Sicily Cycle Trip, Siracusa Route, Day 17

Today was to be our last full day of riding as we traveled from inland Ragusa to Siracusa on the sea. Our guides suggested we shuttle past the busy roads and traffic of Ragusa and start our ride just east of the town and then stop just west of Siracusa and shuttle to our hotel (again, because of heavy traffic). A few hearty souls decided to brave the Ragusa traffic, but Rich and I opted for the shorter 37 mile route. This was a beautiful, although mostly uphill ride to Palazzolo, where we stopped for lunch. The countryside was much more scenic, with blue lakes and groves of lemon and orange trees. Like the rest of the week, the day was blisteringly hot.

When we reached Palazzolo, we parked our bikes near the vans and headed uphill into the old part of town. We found a nice restaurant with outdoor dining on a lovely side street and sat down to lunch with a number of our fellow riders. As we waited for our lunch, the skies started to cloud up and I thought I heard the distant rumble of thunder. All of a sudden the skies opened and a deluge of rain came down. There were large umbrellas covering our tables and initially, we thought we could just stay outside and eat and it would blow over. Before long, however, we decided we needed to run for cover indoors and wait out the storm.

When it finally stopped, the streets were like rivers. Most of us decided to forego the rest of the day's ride as it was primarily downhill and we didn't feel comfortable riding that kind of terrain with wet, slick roads. All in all, we only rode @ 23 miles today. With all of the hills, though, it felt more like twice that distance.

Siracusa is a charming town on the sea and Rich and I spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering down by the water and through some of the smaller streets and alleys. We had our farewell dinner at a lovely restaurant down the street from our hotel and, as I've done this entire week, ate way too much (although it was sooo good).