Looking back at our Italy and Croatia adventure, there are a few other observations that can be made regarding the destinations that we visited.

Italy — Italy is just as dirty as we remembered it. Considering how popular it is as a tourist destination and how important tourism is to its economy, you would think that Italian authorities would insist that cities and towns clean up their act. The dirtiest bathrooms in Europe can be found in Italy!

Milan’s Malpensa Airport could be the most inefficient we have ever experienced. The distance from check-in to our gate had to be at least a half-mile! We were asked at check-in if anyone had approached us to take their luggage, etc., and then we were directed back into the airport entrance area, past the same people that might have approached us the first time — ridiculous!

Driving in Italy has become VERY expensive. The tolls on the autostradas have become exorbitant. One three-hour stretch of our trip cost us over $27 Euros in tolls.

Slovenia — Good roads (and no tolls for cars) and friendly people. Everyone speaks English, although we, of course, always make an effort to converse in the native language.

Croatia — Excellent roads, many of them brand new, and a huge number of tunnels. I have never driven through so many tunnels in such a short period of time. The country is very mountainous, especially along the coast where we did much of our driving.

On the road to Dubrovnik, we had to travel through a small section of Bosnia-Herzogovina, a surprise to us. We actually passed through customs there (twice) and got our passports stamped. I was a bit worried about this since the rental car company told me that I could not travel in Bosnia with their car. Oops! In fairness, I did tell them that I was traveling to Dubrovnik so they should have expected this development.