Sicily, July-August 2023

26-28th July - Siracusa and Ragusa

Recovering from the exhaustion of the night drive, the first day in Lido di Noto was spent in the swimming pool, on the beach, and in a delicatessen buying loads of things we couldn't identify, most of which turned out to be very nice.

The second day, it was time to brave Italian roads in daylight, with actual traffic. There seemed to be no convention of where to place your car; even the police were incapable of driving with both sides of the car in the same lane. Furthermore, there appeared to be only two ways of using indicators: not at all, or permanently, neither particularly helpful. Arriving on the island of Ortigia, Siracusa, we successfully navigated the chaos of one way streets and unpredictable traffic without major incident, and reached the entrance to the main car park. The bus behind made it quite clear that us slowing down to enter it was unacceptable. Somewhat flustered, we attempted to buy a ticket, first by trying to read the instructions (fail), then by standing back and watching what other people were doing (fail), and finally by gesticulating and getting annoyed, at which point a helpful local took my credit card and sorted everything out.

Out of the relative cool of the car park and into the fierce midday sun, we quickly wilted, and reluctantly gave in to a Tuk Tuk driver's suggestion that we shouldn't be walking. It turned out to be brilliant: the driver spoke good English, and enthusiastically gave us a tour of all the important bits of Ortigia ("here is the Arabic quarter", "here is the Greek quarter", etc.; it seems most empires conquered it at some point), and we didn't get heatstroke. He also demonstrated how to drive in Italy: just point your Tuk Tuk (or car) wherever you want to go, and magically, you don't ever hit anything or anyone (the dents in all the local cars might suggest this isn't always the case of course). He even gave us a discount card for a friend's restaurant.

With newly acquired driving confidence, we drove carefree to the second destination, the Pianogrillo (my Italian isn't great: lightly roasted?) winery near Chiaramonte Gulfi, a beautiful laid-back place, with another well-stocked kitchen (more salted capers), a swimming pool with stunning views, and the mandatory (for us) air conditioned rooms.

We spent a few nights here, mostly in the swimming pool, and did some wine tasting. Early one morning, when it was merely 26°C, I foolishly went for a run. Keeping the pace down was my survival strategy, but I disturbed some dogs on a farm. A few hundred metres further, as the barking grew louder, I realised I was alone, in the middle of nowhere, being chased by a pack of dogs looking for breakfast. What followed was a flat out run for my life, past fennel and capers growing against the crash barriers.