cigalechanta

Thanks rkkwan, I'm enjoying your trip report.
My father was born in Syrucusa, maybe that's why I live seafood so much

SRS

rkkwan - This is a great report. Very helpful in planning a trip!

Thanks!
Sally

SeaUrchin

Excellent report and I love your photos. I am saving this for my next Sicily trip.

rkkwan

Wow, I'm glad to hear so many responses. I guess it's a little more daring and uncommon to drive around Sicily than Normandy and the Loire Valley.

And sorry, last installment was actually Monday, 12/25. Not Sunday.

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<b>Tuesday 12/26/06 Agrigento - Comiso - Ragusa</b>

First, let me comment on the weather. Before our trip we did worry about rain in Sicily and perhaps snow on our drive up to the Naples area. But after the rain in Palermo, it was clear all the way. On most days, we didn't even see a piece of cloud. Temperature was around 60F during the day, 45F at night. Almost the same as in Houston, or perhaps a little warmer.

After an early breakfast at our hotel, we headed to the <b>Valle de Templi</b>, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Well, my dad has been to over 150 and is kind of &quot;collecting&quot; them. Agrigento would first of 5 sites we visited on this trip.

Admission is 6&euro;, and covers a huge area and a museum. With limited time, we only walked along the Via Sacra and saw the Temples of Hera, Concord and Hercules. Temple of Concord is probably the best preserved Greek temple in the world, but one side of it is under scaffoldings. Not that bad, though. This is a really impressive site, though the temples are significantly smaller than those we saw in Selinunte the day before.

Then it was a beautiful and relatively easy drive along the coast to Ragusa, with a stop at Comiso. The route gets pretty confusing through Gela - involving several strange turns and overpasses to go across rail lines. Gela and other towns in this area look quite poor and very &quot;dusty&quot;. Reminded me of smaller towns in Israel or Egypt.

<b>Comiso</b> is only a few km from Ragusa, and is built along the side of a hill. Several large churches (all closed probably because it was after 1pm) overlooking the plains below. Then it was a series of switchback behind the town to go up to the plateau. The newer part of <b>Ragusa</b> starts on the plateau and then the road keeps going down and down towards town center of the &quot;new town&quot;, where our hotel is.

Ragusa is one of 8 towns that make up another UNESCO World Heritage site in the Val di Noto, for its 18th century baroque buildings. Its geography is hard to explain, and one really have to be there to experience it. I'll have photos posted later on, but they probably won't do justice.

Anyways, as another example of how driving was never easy in Sicily, even though I had everything printed out, when I got to the street of our hotel, Via Roma, I found that it was blocked as a pedestrian zone and I couldn't turn into it. I went around, crossed a bridge to the opposite side of a deep ravine, came back, and found myself on a street TWO LEVELS below the main entrance of the hotel. [Again, very hard to explain, but if you have been to places like Edinburgh, it may be more clear.] But miraculously, that's where the entrance to the hotel's gated garage! I found it out of serendipity.

The <b>Best Western Mediterraneo Palace</b> is a true 4* hotel, probably nicest place in all of Ragusa. Modern room, well appointed, and there's a Lavazza Blue automatic expresso machine in our room! Very nice. The front desk staff gave me good direction how to walk down to Ibla and take the bus back, which is what we did after have picnic in our own room.

(to be continued...)

My review of the Ragusa Best Western Mediterraneo Palace has been posted on Tripadvisor with a couple of pictures from its roof-top terrace.

mercy

RKKWAN:I am finding your trip report quite interesting--since a friend and I will be taking a tour of Sicily + Sorrento(Amalfi Coast, too) and Rome in March. The information about the food is helpful--sometimes, it's easy to &quot;over-order.&quot;

Another reason I'm finding YOUR report interesting is that about a year ago, my husband and I were planning a cruise and were spending several days in Osaka prior to it. So, I spent some time on the Asia Board and several times, you came through with pertinent info.
Ciao!!mhm

wco81

Great report, rkkwan.

Good pics too. Looking forward to your report on driving the Amalfi coast. Suppose to be crazy and you might not have had a chance to take in the scenery if you were driving, from what I've heard.

I've only driven in France but I may do it for Tuscany/Umbria some day.

But I think I will invest in a GPS.

