We spent basically all day on the train from Siracusa, first north to Catania and then due west, across the center of Sicily to Agrigento, on the south coast.  Although it was really just a commuter train, with 14 stops along the way, we were surprised at how pleasant and comfortable (and cheap – about $15 each) a ride it was, 3.5 hours from Catania.  Central Sicily is absolutely beautiful, with mountains bigger than the Adirondacks but smaller than the Rockies, and rolling green farmland below.  There is an amazing variety of plant life, with olive and orange groves, cedar trees, cherry orchards (now in bloom), and nopal cactus, both wild and farmed.  Sheep and fuzzy-looking cows graze in small clusters, giving me hope that there will be lamb on the menu somewhere.  (Thus far, we have seen only beef, veal and pork on menus; shockingly NO ONE seems to serve chicken – we can’t figure out why – or lamb, which of course is so ubiquitous in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean.)  We have also been surprised that Sicilians aren’t more covetous of their beautiful shoreline, which is ruined in so many places by train tracks, highways, factories, oil processing facilities, and the like.  In the U.S., it would all be highly prized vacation real estate!

We are looking forward to observing life in a smaller and more remote city, to see how it compares to Catania and Siracusa.  Although people have all been very helpful and nice to us in person (with the exception of taxi drivers, who more times than not have tried, and usually succeeded, to rip us off), there is a public rudeness or insensitivity that is quite annoying.  We see it most on the sidewalks: people purposely block the path, either by standing there having a conversation or by walking 3 or 4 abreast, and it does not seem to bother them in the least that others have to step off into oncoming traffic to get around them.  It almost seems like a macho thing - I can hold the sidewalk, to hell with you, I dare you to make me move – but not just young men, people of every age and sex do this.  It’s the same thing with drivers; you basically have to take a deep breath and step in front of moving vehicles in order to cross the street, because no one will ever slow down or give you a break, even if they are making a turn or crossing an intersection, they just plow right through without slowing.  The sound of an engine starting up strikes fear in your heart, because cars just pull out in any direction, forward or backward, never looking or tapping the brakes. And it happens in a split second; drivers take no time to put on a seat belt, check the mirror, adjust the seat, release the emergency brake – they just hop in and take off.  It’s absolutely incredible how completely oblivious everyone is to the consequences their actions might have on someone else, or to what dangers it might pose even to themselves.  And it was even worse in Ortigia, because there were only inches between us and the car and a brick wall, which didn’t seem to faze drivers in the least.  We’d duck into an alley, thinking we were getting out of the way, just to have the car follow us, or a motorcycle fly blindly around the corner.

Before we left Siracusa, we ran into two other couples who were doing basically the same thing as we are: an older couple from New Zealand who took a year off from work and are spending most of it in Italy, at about the same pace as us (I bet we’ll run into them again!), and a young couple from Australia, who seem to be traveling around the world after college and before work for as long as they can afford it – 9 months so far.  Actually, they said they had already run out of money, but apparently they found some more.  Other than art students at internet points, we have yet to meet any Americans.

We were thrilled to arrive at our hotel in Agrigento: this is the very first place that has an internet connection in the room, its own restaurant (we had a great dinner downstairs, and they keep your bottle of wine for the next time if you don’t finish it all at once!), and – to all appearances, anyway – a shower that might work without flooding the bathroom.  And a toilet paper holder!  And cups!  And 3 bars of soap!  (No shampoo, though.)  Tomorrow, if all goes well, we’ll tour the Valley of the Temples: more ancient ruins for Allen to touch…