March 26, 2014
Off the Grid
I thought the relentless clicking of the thermostat above our bed would keep us awake. It didn't, but I know how Captain Hook felt when he heard the clock ticking inside that croc.
It was not an auspicious day. When we went to plug in the Gypsy (Our Lady of the GPS) we found the cord had separated from the plug to the device. We were slow to panic & came up with several solutions. First, we'd check at the store on the Autostrada to see if they sold chargers. They had a large array but nothing that fit Our Lady. The next step was to go to Noto on the Gypsy's battery power, enter a search for electronics, & hope. No dice. Our third choice was to find a tourist info office & buy detailed street maps. But in our experience, such offices have either relocated or been closed. Our fourth idea was to pretend we were in the Amazing Race (a TV show we watch). Judi approached two men standing on a street corner. She looked pathetic as she held out the frayed cord & Garmin. They took her into a nearby store where there was a man who knew exactly where to go. A la the Race, we asked if he would ride with us to the store. He climbed into the car &, chatting in Italian all the way, directed us to a Vodaphone store. The woman there had the goods. I did a happy dance & we drove the man back to his store via some of the narrowest streets yet. At one point, Judi & I were in the back seat trying to contain our anxiety about how close our car was to others. The only thing we could do was cover our mouths with our hands & snort. For $E9 & a $US6 tip (he wanted only "dollares") we were all happy & decided we'd had enough of a driving tour of Noto.
Modica was our next goal, & frustration mounted. Our Lady insisted we go down one-way streets the wrong way & turn where there were no streets. We can honestly say we've been to Modica three times by way of roundabouts & u-turns. We were in what looked like an historic district but it's hard to tell. Everything is old. We found street parking &, with direction from Judi & me, David slid that car right into our Euro-sized space. As we rejoiced at our good parking karma, David pressed our clicker to lock the car. It failed. Doing it the old fashioned way, we used the key & put off buying a battery until later. We made our way to food & a most important toilet stop. We weren't selective & had mediocre to poor calzone, but a decent toilet. It also gave the clicker time to resurrect itself.
Modica is one of the richest areas of Sicily. You can certainly tell by the newer housing. It's famous for cheese & chocolate, the latter having been introduced by Spanish conquistadores. Our travel agent had recommended a specific chocolatier &, amazingly enough, we found it. There were about a dozen small dishes of chocolate pieces of different flavors & intensities of cocoa. We tasted & bought. The chocolate was a bit granular for my taste, but I won't ever turn my nose up at chocolate.
We "schmied" around noting a few churches, a cloister with dead birds trapped in netting erected to keep them out of the courtyard, & a piazza. We then took off towards Ragusa. There's supposed to be an old abandoned Jewish quarter. We put the address into our GPS. Oy! Round & round we went; uphill & down we went; backing & forwarding we went. It took forever but we did "arrive at our destination." We were at a scenic overlook behind the dome of the duomo. The buildings were clearly old, but the one man in the sole store that was open had not a clue about Jews (Guidecca) or Hebraios, but thought we wanted masks of mythological Greek gods.
The point of going to "charming" hillside towns is to wander the streets, mix with the people, see the markets, & "feel" the country. Parking is a huge issue, stores are mostly closed, & there's a sameness to the towns. They seem prettier from afar & the allure pales after awhile. We're not interested in seeing churches or cathedrals ad nauseam. We gave up & decided to call an end to a most stressful day.
I thought the relentless clicking of the thermostat above our bed would keep us awake. It didn't, but I know how Captain Hook felt when he heard the clock ticking inside that croc.
