Blogs we like

I slept not too badly last night considering. I tried spreading myself out along 3 or 4 seats but that wasn’t working out very swell, too lumpy and narrow (that’s the seats, not me). So I shifted my blow-up pillow and sleeping bag to behind the back row of the seats and slept on the floor (which wasn’t dirty and I wasn’t touching it directly anyway). Not amazingly comfortable but I was tired so like on the couchette coming from Macedonia the other night, I slept anyway.

I was initially told when I got my ticket that the ferry would get in at 09:00am. So I presumed this to be local (Italian) time (like it would be for a flight). Last night I double checked with reception and he told me that it actually gets in at 08:30am Greek time. Greece is an extra hour ahead so this would be 07:30am Italian. It actually got in at 08:05am local. Confused? Join the club.

Before disembarking, I sneaked a quick ham and cheese omlette in, €4.

So, Italy and with it country number 23. This is the nation I’ve been looking forward to most, there’s just so much to see and I’m only going to be tackling a small fraction of it. One thing I do need to get on when I get net access, is to check the Serie A fixtures, would be great to take a game in.

Right now though I need to figure out where one would find Bari’s main bus station, or at worse, train station. Though I already know that there isn’t a train I can take until about 5 hours off, I hope to be well on my way to Naples by then.

It was well sign-posted to the train station (I know I wanted a bus but I thought there would be a good place to find info) up until the point where the signs stopped without said station and a road splitting 3 ways. I made my best guess and 10 minutes later with a couple more turns I stumbled upon the station and the tourist info point outside it.

The bus takes about the same amount of time as the train but at €19, it’s nearly half the price, plus it leaves an hour earlier (at 12:50, getting in at 16:30). So that was an easy decision.

So as I’ve got the best part of 3 hours to kill before my bus, I may as well have a look at Bari. From what I’ve seen so far (I’ve pretty much done 2 hours walking already, bag ‘n all) it seems quite interesting. I’ve seen a sign for the a football stadium (Bari’s I presume) so I might go and have a look at that.

I’ve been putting my extremely basic Italian into practise this morning. ‘Mi scusi’, ‘Parla Inglese?’, ‘Buongiorno’, ‘Grazie’ and ‘Ciao’ have all had an airing, I’ve even been on the receiving end of a couple of ‘Pregos’. I expect when I get to Naples it won’t be long before I get a couple of ‘Consigliere’ job offers. You may well say but you’re not Italian, two words for ya: Tom Hagen.

Long dark hair with big sunglasses and a scarf appears to be the Italian look this October, male or female.

There’s Vespas absolutely everywhere, I’ve seen some right crackers. I’m yet to spot a Lammy though. I can’t wait to get back on my scoot, though December isn’t exactly going to be the ideal month to do it.

There are actually signs for 2 different football stadiums and I’m not sure which is the right one, plus I’ve been heading the way one of them says for quite a bit with no luck. They’re quite vague directionally and there’s no indication of distance so I’m giving up on that plan. In fact I’m just going to go and sit and wait for the bus now. 4 hours is enough of walking around with my bag on in a busy city, not to mention the fact that there appear to be a lot of Italians who dawdle and are spacially unaware, a poor combo.

I remembered why I don’t use the GPS on my phone, it appears to only track you when you have input the direction query while you previously had data access (like I did for the cinema the other night). So unless I pay the ridiculous roaming fees (seriously scandalous, iPhones are only usable data wise when abroad, for the rich) it’s no good for on the fly when you’re lost.

On the bus now, I can’t wait to get to the hostel. Athens feels like weeks ago.

Strangely, the fella from Adelaide sat next to me on the bus has been in my hostel room at both Sofia and Skopje.

On the way into Naples you go right past Mount Vesuvius very cool (or hot even). You can see little clouds of smoke coming out the ground for quite a while before you get there, is that normal? I’m going to try and get up there tomorrow.

That Australian bloke was going to the same hostel as me and I know this doesn’t sound very nice, but he gets on my nerves. Everything you say he is pretty much contrary to and he’s just quite aggravating in general. Like he asked about 4 people the way to the hostel even though we had pretty simple directions to follow then he asked me if I was in a hurry as I was walking slightly fast and missing the city, well after about 30 hours straight travelling and with a large backpack on, I thought getting to the hostel for a shower and that might be a decent idea. He still just dripped about so I walked at my own pace withot paying heed to where he was and arrived at the hostel 5 or 10 minutes earlier than him.

He’s the same bloke I avoided having to go exploring with in a ‘group’ in Skopje because I knew he would rub me up the wrong way, it’s always best to just try and stay clear of people who have that affect on you I reckon.

My first impressions of Naples, complete chaos. What I was expecting really.

The Hostel of the Sun where I’m staying seems pretty good, well apart from the older America guy in my room sat talking to himself (I mean properly as well), I don’t think he’s noticed I’m here. I’ve just informed him of my presence and I think he’s a touch embarrassed.

Nothing much on the agenda tonight as I’m reet banjaxed. A big fat authentic pizza might be worked in though.

As it happens I didn’t get the early night or the real deal pizza as I was up until very late sorting out technical problems with the blog. They’re finally resolved now so I’ll say goodnight, apart from one last thing. I’ve changed my route yet again, the travelling has been pretty hard going lately and I’m not getting enough time to relax or enjoy places and I really want to savour Italy. Also after looking in a bit more detail at distances between destinations, I think it would still have been a bit challenging to fit it all in. So here’s the latest:

Wed 21 – Napoli
Thurs 22 – Napoli
Fri 23 – Napoli
Sat 24 – Rome
Sun 24 – Rome
Mon 26 – Rome
Tues 27 – Rome
Wed 28 – Florence
Thurs 29 – Florence
Fri 30 – San Marino
Sat 31 – Venice
Sun 1 – Venice
Mon 2 – Venice
Tues 3 – Milan
Wed 4 – Milan
Thurs 5 – Turin
Fri 6 – Turin
Sat 7 – Monaco
Sun 8 – Nice
Mon 9 – Nice
Tues 10 – Montpellier
Wed 11 – Andorra
Thurs 12 – Andorra
Fri 13 – Madrid
Sat 14 – Madrid
Sun 15 – Madrid
Mon 16 – Seville
Tues 17 – Seville
Wed 18 – Lisbon
Thurs 19 – Lisbon
Fri 20 – Bilbao
Sat 21 – Bilbao
Sun 22 – St. Jean D’Angely
Mon 23 – St. Jean D’Angely
Tues 24 – St. Jean D’Angely
Wed 25 – St. Jean D’Angely
Thurs 26 – Bayeux
Fri 27 – Bayeux
Sat 28 – Paris
Sun 29 – Paris
Mon 30 – Paris