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Published: December 23rd 2015
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Fri 27
THNov
Alarm off at 0530…although we’d both been waiting for it to go off for an hour, we got up, dressed, a quick coffee and caught our pod to Terminal 5 – Heathrow. Pod is just like a little 4 person pod on a train track that goes from terminal 5 to parking lot B..and therefore Thistle Hotel. It’s great and meant that we didn’t have far to go in the morning.
Not a long queue, got through bag drop, customs and security with plenty of time to spare..so a very relaxed start to the trip.
Stunning flight over the Alps and then suddenly as the alps finished, the land was completely flat….no gradual height change…just end of mountains and then flat land. Landed and cleared in Venice quickly and with no bother, then had to find our shuttle to the ship. After a bit of searching, and trying to catch the bus with hundreds of others, we were informed that we had our own private shuttle…our own car and driver…now to find him. He was at the back of the group, and so we were off. He was a funny
driver, no regard to speed limits or distance required to safely stay behind the car in front, but we got to our ship, safely and before all the busses. A bit of queuing here, to sign in , but then we were through and straight on to the ship. The cabins weren’t’ quite ready so we were told to go up and have lunch while we waited. Our bags were had already been dropped off before we checked in, so we didn’t have to worry about them. Lunch in the buffet section was amazing and could be a problem in the future if we eat too much. Will have to watch that closely.
Soon our cabins were ready, we unpacked, settled in and watched the afternoon pass by from our balcony. We explored the ship, had a safety brief where we all had to don our lifejackets and meet at our muster point, and then it was dinner time. LOVE IT. Dinner you choose from 5 different courses. You select something from each course as the meals are quite small. This is good as you get to taste so many different foods and don’t leave feeling too
full. We have a nice couple John and Jenny on our table, but the other two weren’t’ there tonight. As we were eating dinner the ship pulled away and we were off on an overnight trip to Bari.
Sat 28
th BARI
Loved this place. We docked at about 1300 and then were free to explore for the rest of the day. We hadn’t booked any tours, but went into town on our own. We went for a little walk around, but then as we couldn’t really find anything we thought we’d take a little ‘fun train’ tour around the town. While we were waiting for the ‘train’ (more like to trailers pulled by a small car) we walked to the fish markets. Some men were standing around a small fishing boat, eating mussels and drinking beer. As we walked past, they started chatting to us, explaining that these were local Bari mussels – and that local seafood from Bari was mostly eaten raw “this is how we do it here” they were keen to explain. Then they proceeded to crack a mussel for us and give to
taste..adding just a little squeeze of lemon. I asked…are you fishermen? They laughed and replied NO…they had just come down to get some mussels and were sharing them with us. What a great group of guys. They spoke English very well and wanted us to know all about the local seafood. Apparently its much better up here in Bari as down further south, there are lots of white sandy beaches, but no good for seafood. There you have it!!
Our little train came so off we were on a tour. After 2 minutes in the train we all got out and completed the rest of the tour on foot. Very funny!! Had a brilliant tour guide who spoke first in Italian, then English and then German as that’s who we had on our tour of about 10 people. A great walking tour through Old Bari..including the Basilica – built in 1089 and the cathedral. Both we went into. St Nicholas’ remains are buried in the Basilica and there was a funeral being conducted in the Cathedral…and all was normal!! We walked though the back streets, went to visit a lady hand making pasta..in her house, and had
a quick look at the castle..that was closed due to renovations.
What a day. Loved it!!
Dinner again, this time also joined by Bob and Sandra…also from England. A show tonight after dinner, Acrobatics, singing and dancing. All very good.
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