P.S. Curious to see if you have pics of Hong Kong. You might remember me complaining about the smog there on the Flyertalk boards when I went there last Jan. Maybe you were able to go when the smog wasn't so bad.

rkkwan

Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. At the main traffic circle outside Valle di Templi in Agrigento, we were stopped for a police check. They looked at my driver's license <b>AND</b> requested the International Driver's Permit. So, the IDP was indeed needed at both the Hertz counter and for police check.

Pictures of Palermo posted!

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p680472421/

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wco81 - You can read about some of my thoughts on the Amalfi Drive in this thread:

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&amp;tid=34920517

I have no problem with the driving other than the traffic jam, and I can see a lot being the driver. It's not an issue. Having said that, next time I'll take a boat to visit Amalfi instead.

I have lots of Hong Kong pictures from my recent trip in this folder:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/f49037224/

rkkwan

<b>Continue for 12/26</b>

After the late lunch, we started walking down from hotel to <b>Ibla</b>. We passed by the duomo in the new town, just 2 blocks from our hotel, but it was closed (of course! It's not 4pm yet!). We followed Corso Italia to the end, which becomes a series of switchbacks to go down to the Piazza della Republica that seperates Ragusa and Ibla. There are also a series of stairs for pedestrians. Sitting on top is Santa Maria della Scale, with a great view of the old town.

We walked down, then over to the old town area, and arrived at San Giorgio a little early and had to wait for the nun to open up at 4pm. This is one of the several elegant baroque churches built by Rosario Glagliardi in this area after the earthquake of 1693. Signature features include the concave facade and the Corinthian columns. The interior is also very elegant.

After the visit, we passed by more churches and along Corso 25 Aprile, the main street of Ibla lined with restaurants and shops. Finally we got to Giardino Ibleo at the edge of town, with a great view of the valley below and has several more churches on site.

It was getting dark and cold, so we had coffee and then took the bus from the main piazza there back to new town Ragusa. Ticket is &euro;0.85, and it's just one line, so no need to worry about getting on the wrong one. It's just one bus that runs the circular route, and departs roughly at the top of the hour.

The ride was pretty fascinating, as the bus has to maneuver the narrow switchback road that goes up to Ragusa. That road is barely wide enough for one car, yet it has two-way traffic. Oncoming traffic has to back up, get on the curb, etc, to let our bus passes by.

We got some rest back in the hotel after the 3+ hour walking tour. Some restaurants in the new town are closed for Christmas, so we decided to just eat at our hotel. There is a regular restaurant and a Brazilian steak house (churrascaria). Hm... I know there are several popular ones here in Houston, but the cost ($35 + extra) is too high. But at the Mediterraneo Palace, the all-you-can-eat meal is only 20&euro;!!! Can you believe that one can actually get a great deal eating meat in Europe?

Anyways, it came with a great salad bar, then 9 different types of meat presented in a skewer (1 chicken, 2 pork, 2 lamb, sausage, 3 beef) plus grilled mozzarella. To tell the truth, I was less impressed by the beef ones, as they aren't the aged USDA Prime we get here in the US. But the other meats are superb! Total bill including everything for three - just 69&euro;! So, this was the only non-seafood dinner we had during our whole stay in Italy (or almost).

---

I have to say, Ragusa is really amazing. It's impossible to descibe in words. One just have to be there to see and experience it. The view of the old town in the afternoon sun was absolutely incredible. I will have photos posted later on.

<b>Wrong route this day: 0 (amazing!)
Wrong route so far: 7</b>

FauxSteMarie

I love the sense of humor that infuses these reports. A sense of humor is often needed in Europe when glitches develop (or wrong turns).

Look, do a lot of home exchanges and am capable of even being unable to find the right house once I get to the housing development in which I am staying!

I do have a France story where I was looking for my exchange home and it was late at night and difficult to read the signs. Yes, I was on the right street (probably one of the 9,500 French streets named after General LeCler), but I was in the wrong town! I was one or two towns over. Eventually I got there. Europe is always an adventure!

And then there was that trip to the Auvergne. Do not ask.

rkkwan

Pictures of Monreale, Segesta and Selinunte posted:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p990331635/

rkkwan

<b>Wednesday 12/27/06 Ragusa - Modica - Siracusa - Catania</b>

There's a nice breakfast at the 5th floor of the Mediterraneo Palace, with American-style breakfast. However, coffee from the machine is horrible. I don't understand this. Last Christmas, it was the same at the also 4* UNA Century in Milan. These nice hotels have great breakfast but horrendous machine coffee. We also got a great view of the new town of Ragusa from the rooftop next to the breakfast room. Unfortunately, an ugly building blocked the view towards Ibla from the hotel.

