May 27, 2018
Caltagirone to Ragusa
This area of Sicily is famous for its Baroque architecture which I had heard of and seen pictures of, but there’s nothing quite like seeing it firsthand. Baroque architecture flourished in Sicily, especially after a devastating earthquake in 1693 in which tens of thousands of people died. Whole cities had to be rebuilt and it was in this time that churches and palaces were lavishly decorated with coloured marble and mosaic inlay. UNESCO has designated eight towns, collectively known as the Val di Noto, of such architectural importance they are now protected: Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli.
Our B&B hosts at Casa Alba treated us to a beautiful breakfast spread this morning in their tastefully decorated home.
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Our hosts encouraged us to ride through their large city park on our way out of Catalgirone. It was a beautiful car-free park with sculptures, a fountain, well kept gardens and a large gazebo and it was circled by a large wide roadway, quite unlike anything we have seen in Sicily so far. It was a peaceful place to get away from the bustle and noise of the city. Near the entrance was a small bed that displayed today’s date in plants and a gardener had actually rearranged the little green succulents early this morning to say 27 Maggio 2018!
As we always say when we’re touring, what goes up must go down. And so it was today when we decided to head out of town on the main road, SP34. It was a good decision because the road was lightly travelled, the surface was generally good and since Caltagirone is perched on a hill, the road went downhill for a long way (check out the profile below). What a great way to start the day. The sun was out and things were heating up quickly however. From this vantage we could enjoy sweeping views out over the rolling farmland and enjoy the breeze as we coasted along.
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The Bike Fridays are not light by today’s standards (ours are 15 yrs old and weigh 30 lbs) but they are strong and robust and can stand up well to the beating they take on rough roads, all the while holding a steady line in the toughest of situations. They downhill like jack the bear, especially when loaded, but are responsive to sudden changes when it becomes necessary. Going uphill is another story entirely. They lose momentum very quickly and that’s when I shift way, way down while keeping my spin at a comfortable 90 - 95 rpm. And this is when I do my flower gazing. Today I caught a large black bumblebee in action, collecting pollen from the flowers on a bear’s breeches plant, Acanthus mollus, which grows willy nilly throughout Sicily. This monster bee was a perfect fit for the flowers of this plant and when he was inside the flower, he completely disappeared. The bear’s breeches were apparently the inspiration for the design of the capitals on Corinthian columns. Hmm...I think I see the resemblance.
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As you can see, agriculture is very important to Sicily. In the heartland is where they grow wheat, olives, grapes, lemons and oranges. We truly enjoy meandering through the countryside and never tire of these vistas. While we have cycled through many countries’ vineyards, we have never seen them covered by enormous drapes like this. I have yet to learn the purpose of these drapes. Could it be related to organic farming, which I read is a growing trend here?
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5 years ago
5 years ago
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OK, so here’s the underbelly of Sicily: they have a serious garbage problem. Without garbage collection or recycling they resort to the only means available. They dump it on roadsides and they burn it wherever it lies. We actually had to ride quickly to avoid the sparks and flames of one roadside fire last week; another one looked like it was about to become a full on forest fire. There wasn’t a soul in sight watching over the fire. The landscape is dotted with smoke rising from garbage fires. Even the roadside recycle bins are overflowing with garbage. We were constantly shocked at seeing these piles but stopped taking pictures of them eventually. I understand this plagues many areas of Italy and to be fair, the areas in Sicily that have the highest tourist traffic are kept clean. Clearly, there is a much bigger story here.
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Shortly after passing the roadside garbage dump, we entered the outskirts of Comiso. It was time for a refreshment stop so we began scanning for signs of a bar along our route towards Ragusa. Entrance ways to bars are often clogged with men just hanging out and so it was just by luck that I glanced past the lingering males and spotted a bright modern bar. We found a table and ordered two granita’s, a lemon granita for me and a coffee one with whipping cream for David. The standard issue is to have a large brioche with your granita but we passed on that as they are quite filling and we had to climb the Iblian mountains out of Comiso. Once we had cooled down, we headed off for the hill. The road switchbacked back and forth making its way steadily upward, eventually to a plateau that led to Ragusa. The light breeze was directly behind us and then in our faces, then behind us as we rounded each hairpin. We went from raining sweat to cooling off with each bend in the road. As we gained elevation, we could see Comiso with its prominent cathedral as well as the city of Vittoria and the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. Although it’s not clearly visible in the photograph, Comiso also has an airport and is the site of an abandoned 379-acre Air Base that was used during the Cold War to house 116 ground launched cruise missiles (nuclear armed) after its completion in 1983. The United States poured more than $100 million to build spacious, modern facilities here in the early 80’s but the entire facility quickly became obsolete when a Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was signed between NATO and the Soviets in December 1987.
