THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE...

     Home. 

     Especially after two days of travel: Palermo to Milan to London's Heathrow. Overnight. London to Atlanta to Tucson. The last leg of the trip ran about 23 hours, so yes: We WERE glad to be home.

      And to bask in the enthusiastic welcome of our neighbors who met the plane.

(Ed. Note:  Sorry it is so blurry. Too tired and laughing too hard!)

 

      Final thoughts? First, we didn't see a great deal of difference between Sicily and mainland Italy. However, we were in tourist areas (except for the notorious cow-path expedition), so maybe we weren't seeing the “real” Sicily.

      Second: The country was far more prosperous than I'd expected. The major roadways were beautiful, and the fields were all well tended and planted with crops. In Roman times, Sicily was the breadbasket of the empire. Perhaps it still is.

      Third: Most of the tourist areas such as Ragusa were immaculate. No trash. Streets washed. But away from the central tourist areas, lots of trash. On the roadways, the turn-outs were filled with bags of trash. This lack of pride in their country shocked me.

     And finally: Driving there was not nearly as bad as we'd been led to believe. Sure, the cities were like a bumper-car rink, but outside, people seemed sane and even—can you believe it?—courteous. Of course, Bob was doing all the driving, so his take on this may differ.

     In summary, we're glad we went. One more item to take out of the bucket. 

     Portugal next?