Ragusa-Modica-Scicli Loop Ride

March 30, 2023

How was dinner last night? The food was simple but well done, in my uneducated opinion. Montalbano wouldn’t have eaten there, though, because this was the first restaurant we’ve been in in Sicily that had no seafood on the menu. None whatsoever. (It’s possible that the menu is smaller at this time of year since the restaurant website shows and lists a lot of seafood.)

I ordered orange salad to start, with “Lolli broccoli, dry tomatoes, sausage” to follow. Al ordered soup and a secondi of lamb and potatoes. A few wires were crossed but absolutely fine. The salad came first, to share, orange chunks with onion in a mildly spicy dressing. The soup and pasta (lolli is a type of Sicilian hand-rolled pasta) came next and both were very good (and filling). When a second plate was offered for the lamb and potatoes, Al accepted and so I got a bit of that. Very good and demolished before we thought to take a photo. We ate it all. Then we ordered Sicilian cassata for dessert—to share. We waddled out.

First courses: pasta for me, soup for Al

Today’s plan was a loop ride to Modica, on to Scicli, and then back. I’d worked out a few options since there are 3 essentially parallel roads between Modica and Scicli and a few different ways to get from Scicli back to Ragusa, with or without going through Modica again.

At breakfast, Emilio filled the cannoli to order.

The leg to Modica was a bit busy but not bad. We really noticed the bugs, thought I’d be covered in them but I wasn’t. They must have been some sort of insect that hatches all at once.

Leaving Ragusa Ibla. We didn’t expect to see signs like this in Sicily!

In Modica, we stopped at an “info point” that looked brand new and had public washrooms—but it was all locked up. We learned later that it’s only open on weekends and that there are other public washrooms in town, near the town hall, 0.5 € each but well worth it for the clean, functioning facility complete with attendant who watched our bikes (it wasn’t busy).

Between the unsuccessful and successful loo searches, though, we decided to ride up to the Duomo di San Giorgio, which is apparently a must-see here in Modica. It was a very easy climb, gently-graded switchbacks with smooth asphalt. Off the main track, though, was a different story.

Al thought we could go around the back of the Duomo. We could, and did, but of course there was no way in. We had to backtrack as the street ended in stairs just past his bike.

We got this back view of the dome and tower, though.

Interesting doorway on that little street behind the Duomo

Inside the Duomo. I originally thought this was a cartoonish depiction of San Giorgio, but where’s the dragon?

Beautiful paintings behind the main altar

Having been raised Roman Catholic, I had never seen a confessional like this, offering zero privacy to the penitent. The Duomo featured several.

It would have been interesting to see how the local chocolate is made (it’s a grainy texture, not like modern chocolate) but we weren’t that organized. We will have to make do with eating it, but we didn’t buy or eat any in Modica. No need; it’s part of the breakfast buffet at our accommodation.

We got back on our bikes to continue to Scicli. We chose the road with the most “heat” on RWGPS and it was pleasant. Arriving in Scicli was a bit of a challenge as the route I’d created in RWGPS wanted us to go the wrong way down one-way streets (why does it do that? I hadn’t created and reversed the route!) but we found our way to the pedestrian area of the old town without too much difficulty. We walked up the street that stars as the main street of Vigata to the Vigata police station, otherwise known as Scicli’s town hall. For lunch we had arancini, one each, they are quite filling, but Al also had a cartocciata, a Sicilian sort of small calzone.

Our bikes are in the bike rack that’s where Inspector Montalbano often parks his car when he arrives at the Vigata Police Station.

Looking down the street we so often see Montalbano driving up.

Scicli really promotes its connection with the Inspector Montalbano tv series.

The silver lamé curtain seems so out of place!

The next leg, the bottom of the triangle, was quite lovely and quiet, once we got away from the town. That lasted about 10 km and then we joined a busier road. It wasn’t too bad, just not as quiet and peaceful as before. It was a long climb but the grade was gentle.

So different from the landscapes we’ve been riding through

Drystone walls, yellow flowers, and an olive tree

And then we hit the outskirts of Ragusa. Through the light-industrial area was fine (we thought we smelled cheese-making emanating from one area) but eventually we found ourselves on a fast, very busy road again, just like our previous ride across the Ragusa plateau. We finally turned off onto city streets again and descended to Ragusa Ibla via a different route than before. We liked the narrow switchback street from our previous descent better because it had much less traffic but that’s the sort of thing you don’t discover until it’s too late.

After beer up on the rooftop terrace of our B&B, we ate at A Rusticana again. We tried sharing an antipasto plate, a first course (spaghetti with a spicy sauce), a second course (grilled sausage with vegetables), and a dessert (carob blancmange). It worked out okay and we might try it again.

They divided the pasta dish onto two plates.

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