Drying off in Modica
My adventures in the rain this morning left me cold, wet, and buggered by midday. Once I said goodbye to my Sicilian angels, Cristina and Alessandra, I decided to call it an early day, and to find somewhere in Modica where I could dry out, warm up, and get myself clean once more. From the shopping centre where the girls left me, I rode into historic centre of Modica (still with light rain) — which, as with Ragusa, is a gorgeous Baroque affair — and put my feet up. I checked in to a lovely little B&B called Camera con Vista (lit: "Bed with a View"), where I had a long hot shower, and where I emptied all of my soaked belongings and laid them out to dry. Rather than endure any more arcic-condition cycling for the day, I waited out the afternoon under the covers of a warm bed, with a good book to keep me company.
It's a good thing that I did stop in Modica (not that I could have physically done otherwise :P), because the weather continued being crap for the remainder of the day. Intermittent storms and strong winds were the buzzwords — hardly ideal conditions for being on the road with no protection. The storms eased off a little bit in the evening, which gave me a bit of a chance to wander round and to explore historic Modica. It's a gorgeous hillside town, full of squashed-together old houses and rambling churches; although the narrow, steep cobbled streets form an indecipherable maze.
After ambling around the city centre for some time, I stopped in a cosy cafe for some hot choc and e-mail checking. The hot choc was delicious; but unfortunately, someone stole my beanie while I was checking my e-mail! I was careless enough to leave it at the front counter, when I went over to the cafe's computer terminal; and when I returned 5 minutes later to retrieve it, my furry friend was nowhere in sight. Whoever stole it was a right mean bugger — especially since that beanie was a souvenir from Argentina — but I guess that with it being so cold at the moment, it was quite an attractive item to swipe. Anyway, I've had more serious robberies than that, during my travels this year.
Modica's a fairly small town, but it's rather pricey — especially as far as food in the centre goes — so I decided to avoid the town's restaurants tonight, despite them being in abundance. Instead, I found myself a nice, budget hot dog stand, and grabbed myself a sausage and some fries for dinner. After that, the night was too cold and I was too wasted to do anything more. I negotiated the labyrinth of alleys leading back to the B&B; I turned the room's gas heater up to full; and I crashed until the next morning. A cosy end to a crazy, hellish, and colourful day in Sicily.