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The ride along the plateau into Ragusa was easy-breezy. We were cruising at 32-35 km/h. The gps directed us into town via a back road through a residential area and at mid-day it seemed quite abandoned.
Our B&B was located in the newer city, Ragusa, which spills down the side of a steep mountainside. This B&B was one of the first we had encounteredwith an ‘absentee’ owner . We didn’t realize there was nobody on site at the B&B and due to lack of internet we were not able to get in touch with our host to meet us, so we had to get creative once again. We flagged down some young people to call the B&B on their phone, but the number (posted on the B&B itself) was dead. I went into a bar and asked the woman if she could look up the number and call on our behalf. Bingo...the kindness of strangers wins the day! The owner would meet us there in 10 minutes....10 Sicilian minutes. By the time we got to our room, we had spent two hours brainstorming. The room was on the 3th floor and there was no storage space so we lugged our bicycles and panniers up the narrow stone steps, and up and up and up, to the rooftop terrace. It was stinking hot by this time and the breeze and view from the terrace was a great relief.
Aside from its beauty and history, the older Ragusa Ibla has become a tourist destination for its fame as the location where Inspector Montalbano is filmed. I’ve never seen the show, so I’m clearly behind the times as it is popular in over 40 countries.
Lucca gave us a map of Ragusa and the even older, Ragusa Ibla and told us the Baroque sites to see and restaurants we might consider for dinner. It just so happened that tonight was the festival of St. George and there will be a big party in Ragusa Ibla. He told us of the free bus we could catch at the end of the festivities to get us back to our B&B. This sounded appealing to us because not only was it 2.5km to the main square of the festival in Ragusa Ibla, it was also below us by 130m. First things first, we headed for a bar to relax and watch the locals stream into the old town for the evening’s festival.
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By the time we had descended the hundreds of stairs and arrived in the piazza at the Cathedral, the bands were marching towards us. Band members were of all ages and they sounded fantastic. The little clarinetist in me felt a pang of nostalgia from my days marching in our local school band. We somehow missed the highlight of the festival when a huge statue of St. George on a white horse is taken from inside the Cathedral and carried by teams of young men through the decorated streets of the town.
The well mannered crowds were getting thick (no cars were allowed) so we strolled to the far end of the old town before looping back to find our restaurant. The merchants open their stores between 5 and 8pm to get as much business from the passeggiata as possible. This is also the gelato hour when many Italians settle in for a cone or cup of their favourite flavour of ice cream. We strolled on and enjoyed being part of the festive atmosphere. There were many ceramics studios and while most of them stayed true to the traditional designs, the occasional artist branched out and offered modern and whimsical designs.
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There was a feel of tranquility in the park with its beautiful palms, but at this point in the evening (8:00 pm) we were ready to sit down for dinner.
As darkness fell the lighted archways came on, adding to the celebration. We located our restaurant down a quiet alley and had yet another great meal outside under the stars.
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After dinner, we dashed down to the spot where the free buses were picking up passengers and timed it perfectly. A bus was just loading passengers when we arrived. Along the way, we passed the Portale de San Giorgio which is all that’s left of the old church of San Giorgio after it was destroyed in the massive earthquake os 1693. The Portal has carvings representing the knight fighting the dragon (just above the door), the Ragusan eagle and flowers, leaves, 7 columns and arches as ornaments.
The bus wound its way up the valley and dropped us off in the upper town, just 4 blocks from our B&B. The fireworks were underway by now so we stood on a bridge overlooking the lower town and watched the display.
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 573 km (356 miles)
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You wouldn't have seen the Inspector Montalbano series because it's never been broadcast in Canada, as far as I know. I plan to get the DVDs from the local library sometime this winter.
I'm reading through your journal again trying to decide whether it should be Sicily/Puglia or Greece or ??? next year.
Jacquie
5 years ago
Sorry I haven’t finished this journal. The internet connections in Sicily were poor. So tough to finish it when we got home. One day...
Any of your choices for 2020 would be great. Puglia is calling my name, at this point.
5 years ago
5 years ago