Leaving some rubbish behind

 Well, that is it. All over Rover. We have tried our best in the limited time to enjoy Sardinia and Sicily. 12 stops over the last month or so and travel by train, boat, plane and car. So what?

Humans have been in these parts for thousands of years and often trampling over one another to dominate the land and the people. The levels of rubbish, creativity, objects said to be beautiful now but long past their use by date and the also itinerant flora and fauna have varied over the years and we have tried to understand some of it and to enjoy it.

And no matter what has happened here, the people seem happy enough, food and drink is plentiful for most whilst the roads and yes systems do need more work. In Sicily in particular, there is too much rubbish strewn around in most places. The sea around Sardinia is still magnificent and the best on the planet for us two for sure. We loved our flop swimming opportunities. The heat has surprised us a bit and we had to modify our daily programs to suit the conditions. As the locals have done here for centuries. The planet and the humans that run it adapt.

 And as with all of our systems and processes, it is the political classes that set the standards and what happens. It Italy, it will always be difficult to pull the whole country along as they are clearly different peoples with different ideas on how things should work. For me the Sardinians seem more relaxed and at ease with themselves and their lives. Sicily seems to have had a more complex story to date and it shows via just a tad more aggression from time to time. But for sure we have met a lot of very friendly and helpful people at all levels. And 99% of them were great.

Whilst on the run over the last few days we visited a number of hilltop towns that have had earthquakes in the past and either rebuilt of reconstructed elsewhere. They all look good in pictures with a golden colour especially late in the day but some also look to be dead or dying with plenty of empty or for sale homes, a plethora of death notices around places and quite a few oldies passing their last days chatting in some shady spots. Noto was an exception to this. It has a well preserved old centre and a desire to making the most of their history. Lots of visitors like us enjoying the story.

Agrigento on the other hand has the Valley of the Temples and a strong Greek and Roman heritage but they could do a lot better from us tourists. They seem to be taking some things for granted when they should be making more of what they have. Even if in reality what is left of the old temples is hardly functional for these times and so might just be labelled 'some rubbish”, If you get my drift.

We are now back in Palermo and will fly out in the morning to Rome and then fly out of Rome for home Sunday. So it is time to close off the blog and to begin preparing for hopefully another travel experience. One member of the tour group is struggling just a tad to recall what we did where, at times, and is saying time to rest up and reflect, again.

So of course that is what this Tour Director will do. Soon. But as I post this last note, I will be expected to produce somewhere to go and something to eat until we get to the airport and head for home. As a Tour Director should do. We have had quite a few team meetings along the way but the potential for more remains.