Shall we go in for the close up?

We had to wake up ridiculously early to take the boat from Malta to Sicily and suffered for it during the remainder of the day. Maybe you can't tell from the fine details of his face, but this is sleepy-face, not queasyface (I feel, sadly, that I am at a stage in this blog where I would like to acknowledge the fact that I did not heave up my food on the way over). Possibly there's some hunger in there too.


Of course, at some stage in the morning, someone fed him caffeine, and he spent the rest of the day yo-yoing between super tired and super hyperactive. I'm not pointing any fingers here mother, but I'm pretty sure that someone wasn't me. I know not to feed the gremlin after midnight.

Anyway, we arrived back on Italian soil, and spent 20 minutes discussing with the taxi drivers the fact that it was Sunday. We wanted to take a train from the Pozzallo city centre to Ragusa. They told us it wasn't possible- we would have to take the cab. 'It's Sunday'. Which was the phrase they kept using instead of answering if there actually would be trains or not. 'It's Sunday'. 'It's a problem.' 'Because: Sunday.'

We went with the taxi, arrived at our accommodation, sat sleepily for a bit, and then some ridiculously nice people who were checking out agreed to drive us into the city (there would be a bus, but- say it with me- SUNDAY).

Ragusa is this beautiful city built in the hillsides. Fun to walk into. Less fun to walk back out of (uphill!). 







We walked around for a couple of hours, before settling down in front of a church to stuff our faces with Sicilian delights.




This photo almost looks like there's a poster of a church behind her. I promise it's a real church!





Told you it was real:




At one point, I sighted some Carob, and forced it upon Andy. He was.. not a fan.




We continued to walk around the city, stopping for a while to relax in the park...





Featuring Gum Trees!

Gargoyles for Ariel: 




Also from the sides of buildings, these death notices.


And these slightly more upbeat swirls of moss and stone.


We managed to find icecream at a place not-to-far from another place that had a little 'Montalbano was here' sign over the door. Which is as close as our 'brush with fame' got.



The bus services were supposed to come on again at 4pm (I refused to walk all the way back up the hill), where '4pm' ended up being more of a 'suggested time' rather than an 'actual plan'.

This would never happen in Germany!

Mother waited patiently..

Some of us found ways to amuse ourselves.

And then it came, and we rode away, and once more we were looking down on the city!



As a side note, the b'n'b we stayed in - 'L'Abbraccio', was super amazing. Not only was the place lovely, but the couple who owned it, were ridiculously kind to us- going out of their way to make us feel more than welcome. If you head to that part of the Island, you should definitely stay the night there.

We had a sweet little three person room, with double bed on the 'second floor' and kitted kitchen, bathroom, TV and single bed on the 'ground floor'.

I'm not so sure why Andy's face looks like someone just walked in on him in the shower. I think he's trying to pose and be amazed at the same time?


The next morning started sweet.....