Our small, stylish, stoney apartment in Ragusa

We are staying in a beautiful, compact apartment in Ragusa Ibla...directly across from one of the most lovely churches in town - Santa Maria delle Scale (Santa Maria on the stairs).  Every day at 4:30 pm the bells play a tune,  waking us from our afternoon siesta.

The apartment is very small, with stone walls throughout, and has the most comfortable bed in Italy ! (I think it's a memory foam...very rare here...the beds are usually more a memory rock...)

a welcome gift for our anniversary

a rose with a diamond in it !  Plus fluffy bathrobes...

partial view of the bedroom

the very colorful tile shower

the tiny kitchen with a coffee maker !

living and dining...

 

the tiles on the floor form a "rug"

 This is our apartment....

The view from our little terrace is amazing....

The 16th century Santa Maria delle Scale....right opposite our apartment...

The amazing view of Ragusa Ibla...

the dome of yet another church in the distance

From our apartment there are 240 steps down to Piazza della Repubblica at the base of Ragusa Ibla.  They start here, then go under the road.  Oh, and just behind the bus are the 100 steps up to Ragusa Superiore.  We feel like we're in training for the Olympics....

There was either a wedding or a photo shoot at the little church across from us...the groom looks too "posed" to be real, and he and the bride never hugged or kissed !

posing...??

not the happiest looking couple....

lots of photographers, but where are the guests ?

he looks pretty bored to me !

We went into the little church one afternoon after the bells sounded, and just missed a service attended by maybe 15 people.  Four older ladies started talking to us - in Italian of course - and about 20 minutes later, we were able to make our escape.  They all live right down the street from our apartment, so I'm certain we'll see them again.  They wanted to be sure we saw all of Ragusa Ibla, and that we loved it as much as they do...they were so cute, giving us directions and going on and on about the many churches here- and who knows what else ! There is always a little "lost in translation", but we do pretty well.  As long as we smile and nod our heads, everyone we meet seems happy...it's just too much fun...

Touch any photo to enlarge...