is modern, and actually designed to appear as if it has fallen over. In the background is the temple of Concordia which has a Christian "church" structure built inside it, over 1000 years after the original construction, 2,500 years ago.

The roads had deteriorated as we went east and soon after we left Agrigento, rain threatened, for the first time. Our Internet connection held all the way across Sicily, simplifying navigation, although our route data, supplied to Apple by Tom-Tom I understand, and from Apple to us from some distant server, was a little out of date as we discovered at least one roundabout that Tom-Tom didn't seem to know about and a couple of unexpected junctions.

We were on the SS115 main road which showed severe drainage problems, even though the amount of rain we encountered was piddling by most standards. Perhaps the drains are blocked by discarded rubbish, which was starkly evident all of the way.

Ascending the mountain range to the west of Ragusa, we noticed the road quality suddenly improve, although the behaviour of the drivers had not. As our apartment managers had requested, we sent an SMS (using Skype on the iPad) when we were one hour away and, on time, rolled into Modica on dry roads where we found the RV from which we were to be guided, and again sent an SMS to say we were waiting (no hurry).

George, who turned out to be a refugee from Toronto, arrived at the RV on his Vespa, greeted us warmly, bade us to follow him (only a couple of minutes) and pointed out the best eating and drinking places as we drove through the minuscule CBD.

George, on his scooter, signals us to come alongside him, so he could show us and tell us about the best slow-food place in town (we're going on foot to find it, today).

The apartment, €300 ($450 Aust) for a week, was exactly where we'd expected it to be, but better positioned than we'd hoped. Descriptions of Modica are full of indications that flights of steps take the place of streets due to the steepness of the sides of the valley. However, the valley floor, which is the main area of interest to us, features a single, snaking, mainly level, road, and our apartment is near one end of this. Thus we are within a ten minute pleasant walk along the main street of the main items of interest. Our building is multi storey; we're on the first floor, accessed by lift and wide marble stairway; a very handy supermarket and chemist shop occupy the ground floor. No WiFi but excellent cellular connection (five dots).

Some apartment pics:

View at entry

The main bedroom, which has an en-suite and direct access to the balcony. There is another bedroom and another bathroom, as well as a store-room, kitchen, and full width balcony overlooking the street and the town.

A very welcome glass or two of red on the balcony immediately after yesterday's drive.

So, this is our base for a week, after which we head for Pedara, on the slopes of volcanic Mount Etna for a few nights.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. So far, in Sicily, the connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.