May 21, 2022

We left Catania on our way to Modica by way of Siracusa. The drive was fine although like everywhere in Sicily we kept getting diverted from our lane to a lane in the oncoming direction (blocked off by barriers for us) because the road was falling apart. They built the entire highway system raised up (so as not to divide the farmland maybe?) and it seems they lack the resources to maintain it. Any how, it was a gorgeous day and Siracusa is gorgeous. It was founded by the Greeks and then the Romans were there so it has ruins from both eras, and it’s apparently mentioned in the bible because Paul stayed there. The Romans really admired the Greeks and copied their style.

We parked on the outskirts of town and then walked to the Temple of Apollo, an ancient greek monument that is pretty cool. There was also a farmer’s market right there and I really wish we were able to buy more of the cool food and spices they were selling. Then we walked through the narrow streets and it is a very cute town. We saw a place that offered fried everything including vegetables and we wanted to go there for lunch but Mark was insistent on getting “real food”. So to the delight of the people within earshot there was a bit of drama over by the Statue of Dianna where the three of us said Mark couldn’t tell us what to eat and that we’d be happy to go with him after this to get what he wanted. Turns out he really enjoyed the fried food after all! We also got some arancini to balance things out. Nearby was a store selling pottery and we bought this cool plate of a woman with messy hair like an octopus that we managed to get home without breaking.

Next we walked toured the Cathedral and the square in front of it, then went to the Fonte Aretusa and the Castello Maniace, a stone fortress that dates from 1232, which are both along the water and very picturesque. The Castello also had cats which was very nice. Then it was time for some Aperol Spritz waterside, after which we had a fresh cannoli that was filled while we watched and so was peak cannoli. Nope, we still don’t like them.

We left Siracusa and drove to Modica, which was about an hour away. We parked our car, taking care to purchase our parking pass using the license plate as per the instructions on the machine, and schlepped our luggage up the very steep steps (turns out there was a slanted path we also could have taken but no) to our boutique hotel Le Magnolie.

Once checked in we walked around the cute town and went to dinner at a little family-owned place called Ricotta and Co, where the food was really good. Had a glass of after dinner wine and called it a night.

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