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| The sun and blue sky has returned. This morning, we decide to move from Ragusa to Modica. I call the Hotel Relais Modica--located in the center of town--and there is good news and bad news. They do have a room available but the hotel is 72 steps up from the street and they don't have parking. We decide to book the room.
Before we leave town, we make a quick driving re-visit to Ragusa Ibla....we follow the blue arrows across the Piazza Duomo and around the back of the Duomo...before picking up the road to Ragusa. Ibla is a very charming part of Ragusa and we might explore accommodations there on our next trip. Before checking into the Hotel Relais Modica, we make another attempt to locate the other hotel possibility--the Bristol. When we find it, we confirm that it is a modern business hotel located in a suburb about two miles from the center of town. We head back to the center, find a parking space at the bottom of the stairs and start our ascent (carrying only one of our large suitcases). After a few minutes to catch our breaths, a maid checks us in. The room is lovely...large, bright, good sized bathroom...and there is a small balcony with a nice view over the town abd duomo. The only other downside (stairs and parking) is that the hotel only has two outside lines and one can't dial out from the room...so we won't be able to connect to the internet. When we meet the owner--Antonio--he tells me that he is actually waiting for the final installation of high speed wireless connections in the hotel...but he cautions me that he has been waiting for a while. Antonio and his wife Francesca opened this hotel two years ago...he is from Modica and she is from Florence. They had both worked for a big international tour company and have lived and traveled all over the world. They are both very friendly and articulate and we enjoy talking to both of them about all kinds of topics during our stay. We note a signed picture of the star of the Montalbano television series on the wall....he had stayed there during the production of one of the films...and she tells us how pleasant he was. She also tells us about the time that Bobby Watson--the jazz saxophone player--stayed at the hotel with his group and how a 3 am jam session ensued. After getting settled, we head out to do some shopping....we buy some postcards and some of the chocolate that Modica is famous for. Apparently the Spanish brought Mexican chocolate making techniques to Italy in the 16th century and Modica still is known as a chocolate manufacturing center. We go into the shop of the most famous manufacturer-- the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto--located in a very elegant shop whose walls are covered with magazine and newspaper clippings about their operation. They offer us some samples; the texture of the chocolate is a little strange....the sugar remains crystallized in the finished product. One of the most popular products is flavored with hot peppers. We buy a few bars as presents and continue our stroll. One of the bakeries attracts our attention and we buy an assortment of cookies and local version of "croccante"--a type of almond crunch. We have lunch at a wine bar in the middle of town....some good local red wine and local specialities of stuffed breads and bruschette along with a home made potato salad (made with local potatoes) with lots of anchovies. The wine induces a short rest back at the hotel....the 72 steps up to the hotel also contributes. In the mid-afternoon, we head out for a short ride into the countryside to see the Cava d'Ispica....a long canyon whose caves have provided shelter for locals from Paleolithic times up until the very recently. It makes for a nice short hike after a scenic ride...... We head back to Modica to visit the Ethnographic Museum...which was closed when we first tried to visit two days before. The museum exhibits reconstructions of the workshops of many different artisans and tradesmen from the early 20th century--barbers, cart makers, stone masons, bakers, chocolate makers, broom makers, puppet makers, basketmakers etc. as well as several rooms showing what an early 20th century farm (masseria) looked like. At first, we join a group of high school students and everything goes very fast for us.....but after they leave, the curator takes us around by ourselves and spends a lot of time with us, explaining the various exhibits--mostly in Italian. It is a very interesting museum...each of the rooms is developed from the workshops of real local people and their pictures are on the walls. We are glad that we came back to see this museum and appreciate the time that the curator takes to make it more accessible to us. Before dinner, Antonio offers to let me hook up my laptop to the fax line of the hotel, but we can't get it to work so we head to an Internet Point in town to try and connect to their service.....We have to drive.....we need to move our car and find a "free" space for overnight...and the traffic at 7:30 is bumper to bumper. Modica is set in a narrow valley...there aren't that many streets...so everyone has to pass through a one block long stretch of the broad Corso Umberto before dispersing to alternate streets that leave the town. [NOTE: The reason that Modica's main street is so wide is because the town filled in the river that ran through the valley after a disastrous flood in 1908.] When we finally reach the Internet point, I can't connect using my laptop--we can't figure out what the problem is--so I use one of their computers to finish some outstanding client issues and send off a few e-mails. We head off for dinner and we have a little problem finding a space on the street, but Zurer parking karma kicks in and we park just around the corner from the trattoria that we are heading for. Traffic continues to stand still even at 8 o'clock; the problem is exacerbated where we are when the local policeman lets someone double park and run into a bakery to pick up some bread.... The first recommendation of the hotel owner--a restaurant called Gargantua--is closed for the week for renovation, so we head a very informal downtown trattoria called L'Arco. The woman who runs the place is very friendly--she and Diana really hit it off---and we have an okay meal.....Diana has a rustic ravioli dish and I have a pasta with meat sauce. For seconds, Diana has the mixed grill and I have an assortment of meat in a rich red sauce. Diana's melon is good. We drink the house wine on the advice of the woman--she tells us that "we can drink well and spend less" that way. It is a very local place..several customers linger to finish watching a television quiz show. We are able to find a good parking space just at the bottom of the hotel stairs and make our last ascent of the day. |
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