Monreale

 It was quite an adventure getting to Monreale this past July.  We followed the directions our hotel gave us by walking to Piazza Independenza and taking the 389 AMAT bus from there.  While we were on the bus, our driver told us that his bus line was no longer going to Monreale and where we should get off and transfer.  Seemed easy enough, right?  At the next bus stop, we waited, and waited, and waited, for a bus that never came.  We weren't the only ones.  We tried to tell a local woman of about 60 years old (wearing high heels and enough lipstick for the entire Rockettes) that the bus we had just come off of was no longer servicing Monreale.  She began to shout at us in jumbled English and Italian that we didn't know what we were talking about.  The other people at the bus stop looked uncomfortably at her public outburst and we decided not to argue.  The woman decided to hitchhike and proceeded to ask every car with a male passenger if they were going to Monreale and they all responded by ignoring her.  Finally we found a good man that told us that we should take the AST bus which was just down the road.  By that time, it had been a good two hours since we took off from central Palermo.  Despite an intensely difficult time getting there, Monreale was beautiful.  We didn't spend as much time as I would have liked due to the bus adventure, so I would like to return some day.  I only used my phone inside so the pictures do not do it justice.