From Catania to Ragusa

The sunset turned the sky a stunning blood red just above the horizon as our bus crawled through the outskirts of Modica, the last town before Ragusa, our final stop for the night.

 The traffic finally thinned out on the west side of town but progress still remained slow due to the darkness coupled with the narrowness of the road and it’s frequent S bends. 

  We arrived in Ragusa at around 8:00, just under 12 hours since our journey started.

   Leaving Catania at 8:30am, our first stop was the Archeological Park Of Syracuse, a town of  about 125,000 inhabitants. It is located on the East coast, roughly 60km south of Catania.

 The main features of the park were a quarry where captured prisoners from the war between Syracuse and Athens in 413 BC were forced into slavery mining limestone for the construction of the city.

 The other key site is an ancient amphitheater, the Greek Theatre from 5th century BC. Used for performances of Greek tragedies and is apparently still used, on occasion, today. Above the theatre a fast moving spring supplied water for the performers who’s dressing rooms were carved out of the adjacent rock.
 The old city centre is actually located on a small island, joined to the mainland by a couple of  narrow bridges. Naturally, traffic to the island is limited to cars.
  The main attractions are the ruins of an ancient temple, s fountain dedicated to the Goddess Diana and a large main piazza with a very large and ornate church, Chiasa di Santa Lucia.

After our visit to the piazza we returned to our bus and continued south and slightly inland to the town of Noto.

  The narrow winding roads into the town gave the impression that there might not be much to see but that was definitely a wrong assumption.

 Getting off the bus or first sight was of a large and very well manicured public garden that was filled with tall shade trees and dozens of very large rosemary bushes. The smell of the latter filled the warm air around us.

 A walk to the town centre revealed what is probably some of the most expensive real estate in Sicily.

  Several tall buildings including palaces, churches and a cathedral lined the long Main Street. The late afternoon sun made the buildings glow as if made of gold. We spent about an hour here walking almost the entire length of the street before heading to our next destination,