{"id":7045,"date":"2005-09-30T17:44:28","date_gmt":"2005-10-01T00:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/?p=7045"},"modified":"2011-12-05T18:03:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T02:03:53","slug":"ragusa-and-noto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2005\/09\/30\/ragusa-and-noto\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragusa and Noto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We got up really early, 5:30, again so we could do an organized tour. This time it was just Aviva and I with a driver, a guide, and a Mercedes. We drove over 2 hours to Ragusa<\/a>, stopping first at a little placed called Castello di Donnafugata. This wasn’t really a castle, but instead a very large villa.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A painted ceiling<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A chariot, or cart, with painted sides - traditional in Sicily<\/p><\/div>\n

We got back in the car and drove on to Ragusa. There are a number of very old men’s clubs in Ragusa – these are places men go to drink and talk. None of the churches were open so we just walked around and finally had a good lunch at a little place down the hill from the center of the old town.<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/a>

Men outside a club in Ragusa<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Men<\/a>

Men outside a club in Ragusa<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A church facade in Ragusa<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Aviva<\/a>

Aviva in the public garden in Ragusa<\/p><\/div>\n

Piling into the car, we spend another hour or so to get to Noto<\/a>. We went inside the Chiesa di Montevergine<\/a>. We walked by the Palazzo Nicolaci, which is famous for having the most beautiful balconies in the world, and Palazzo Ducezio. Noto if famous for it’s balconies….<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Floor<\/a>

Floor from Chiesa di Montevergine<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Ceiling<\/a>

Ceiling from Chiesa di Montevergine<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Altar<\/a>

Altar from Chiesa di Montevergine<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Inside<\/a>

Inside of the dome in Chiesa di Montevergine<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The facade of Palazzo Ducezio<\/p><\/div>\n

Another hour and a half and we were back at Taormina<\/a>. This was a pretty big trip for us, and we were pretty tired afterwards.<\/p>\n

We had a nice lunch at La Nuoua Rusticana in Ragusa.<\/p>\n

Our tour guide, Marcello, was a complete pompous ass. At one point he told us that Jesus was killed, of course, by the Jews. Just wonderful…. The driver was a very nice guy and friendly.<\/p>\n

When we got back to Taormina we walked up to the main shopping street, then bought a few more trinkets and some pastries for the trip to Palermo<\/a> tomorrow.<\/p>\n

As we did every night here, we ate in the hotel. The dining room here is a large, formal affair, and the food is really good. They lay out a different table of antipasti every night.<\/p>\n

And so you can keep up with Aviva’s eye….<\/p>\n

\"Aviva's<\/a>

Aviva's eye is getting better<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nTranslate<\/span><\/a>\"\"\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We got up really early, 5:30, again so we could do an organized tour. This time it was just Aviva and I with a driver, a guide, and a Mercedes. We drove over 2 hours to Ragusa, stopping first at a little placed called Castello di Donnafugata. This wasn’t really a castle, but instead a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[77,1014,1013,143],"tags":[1010,998,2403,2402,1011,1009,2399],"class_list":["post-7045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy","category-noto","category-ragusa","category-travel-foreign","tag-ancient-greece","tag-naples-and-sicily-2005","tag-noto","tag-ragusa","tag-sicilian-baroque","tag-sicily","tag-taormina"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t