Rome to Ancona and the Boat to Greece

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Carlo, our driver is back. Today we travel thru the Apennine Mountains from west Italy to the east where we catch the boat to Greece - 24 hours on the boat, our coach goes with us on the boat. These mountains run from north to south down the middle of Italy. The earthquakes here in the mountains are caused by the tectonic plates moving away from each other. When villages get destroyed in these quakes, there is money set aside to help the residents rebuild but, corruption arrives in the form of the Mafia and the money disappears and people have to wait years to have their homes again, some miss out altogether. Bit like our government.......

We pass by one of these villages that was destroyed by an earthquake 7 years ago. They are still rebuilding - the village is L'quila

The countryside we are travelling thru is lovely, our driver sets the bus on cruise control and very rarely ever has to change it. This is mountainous and we go thru - not over. The scenery is different every time we come out of a tunnel. I just can't believe the roads here, they are huge viaducts and tunnels.

The trip on the boat/ship will be nice as we get to relax. The pace has been quite full on up to now and it slows down from now on so we are told. Boat party tonight, woo hoo, we have the wine and chips.

The only time we have gone thru a passport check, is London to Paris, that was funny. We went thru the customs gate in London at the train station and then 20 feet away we went thru customs for France. We have a passport check before we get on the boat to Greece. We needed our passports to get into the casino at Monte Carlo.

Some of the pics arent the best as they were taken thru the bus window.

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