We fetched the car from the garage (8&euro;, free if one parks in the open lot outside), got directions from the front desk, and departed for <b>Modica</b>, just a few kms away, which is another UNESCO World Heritage site under the &quot;Val di Noto&quot; listing.

The main thing we want to see is the Duomo - also by Rosario Gagliardi, but even more pretty and imposing than the one in Ragusa - and it sits between Alta (the upper town) and Bassa (lower). We came to a roundabout and a choice has to be made - Alta or Bassa?

I chose Alta, which led us to the new town above, but there was no more road signs for the Duomo or for Modica Bassa. I followed a street by basically instinct and only had to turn around once (just past an intesection) to find the main road that leads down from Alta to Bassa. We passed by a big church and stopped, but that wasn't it. The tourist office across was closed. My dad asked a local, and he told us to just go straight down the street and we'd find it. So, my instinct was useful.

That little street switched-back on itself a few times as it descend the hill, but then we found the <b>Duomo</b>. It sat on the top of a huge flight of stairs leading from Ragusa Bassa, and offered a wonderful view of the lower town. The church was also magnificent, and very unusual with 4 aisles, 2 on each side of the nave.

Also interesting about Modica is that this town seem to be built as a mirror image of Ragusa, again just a few km away. Ragusa is built on top of hills, with houses spreading down the slopes. On the other hand, Modica's old town sits in the bottom of the valley, and houses spreads upwards. One really should visit both.

We found our way back onto S115 towards Siracusa. Traffic seems heavier in SE Sicily than the SW, or perhaps it's because Christmas holiday was over. I was just driving along in the middle of nowhere when suddenly there's a blue highway sign that says &quot;Siracusa&quot; pointing to a small road to the left. I turned and then realized that it's just a secondary highway that also goes to Siracusa. Turned around, got back onto the main road.

We approached Noto, a city with some magnificent Baroque churches, including several by Rosario Gagliardi. But the dome of its Duomo collapsed in 1996 and is still being rebuilt. We decided to skip Noto and leave it for next time.

But like many times before, I missed the turnout for the bypass. [This is getting extremely annoying!] That wasted a few minutes, but got us a closer look of the center area of Noto.

We skipped the autostrada approaching Siracusa, and went along the coast to town center. No problem finding our way onto the island of Ortygia or finding parking. Bought a couple of scratch tickets for parking, but only used one as parking's free 1-3:30pm.

(to be continued...)

LoveItaly

Hello rkkwan, I just saw your trip report today and have put aside doing laundry to read it! A fantastic trip report, and I too love your sense of humor! Keeping track of how many time you went the wrong way, priceless!

rkkwan

Continuing on...

Let me just say this. I love Syracuse/Siracusa. I think of all the larger cities of Sicily. It has pretty harbors on both sides. Very lovely Ortygia/Ortigia, a new magnificent Cathedral, and of course the Greek ruins. We should have stayed here for a night instead of Catania. And BTW, we saw some tourist groups again, first time since we left Monreale 2 days ago.

Anyways, after parked the car, we walked through Ortygia, pass the Temple of Apollo, to the <b>Duomo</b>. Very interesting church that incorporates an ancient Temple of Minerva, but with a 18th C Baroque facade. Fascinating.

Instead of picnic, we found a nice cafe facing Porto Grande, and we had nice sandwich lunches facing the sea under the tent. Beautiful and relaxing!

We walked around the island a little bit more, then got the car to headback to Syracuse. Here we made a mistake by going to <b>Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime</b> first, instead of the Greek Theater, because they stopped selling tickets for the latter at 3pm in winter. Anyways, the Madonna delle Lacrime is a new 20th C church, consecrated by John Paul II only in 1994, housing the statue that &quot;weeps&quot;. It's newer, but similar in style to the Cathedrals in Liverpool (which I have visited) and Rio de Janeiro (which my dad has visited).

