Day 9 - Sep 16: Scicli and Modica chocolate tasting

A very leisurely breakfast in a wee garden perched amongst the crumbling houses on the slope above Modica centro storico. 

Casa Talia is a complex of restored shepherds' cottages/ bedrooms with a couple of rooftop gardens perched in a tranquil spot way above the main street of Modica. 

Today we decided to head for Scicli (pronounced SheKlee) as recommended by the Italians we met at dinner. 

It is a smaller version of Modica and Noto and also one of the eight towns/villages restored after the 1693 earthquake, and also recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage site. 

We parked outside the main centre and wandered around the deserted streets. 

Not much rain in these parts as the river was a trickle and temperatures reached 36C this morning.

Perhaps Scicli is not a place many tourists visit. 

Plenty of churches and historical palazzos.

Jo was more interested in the gargoyles than the churches.

Some very ugly and scary specimens in Scicli.

Were these put there to scare the population as well as to scare off evil spirits? Greeks believed the latter. The tradition has continued.

Placed on churches and facing outwards to remind people that the only safe place is inside.

Our plan to go to the beach was thwarted by the fact that there is very little beach on the SE coast of Sicily that is not spoilt by overdevelopment; big ugly modern towns or industry. We agreed that for gorgeous beaches we should stick to Australia.

After a short drive along the coast, we abandoned the idea in favour of an afternoon of reading and chocolate tasting.

A welcome break to finish my book first.

and then a bit of exercise up and down steps to a few more churches. 

Most impressive was Chiesa San Georgio (seen from afar in the breakfast photo) but more impressive close up. 

 It has a strange angelic gargoyle complete with sheep!
The woman looks scary but the sheep???

Sarah liked the inside. It was originally a temple dedicated to St George built prior to 1090 but extensively modified since.

By the end of the day we had seen so many churches that even Sarah who loves the cool, peace and smell of a church was surfeited.

More steps down…

Modica is famous for its dark chocolate. The recipe was brought into Italy by the Spanish who learned it from the Aztecs.  

We did the touristy thing and felt obliged to visit several shops to taste. 

The range on offer was extensive.

Our favourite place was Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, where we learned that this particular dark chocolate is very good for weight loss.

We aslo decided to sample the local speciality - Cannelli with ricotta and pistachio along with chocolate flavoured beer as an aperitivo. 

Chocolate beer tastes a bit like stout and is quite delicious.