It was not an auspicious day. When we went to plug in the Gypsy (Our Lady of the GPS) we found the cord had separated from the plug to the device. We were slow to panic & came up with several solutions. First, we'd check at the store on the Autostrada to see if they sold chargers. They had a large array but nothing that fit Our Lady. The next step was to go to Noto on the Gypsy's battery power, enter a search for electronics, & hope. No dice. Our third choice was to find a tourist info office & buy detailed street maps. But in our experience, such offices have either relocated or been closed. Our fourth idea was to pretend we were in the Amazing Race (a TV show we watch). Judi approached two men standing on a street corner. She looked pathetic as she held out the frayed cord & Garmin. They took her into a nearby store where there was a man who knew exactly where to go. A la the Race, we asked if he would ride with us to the store. He climbed into the car &, chatting in Italian all the way, directed us to a Vodaphone store. The woman there had the goods. I did a happy dance & we drove the man back to his store via some of the narrowest streets yet. At one point, Judi & I were in the back seat trying to contain our anxiety about how close our car was to others. The only thing we could do was cover our mouths with our hands & snort. For $E9 & a $US6 tip (he wanted only "dollares") we were all happy & decided we'd had enough of a driving tour of Noto.
Modica was our next goal, & frustration mounted. Our Lady insisted we go down one-way streets the wrong way & turn where there were no streets. We can honestly say we've been to Modica three times by way of roundabouts & u-turns. We were in what looked like an historic district but it's hard to tell. Everything is old. We found street parking &, with direction from Judi & me, David slid that car right into our Euro-sized space. As we rejoiced at our good parking karma, David pressed our clicker to lock the car. It failed. Doing it the old fashioned way, we used the key & put off buying a battery until later. We made our way to food & a most important toilet stop. We weren't selective & had mediocre to poor calzone, but a decent toilet. It also gave the clicker time to resurrect itself.
Modica is one of the richest areas of Sicily. You can certainly tell by the newer housing. It's famous for cheese & chocolate, the latter having been introduced by Spanish conquistadores. Our travel agent had recommended a specific chocolatier &, amazingly enough, we found it. There were about a dozen small dishes of chocolate pieces of different flavors & intensities of cocoa. We tasted & bought. The chocolate was a bit granular for my taste, but I won't ever turn my nose up at chocolate.
We "schmied" around noting a few churches, a cloister with dead birds trapped in netting erected to keep them out of the courtyard, & a piazza. We then took off towards Ragusa. There's supposed to be an old abandoned Jewish quarter. We put the address into our GPS. Oy! Round & round we went; uphill & down we went; backing & forwarding we went. It took forever but we did "arrive at our destination." We were at a scenic overlook behind the dome of the duomo. The buildings were clearly old, but the one man in the sole store that was open had not a clue about Jews (Guidecca) or Hebraios, but thought we wanted masks of mythological Greek gods.
The point of going to "charming" hillside towns is to wander the streets, mix with the people, see the markets, & "feel" the country. Parking is a huge issue, stores are mostly closed, & there's a sameness to the towns. They seem prettier from afar & the allure pales after awhile. We're not interested in seeing churches or cathedrals ad nauseam. We gave up & decided to call an end to a most stressful day.
Jumping Ship
Our Lady didn't recognize the address for our ferry terminal, but when David searched under transportation in general, up it popped. Whew! We arrived two and a half hours early & had time to chill before boarding. We had some beer & pop at an inauspiciously named cafe near the port & on the Mediterranean, the Andreadoria.
The ferry, a catamaran, left a half hour late, but did have an adequate enough cafe to supply us with chicken wraps, our dinner for the night. The seats were airplane style recliners with pull down trays. Announcements were made in Maltese, English, & Italian. I've never heard Maltese before. Sounds a bit European & Arabic.
While waiting in line to board, we followed our travel agent's instructions to program in the address of our hotel in Malta. We found the prompt to change countries & found Macedonia, but not Malta. Too bad she didn't check it out herself. We bought a map onboard but it was useless in the dark with unmarked streets. People on the ferry assured us it would take twenty minutes to our hotel. We told them it would take an hour. We were right. Driving on the left was not a problem. Seeing & reacting to the signs in time was. We ultimately asked some kids outside a bar & a cab driver for directions (almost hired him to lead us). We went down a one-way street the wrong way & found the hotel by accident. So tired!
A guide is picking us up at our Hotel Cavalieri tomorrow & taking us to the island of Gozo. After that excursion we may get around using a hop on-hop off bus.
Toby
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