Day 25 - Friday 3rd May

For several days now, the forecasts have been for rain today and tomorrow. However when we woke up this morning, there was no sign of rain. It was another bright sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. It was 13C with a forecast maximum of 19C. From our hotel balcony the sunshine was glistening on the blue ocean. Perhaps the rain might arrive this afternoon.

Luca must have been in a playful mood last night. Originally he set the departure time for this morning as 8:45am and then suggested 8:30am. Eventually he proposed a compromise of 8:37am. As it turned out everyone was in the hotel lounge at this time and we left at the compromise time.

Once again we caught taxis to get off Ortigia Island into the other part of Syracusa where Andrea, our driver, was waiting with the bus. We greeted him like a long-lost friend and we were underway some time after 8:45am.

The first destination was the town of Noto. We got there at about 9:30am. Although this town dates back more than 250 years BC, it was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1693. It was subsequently rebuilt at its current location using Baroque architecture. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We walked through the arch at the bottom of the main street past numerous impressive stone buildings. Perhaps the most impressive building is the Noto Cathedral with its grand staircase and huge facade. Apparently the roof of the cathedral collapsed in 1996 and had to be rebuilt.

Opposite the cathedral is another grand building which is now the town hall. Luca finished his guided tour at this point and suggested various places we could go in our free time.

Suzy and I chose to walk up the street next to the cathedral because it has numerous balconies on the side of the Villadorata palace. Each balcony has its own unique sculptures supporting the balcony - including animals, children and topless females.

We stopped at a cafe for a cup of coffee after which Suzy went to the post office and then looked at the shops. I visited the cathedral. I was impressed with its clean uncluttered decoration. As usual it had very tall arched ceilings supported by huge stone columns.

As usual there were plenty of other tour groups including school excursions. We'd managed to get there before most of the crowds.

Our meeting place after our free time was at the entrance arch at the bottom of the street at 10:40am. We then walked back to the bus for the drive to our next destination, Ragusa.

Along the way we continued to admire the green countryside and the mountainous territory. Luca pointed out that in this region they use stone walls at the side of the roads and to divide the properties and the individual fields. The walls are built with dry-wall construction.

Our route also took us across several tall bridges over valleys. I was contorting myself to get photos out the bus windows to the front and side.

The town of Ragusa is built at the top and sides of a very tall hill. When came around the corner and caught our first glimpse of the town, there were gasps and oohs and aahs from the entire bus. This was followed by constant camera clicks as we all tried to get photos of the town as the bus navigated the windy roads on the other side of the valley.

It took a while to get into the town because the normal route was blocked to tourist buses. It was about 12:30pm before we disembarked and started climbing up the stairs and laneways towards the centre of the town. Here we stopped to admire the plaza and the cathedral at the top of the hill.

We had ten minutes for a coffee break before we started a guided tour of a palace at the bottom of the main square. The half-hour guided tour was conducted by a Count who is part of the hereditary family that has occupied this house over the centuries.

He took us through the various rooms upstairs including lounge areas, the ballroom, dining room etc. One balcony had a great view down to the plaza and up to the Cathedral. He even served us champagne and nibblies.

We then had free time to explore the town and find somewhere to have lunch. Suzy and I took up one of Luca's suggestions and walked down to a quieter part of the town to a cafe that makes its own bread. It was delicious. I had a focaccia with ham and cheese. We both had an excellent glass of red wine.

Our meeting place was the plaza near the bottom of the town at 2:20pm. Suzy checked out some of the shops and we still had time to walk through the gardens near the meeting place.

Back on the bus, we drove to a lookout where we could stop to get a panoramic view of the town of Modica - another town built on the top and sides of a mountain hill. The feature in the centre of the houses was yet another cathedral.

When we set off again in the bus, it started to rain - just a light shower but it was the first rain of the day. Great timing.

We were back in Syracusa by about 4:30pm where we once again changed from the bus to taxis to reach our hotel on Ortigia Island. There must have been some rain here too because the streets were wet. The balcony off our room was wet too. The sea was a grey colour rather than the brilliant blue we'd seen first thing this morning.

Luca had offered to be in the lounge area between 7pm and 7:30pm to offer advice of where to go for dinner and what other sights to see for our last evening here at Syracusa. He suggested a few options and other people from our group talked about places they'd been.

Suzy and I set off to look for a good place for dinne. As it turned out, we turned up in a restaurant (Castello Fiorentino Ristorante Pizzeria) where six of our group had already arrived. We sat at a table with Delores and Liz. Suzy managed to convince the waiter to provide us with a half-and-half pizza so she could have mushrooms on her half.

Ordering the red wine was easy because the waiter pointed out one which he said was the best and we went with his recommendation. It was a good choice.

I thought pizzas in Italia would have been special but I'm sure I would have been able to get a better pizza almost anywhere in Willoughby.

When we'd arrived at this restaurant, the waiters were removing the table cloths from the outside tables because it had started to rain. The ground was still wet when we left but at least it wasn't raining any more.

The streets were probably less crowded on the way back to the hotel and so it was easier to get clear photos of some of the sites such as the colourful fountain in the plaza near our hotel.

We were in bed soon after 9:30pm after another eventful day.