The Downside

Yesterday I wrote about the things we really liked about Spoleto. Today I give equal time to some things we didn't like - again in no particular order.

1. Dog poop - I'm not saying it's a mine field. It isn't. But you do need to watch where you're walking. There's very little litter, but you do need to watch out for the dog poop.
2. Flies - There are loads of them. (Perhaps a result of the dog poop.) They fly in your face and you are constantly waving them off. Very annoying.
3. Panhandlers - Mostly Nigerian imports. They also get in your face and you are constantly waving them off.
4. Unsalted bread - It's just not as good as salted bread.
5. Toilets - Many of the toilets don't have seats. Since most toilets are unisex, I suppose it spares women from the ill-effects of men not putting the seat up, but I prefer a proper seat. And I insist on toilet paper.
6. The young lady who works in the train station snack bar - She was the only unfriendly and unhelpful person we encountered. If she doesn't want anyone walking on her newly mopped floor, she should lock the door and refrain from mopping until closing time.
7. Walking uphill - Most of the narrow, cobblestone streets are uphill - both ways. Particularly on Saturday night when you you can't get a taxi and learn that the escalator went into lock down at 8 PM.
8. No taxis on Saturdays - If you're taking a day trip to Rome (or anywhere else) don't do it on Saturday. There will be no taxis at the station when you return. (We weren't that concerned because Roberto, our taxi driver who speaks English, had been diligent in picking us up at the designated time all week long. But not on Saturday. I didn't feel well that evening. I was shivering. Instead of calling a taxi for me, the young lady in the train station snack bar scolded me for walking on her newly mopped floor. We tried calling another taxi but they hung up on us when we couldn't speak Italian. We walked from the train station to the escalator. That was when we discovered that it closed at 8 PM. If we had not spent 20 minutes waiting for Roberto and trying to call another taxi, we might have made it. We were running out of options. But there was a taxi parked outside the Casbah Club near the locked entrance to the escalator. Unfortunately, the taxi driver was providing the entertainment in the Casbah Club and would not be able to taxi us anywhere. We were told it was just a short walk to where we wanted to go. We knew that. A short walk. Straight uphill. It took us another 20 minutes.
9. Francesca - Francesca was the name of the toddler who was running amok in the restaurant our first night out on our own in Spoleto. There seemed to be at least one "Francesca" in almost every restaurant. Just not something you expect in upscale places.

So it's not exactly a "top ten" list. But that's okay - clearly the positives outweigh the negatives.