By the time we got to the <b>Neapolis</b>, they've stopped selling tickets. (My own fault, as my DK Eyewitness guidebooks clearly indicate the 3pm winter closing). Still, we could see the huge Latomie (stone quarries). The <b>Greek Theater</b> is the largest in Sicily, but we've already visited the even more dramatic one at Segesta, and would have visited another dramatic one at Taormina. All of us have visited others in Greece itself. The one here in Syracuse is more important for its historical significance as that's where Aeschylus premiered many of his tragedies.

Slightly disappointed, we walked by the separate entrance for the <b>Roman Amphitheater</b>. The guard felt bad for us and let us in for a quick look for free.

Distance from Siracusa to <b>Catania</b> was short, but traffic was horrible. Not hard to see why. The autostrada from Messina down the coast has a 21km gap between those cities, and not only is Siracusa one of the largest city in Sicily, but just north of it are huge tanker ports and refineries near Megara Hyblaea and Augusta. Yet, all traffic has to go on this two-lane road, with a major intersection towards Caltagirone to the west. It's amazing that there's no sign of the construction to bridge this 10-mile gap. Not even as proposed on my atlas. Another thing that boggles my mind. I didn't time it, but that 21km probably took 45 minutes to get through.

Approaching Catania along the coast, I missed the bypass that goes along the beach, and has to go around the airport runway on the old route. Then made a wrong exit at a roundabout, and ended up at the entrance to the commercial port. The police was nice enough to tell me now to get back out.

My mapping skills paid off, and we found our way from the port to our hotel on the Vittorio Emanuele II, through some narrow streets near the fish market. [Think the Nice scene in &quot;Ronin&quot;, though at lower speed.]

We double parked on this main street of Catania to unload our luggage at <b>Hotel Savona</b>, and then I went to find a garage on Corso Sicilia at the middle of the town. Traffic was absolutely horrendous, so I gave up and found my way back onto Vittorio Emanuele. There were plenty of parking spots just one block from the hotel, and I just need to pay for the scratch tickets. Bought 2 at &euro;0.75 each, which lasted me through 8pm, when parking is enforced.

The Savona is a nice 3* hotel, just steps from the Duomo. My review has posted on tripadvisor.com. Unlike Hotel Elite in Palermo, this one occupies the whole building (only 3 stories tall). But there's no elevator, so beware.

We rested a bit and then walked around Piazza Duomo and Via Etnea. At 8, we found dinner at Trattoria &quot;Romantica&quot; on Via Collegiate. They have fixed price tourist menu, but we ordered all seafood a la carte. The bill comes to ~&euro;80 with drinks and coffee. Decent food, but my parents find the pasta/risotto dishes too salty.

<b>Wrong route this day: 5
Wrong route so far: 12</b>

FauxSteMarie

I went to Sicily in one of the infamous tour groups. Actually, there were only 18 of us. We were on a sailboat most of the time and sailed between Catania and Palermo. We concentrated on the Aeolian Islands--which were wonderful. The downside is that we missed some of the equally wonderful things you saw.

We did, by the way, get to the Greek Theater in Syracusa. As luck would have it, however (and we were there in June), the night we were there, no performance at the theater. I did, however, finally get my Sicilian puppet show fix in Palermo when, on the last day of our trip, I literally stumbled upon a puppet show when we had free time in Palermo on our last day.

Puppet show success at last! I hope you got to see one. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Can't wait to return though and see all the sights along the hypotenuse that we missed.

rkkwan

Pictures of Agrigento, Comiso and Ragusa posted:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p803170429/

cigalechanta

Hi, My dad was born in Syracusa in the village of Bucceri. Did you happen to pass it?

rkkwan

cigalechanta - I couldn't find Bucceri on a map, but a Google search reveals that there's a 15th Century building called Palazzo Lanza-Bucceri at Piazza Archimede in the middle of Ortygia, which we passed by on foot. I have pictures of that square, but can't tell which building is what. Don't know if that's where you're talking about.

cigalechanta

http://www.planetware.com/italy/bucc...-si-sypacb.htm

cigalechanta

sorry wrong url

http://www.oliotereo.it/english/buccheri.htm

rkkwan

Oh, I see. No, didn't go through that way, though the nearby Palazzolo Acreide is one of the 8 towns in the Val di Noto UNESCO Heritage site.

There are so many towns in southern Sicily that's very fascinating. I'd like to spend more time in Siracusa, and visit Noto and other towns in the area some day.