Sicily

I messed up my alarm and woke up an hour too early, but the real alarm finally went off at 4:35. The smartest thing I did was preordering a Bolt. The driver arrived at 5:05 and took me straight to the ferry terminal—where there was absolutely no parking. Totally worth the 18 euros.

Don’t believe the ferry company’s website when they say you need to be there two hours early and checked in one hour before departure. They didn’t even let people board until an hour before, and plenty of passengers arrived late. That extra 30 minutes of sleep would have been great.

The ferry itself is a simple catamaran with lots of seats but not too many passengers in what they call “Euro Class.” The seats are a bit dated and could use some repairs, but they’re comfy enough for the 1-hour, 45-minute ride. I started my day with a croissant and coffee—6.50 euros for a mediocre breakfast.

Thanks to podcasts, the trip went by quickly, and soon enough, I was in Italy. Off the ferry, around the arena, and after a long walk, I found my bus for the day. I had booked a guided tour along with the ticket—142 euros in total. The group was small: a 78-year-old woman, a man from Turkey, and a loud Scottish family.

Our guide had one main topic for the day: the arena and every citrus fruit that grows here. I heard about lemons, oranges, mandarins… several times throughout the tour.

Stop 1: Ragusa Ibla

After 35 minutes of driving, we arrived at our first stop—Ragusa Ibla, an old town and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The guide led us in, then we had free time to explore. Small but charming, and not too crowded. I walked up to the cathedral and climbed the 161 steps to log a geocache—Sicily, officially checked off!

On the way back down, I peeked inside the Duomo. Beautiful, but at this point in my trip, I’ve seen a lot of churches.

After about 90 minutes of exploring, everyone made it back on time. Success!

Stop 2: Modica

Next, we drove to Modica. We parked a little outside the town center and walked together to the main area. Here, we got to taste some local chocolate made only with cocoa and sugar. I bought some, only to discover a shop across the street selling the same chocolate 30% cheaper. Oh well.

Spotted another geocache—130 steps up. Climbed all the way, only to find it was gone. NOOOO! Annoyed, I skipped visiting the cathedral. At this point, I was practically developing a church allergy.

With a lot of time left, I found a small restaurant and tried pasta alla Norma—homemade pasta with a vegetable sauce and ricotta. Delicious and reasonably priced.

There wasn’t much else to do since everything closed between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m.—exactly during our visit. No more hills for me, just a slow walk around town. Living here must be a workout—endless stairs everywhere.

Stop 3: Scicli

On the drive, we hit a bit of rain, but we got lucky—every time we stopped, the weather cleared up.

Scicli was a nice change—flat streets, no hills! Our guide seemed fed up with the slow and easily distracted Scottish family. I went my own way while she gave a private tour to the older woman, who had expected a fully guided experience.

Again, everything was closed. Another geocache was up a mountain. Nope. Hard pass. Instead, I found a small bakery opening at 4:00 p.m. They sold traditional Sicilian cookies at a great price.

Back at the bus, my fellow travelers hadn’t checked opening times and had settled for ice cream. They looked a little jealous of my cookies.

Final Stop: A Beach (Pass)

On the way back to Pozzallo, we made a final stop at a beach for photos. No thanks—I know what beaches look like.

All in all, a relaxing driving tour. Maybe there’s more action in the summer, but I found the landscape here more interesting than Malta’s.

The Return to Malta

Back to the ferry (another set of stairs to climb) and a 90-minute wait until departure. I used the time to write postcards and listen to more podcasts.

The ride back was a bit rougher than in the morning, but we arrived on time. Then, of course, we had to wait 20 minutes just to get off the boat.