The road to Ragusa wound up into the hills and was rather narrow and twisty, so it was quite worrying in the bus, which was rather wide for the road. On several occasions, under low bridges the bus had to take the middle of the road in order to fit under the bridge, somewhat to the dismay of oncoming drivers.
On the way to Ragusa, we drove past the town of Modica. It is another world heritage site, but these days is rather more famous because some of scenes from the Montalbano series are shot there. As we passed in the bus, I took a photo of the overall view you see at the start of the series, but it was a rubbish photo, since the bus wes moving so fast.
I was a bit luckier with the overall view of Ragusa.
The bus dropped us outside the town, and we walked up the hill. Ragusa is another world heritage site, having also been rebuilt in the Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake. The patron saint of the city is St. George, and this is the remains of the original Norman Cathedral of St. George, which was destroyed in the earthquake.
You can still see the remains of the carving of the saint over the door.
We walked on up the hill, past more Baroque buildings. This is the Town Hall, which is not only a beautiful building, it is also the scene of what was supposed to be a shooting in the Montalbano series outside the police station.
It is not, in fact, outside the police station. The police station, which is in my photograph below, is a good deal further up the hill. And I don't think you can get to it using the route by which Montalbano drives.
I'm also far from sure it is a police station at all in real life. But by great good fortune, there happened to be a police car just outside when we walked past, so everybody quickly took a photograph.
The street continues up the hill to the new Cathedral of St. George - new in the sense of being built after the 1693 earthquake.
You may be able to see from this photo that it does not face directly down the street, but is slightly off-set. This may be so that more of the building than just the facade is visible as you climb the street. Interestingly enough, just as we climbed the steps to go in, the Angelus started - it being mid-day. So it isn't just rung on Sundays.
The inside of the Cathedral, while not as plain as one in Noto, is plainer than some Baroque churches.
I took a few photos inside the Cathedral. There were some interesting relics of St. George, which are carried in procession round the town on April 23rd. There was an interesting, and somewhat gory statue from the early 1700s. And there were some quite elaborate Stations of the Cross on the pillars surrounding the nave.
After we left the church, we went back down the hill again to sample some cheese and chocolate. The local cheese was absolutely delicious, but it didn't seem sensible to carry cheeses about in all the heat. None of us really liked the chocolate, which is made to a special ancient recipe that was brought from South America. It was very strong and quite gritty. There was also wine, which was very nice indeed, but Paul thought it would be awkward to carry. And there were some incredibly delicious little biscuits, so I bought some of those. My family shouldn't hope too much though, I doubt they will make it home!
We had lunch in a local cafe, and then a delightful pear ice cream from an ice-cream shop. Then we went back down to meet the bus which was to take us next to Piazza Armerina. This town is quite far inland, out of the earthquake region. The drive took a bit less than two hours, once again round worrying hairpin bends on steep hillsides. The earth is almost a khaki colour.
I'm afraid this is a very poor quality photograph, taken out of the bus window in the rain. Yes, we have had rain! However, we were in the bus, so we didn't get wet.
We checked in to our hotel, where we had time for a short rest before dinner. Dinner was a long walk away, but it was really delicious - I had something called Boca di Lupo, which is veal with ham and cheese, and was one of the nicest things I have ever eaten. This restaurant also served grilled vegetables, which was a nice change - I haven't been getting my 5 a day!
On the way back, we noticed a church was open, and Antonio our guide said we should look inside as it was usually shut, and it was a Norman church, so very interesting. However, when we got up the steps, we discovered it was open for a funeral. We did take a quick peek inside - the old painted wooden ceiling is Norman. I would have loved to take a photograph, but you can't really do that at a funeral, so we'll just have to rely on memories.
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