Guest writer, our brother-in-law Bill and his wife, Stefano's sister, Genevieve. |
I'll hand the keyboard over to Bill.
It was wonderful to
be met at the airport in Catania by
Jenny and Stefano, and whisked away in their hire car. Stefano quickly demonstrated how he had
adapted to Mediterranean road protocol with
panache, and Jenny's unambiguous and very audible relief at being able to retreat to a back seat is an unforgivable
slight on his driving.
We drove towards Siracusa and arrived there an hour or so later in time for lunch. Avoiding the obvious tourist traps at the waterfront, the well-tuned Jenny/Stefano radar detected the
Basirico Ristorante up a side street. And what a gem it turned out to
be. Delicious food, with complimentary entrees and dessert. We remain puzzled as to why we were the only
table of diners, a pattern which continued throughout our week in Sicily and
which bore no reflection at all on the standard of the food we enjoyed.
We couldn't linger long in Siracusa as we
needed to get to Modica, our 'home-base' for five of our seven nights in
Sicily. So
after a short stroll we were again on the road.
Modica set a pattern for Sicilian towns given UNESCO heritage endorsement - grotty on the outskirts but with an original and vibrant town centre.
When we eventually
found our apartment, it came as no surprise that we had initially missed our street
"Vico Medica", as it turned out to be an alleyway marginally narrower than
the car.
Stefano was prepared to attempt entry but we were spotted by a Grandpa on a balcony, who turned out to be the owner. Within seconds we were surrounded by Grandpa, his daughter Christina, her English-speaking friend Lorenzo and his unnamed acquaintance.
We were then treated to an entertaining hour-long induction to the apartment by
Lorenzo, with support from Christina. It was recently renovated, very spacious and quite magnificently decorated
and furnished in traditional Sicilian style. It had been vacant for many years
until restored to its former glory, though maybe not with UNESCO money.
Stefano was prepared to attempt entry but we were spotted by a Grandpa on a balcony, who turned out to be the owner. Within seconds we were surrounded by Grandpa, his daughter Christina, her English-speaking friend Lorenzo and his unnamed acquaintance.
Our little street was just past the red awnings. Blink and you would miss it. We did, several times. |
Lorenzo scribbled out points of interest on a
town map, and recommended restaurants and lookouts
offering superb views but which, he said, were only accessible by car. For Stefano that simply represented a challenge, so we conquered them in due course, mounting narrow
steps unknown to most tourists except perhaps Australians, or New Zealanders. And the views were superb.
Christina volunteered to give us a guided
tour of the town one evening, which
turned out to be in her little car. Before you could say "grazie", the others had snared the back seat and Yours Truly was in the front, watching stone
walls flash pass centimetres away, dogs and cats scattering in all directions and elderly Modicans mouthing curses behind
us. (Slight exaggeration, Christina drove like the
expert native that she was and Modica sparkled at night.)Cristina very kindly took us on a whirlwind tour of Modica by night. Beautiful views in all directions. |
Our favourite local
shop was the gelateria with a unique serving of flavours displayed on the bonnet of an old Fiat 500. Fortunately it was
located immediately under our apartment so
most evenings we ventured downstairs for dessert, enjoying our cups and cones at
a table on the footpath, watching the
world go by.
And finally, Modica was an
excellent spot from which to explore the
surrounding area.
Dopo Modica siamo andati a Noto, Scicli e Agrigento.
Where we stayed:
We were the first guests in this spacious, partially renovated and very clean apartment which was listed on AirBnB. CLICK HERE