Follow the Guidebook

Another early start with breakfast down the road and another lovely sunny day. Only downside to our morning was finding the hire-car with a scrape just above the back bumper.
Our first port of call was Noto a beautiful, well cared-for town classified by UNESCO. a bit of wandering, a few photos and a well deserved coffee - capuccino, what else?
from Noto it was on to Modeca where parking was difficult so we only stopped to take a

photo. By now it was almost time for lunch, so we contunued on to Ragusa where the church used in "Moltabano" is to be found. Saturday evenings on BBC4's European crime drama slot is where you'll find thid great wee series andthe Detective Moltabano himself is as pleasing on the eye as the Sicilian scenery. Sadly, there was no reference to the series and he was nowhere to be seen but we did manage to sqeeze ourselves into a parking space not too far away and find a good cheap lunch.

Next stop was Caltagirone, famous for its ceramics. The church of Santa Maria del Monte sits at the top of 142 steps, each one a rise of ceramic tiles. Quite a feat of craftsmanship and Joséphine was the only one of us to puff her way to the top.We contented ourselves with a look into the Sturzo Gallery where the walls were covered with interestin and colourful tile mosaics and of course, an ice cream.
Well, that was enough sightseeing for one day, (or so we thought)and it was getting

late in the afternoon. Drove onto Piazza Armerina and Joséphine and I went in search of a B&B down in the town after we'd looked in vain around the cathederal on the hill. Eventually asked the owner of a wee trattoria if he knew anywhere ... it helps having someone speak the language as Joséphine does. Have I mentioned that her family originates from Sicily and her Mum lives there? Anyway, back to the business of finding a bed for the night. Our friendly 'local' telephoned a friend who was full up and then after scratching his head and conferring with his wife who by the way, had been sweeping up while he snoozed when we first arrived, indicated that we should follow him. Just down the road we were shown rooms in a large old house thankfully with more character and higher standard of comfort than last night (was it only last night?)so we said "yes" on the spot. The owner came with us to fetch Juste and Christian and took us off to see an ancient Roman freh water fountain. Once again, parking was at a premium and he kindly gave us his space. Dinner, naturally was in our local trattoria with its good home cooking and swordfish on the menu.