Blogs from Bari, Apulia, Italy, Europe
October 11th 2010
We set sail for Italy on Saturday morning from Croatia. We said goodbye to Ivan our kind host of the last few days and boarded our boat at 9.30am. We left the port at 1.30pm.... We were told to arrive 2 hours prior so that border control and ticket issuing could be completed in an orderly fashion. There was nothing orderly about it, trying to board a gigantic ferry with about 500 Italians is anything but orderly. Blake and i decided it would be best to let the pushy crowd bustle through first, little did we know that we would be taken care of a woman we have affectionately termed, 'mama' . Something about Blake seems to attract elderly ethnic women, I don't know if its the blue eyes or his polite demeanor - but old ... read more
October 8th 2010
I’ve long held the belief that sometimes you go right by something you’re supposed to see, but then someone comes along to lead you back to it. This happened to me in Lisbon l when I took a picture of a gas station on the curb of the street and didn’t notice the tree behind it. I left and went to other cities, and when I came back to Lisbon, a guest at the pension I was staying at took me for a walk to see an incredible tree with branches that went out so far they needed a metal frame to support them .Yes, the one behind the gas pumps. Same sort of thing happened today. I have a mild cold and it looked rainy, so I thought I’d stay in and do heavy doses ... read more
October 4th 2010
TODAY:I'm in Bari now, just a short train ride from Taranto, but I'm suddenly back in civilization with information booths at the train station and internet at the hotel. Of course, it's more expensive, but for these last 4 days, I'm willing to pay. YESTERDAY'S ENTRY: Against my better judgment, I hooked up with a nice woman from Poughkeepsie, NY and rode in her grand, air conditioned rental car to Le Castella, (“Le” in front of “Castella” looks like a mistake since you’d expect La Castella, but its name is actually Le Castella for no explainable reason).Abandoning my bus routine was a mistake since I could’ve gotten there just fine by “Pullman,” as they call busses here. I won’t go into details, but other than seeing “Le Castella,” she and I weren’t on the same page—she ... read more
August 4th 2010
Well, Day 15 and I'm I haven't sunbathed once. So what are the lessons so far. 1) White underwear on a trip like this is not a good idea !!. 2) Don't take 2 books that are comedians autobiographies. They both were mad, drugged, depressed alcoholics. Seems I missed my calling. One good think in Jack Dee's Colin is about page 175 and is a story on Cleevdon (? spelling), just go into WH Smith and read it, don't but the book. 3) Croatia is clean with no drunks or fights for a reason, it is very expensive. 4) Always take your camera everwhere. 5) When filming with your mobile phone) see 4) above, try and film the top Holywood Oscar star (Morgan Freeman) and not his security guard. 6) Ditto above for Caprice but try ... read more
September 30th 2009
Tuesday night in Rome I spent trying to sleep through the demands of the never-ceasing traffic through the open window, and the snoring, restless turning and conversational Spanish of my nine room mates. It was an experiment in travelling cheaply, and all good experience! The frustration of having my new, unused travel towel stolen - my own fault for carrying such a desirable, light-weight, micro-fibre piece of kit in the first place. And leaving it unattended on my bed for at least a minute. It didn't put me in much of a mood to make friends with my bedroom fellows, but I'm thankful that nothing was stolen while I slept - rucksack under the sheet with me of course. Wednesday morning was taken up with a meandering wander around the coliseum and nearby two thousand year-old ... read more
May 19th 2009
We left our overprıced hotel and made our way to the Barı - Patros ferry. We had quıte a waıt ahead of us but who really mınds waıtıng when the weather ıs clear and the temperature ıs hot? We sat on the only portsıde ın Europe not to sell water, ıt took half an hour of searchıng before we found an expensıve vendıng machıne to quench our thırst. As normal, after sıttıng besıde the bıke we soon had a small crowd of excıted onlookers. Our new frıends for today were a bunch of BMW borne bıkers from Turkey who took a flurry of photos, added theır group stıcker to our bıke and then made theır way to theır ferry wıth happy goodbyes and ınvıtatıons to stay wıth them on the other sıde of the water. Our ... read more
April 22nd 2009
We had read that the Amalfi Coast had one of Italy’s most wild and rugged landscapes so we decided to go for a drive and take a look. We drove through the rough streets of Pompeii before taking the motorway south to Salerno and turning off to the coast. The Italians definitely drive to a different set of rules to other people, similar to the Chinese in that if there is a gap, they will fill it. They also have a loose interpretation of certain road rules; red lights are not compulsory, the centreline (where it exists) is a guide only as are the lane markers and indicators were avoided as they seemed to like to keep their options open. No one seems to get too aggressive, they just seemed impatient. But I think it’s no ... read more
November 23rd 2008
Saturday, 22nd November, 2008 Plan for today, Acireale to Cosenza. The wind really got up last night and things were banging and clattering around the Hotel. We were both awake early, so got up and started sorting ourselves out, as we have a long day. Pat went down to breakfast and then we paid our bill at reception and left the Hotel just before nine o'clock. We went for the Autostrada up to Messina, which was very light with traffic. The winds got stronger as we approached Messina, although the sun was shining and the temperature on the car said 22°C. We left the Autostrada on the last exit for Messina, the signposting for the ferries is very poor. The signs got better and we headed through some strange parts of town and eventually ended up ... read more
October 27th 2008
Bari- to Polignao a Mare-- Backroads of Pulgia- In typical fashion, Ellen tried Gin and Tonic, Wine and then her first glass of Grappa, I then spent a good portion of the early morning hours becoming intimately famaliar with the bagno (particularly the toilet)- as I got rid of my poor choices for about 6 hours from both ends of my body! For those that have travelled with me, I seem to have this experience at least once every time I travel. I will say no more about that for now……………Bari is a Port City in the South of Italy. We stayed at the Bari Palace hotel—one of the nicer hotels in the town. We were there on Saturday night—and near the water, the place was absolutely swarming with locals out “strolling” and visiting with their ... read more
October 21st 2008
Ciao! We made it to Pulgia Italy--and are about to start our day 3 of bike riding! So far no saddle sores! Internet access has been challenging...as the definition of internet access is one computer per hotel! Plane flight from SFO to Dulles went great! I sat next to a well behaved--and thin young lawyer in coach and jim stretched out his legs in business class. At Dulles- we got lucky and upgraded me to business class- as they still had seats available! We had a great flight to Rome....and with the help of medication--I do feel like I actually slept on the plane! We arrived in Rome to a taxi strike!! But we got a private car to drive us to our hotel where we were able to check in even though it was about ... read more
