Reaching Bari

Breakfast at Cincinnato has not always been the best, and this morning’s coffee was a nightmare. Yet we cannot complain, as the cost of two nights lodging at this Italian Wine Resort is roughly a quarter the price of a single night in Chamonix. When we had first arrived at Cincinnato, we were the only guests. There were two others this morning, a charming pair of students from the University of Bologna who were researching into kiwi fruits. Both spoke brilliant English. I talked for a while with them and asked what they saw for themselves if they looked into a crystal ball. Neither knew but it was very clear they were part of a younger generation committed to preserving the planet.

When we left Cincinnato we felt it was time to go, so headed downhill to a local garage to fill the tank. Petrol prices are rocketing throughout Europe at the moment, so we fill up when we can.

Time to say farewell to Cori, the town overlooking Cincinnato

I have still not mastered the Italian service station, so pulled, pushed, and twisted the pump hose for Super Unleaded, without any success, until a bearded local came to my rescue.

“Problem?” he asked. Once again, the English was first-class.

“Problem,” I replied, as the pump hose would not come free.

“You ‘ave paid?”

“What for?” I asked but sounding confused. “I have not taken any petrol, so I do not know the cost.”

“You pay first,” the local said. “Credit card,” he instructed and held out his hand.

Like a servant, I complied, puzzled how, when travelling in unfamiliar parts of the world, I often hand over either a credit card or passport to complete strangers in a way I would never do at home. It is exactly what I tell others to avoid.

With a click, in went the credit card.

“PIN,” the local instructed.

Once again I complied, and in full view. The pump whirred, the hose came free, and three minutes later I had a full tank and had not lost my credit card. I had reinforced the local’s view that all travellers were simple and uninformed, especially those from England.

We passed Monte Cassino today, a short while after struggling with an overflowing service station loo. There appears to be no such thing as a normal comfort stop in Italy. Something unpredictable frequently happens. If you seek adventure in Italy, just go to the loo.

Abbey of Monte Cassino, now rebuilt after World War Two

As we drove south towards our day’s end point of Bari port, on the top of a nearby hill stood the abbey of Monte Cassino. It was a clear, sunny day and the abbey was impossible to miss. It was first constructed in the 5th Century BC and has been sacked, ransacked, and destroyed on many occasions. In more modern times, 1944, it was bombed to rubble by the American Air Force, which dropped 1400 tons of high explosive. The bombing turned out to be unnecessary and was based on the faulty translation of an intelligence report. There followed serious fighting between the Allies and Germany, with as many as 80,000 young people dead. The abbey may have now been restored, and stands proudly on its hill, but there is no doubting its beauty. Yet it is a tragedy, too, which we felt the moment we saw it.

Mount Vesuvius - there are a lot of houses down there (courtesy Cylonphoto)

Our route also took us past Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed Pompeii in AD79. It has erupted many times since. It is the only volcano on the European mainland that has erupted in the last 100 years and is seen as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the people still living alongside it. Three million live sufficiently near to be affected by an eruption and 600,000 are well within the immediate danger zone. There were plenty of houses visible on Vesuvius as we drove by. It is a volcano we will be hearing from in future, that much is certain.

Bari, the port of our departure, turned out to be a tidy, affluent, and easy-to-navigate city. We had soon found the port by following that app of apps, Waze. How it knew where we were escapes me, but we were diving down small streets, crossing wide ones, with occasional near misses thanks to lorries. However, after a straightforward check-in, a brief further wait, we were soon aboard the ferry and ushered into a tidy and spacious cabin.

One loaded ferry headed across the sea - on our way to Greece

The ship was filled from one end to the other, largely by lorries. There were campervans as well, not many, but the occupants were allowed to sleep on them and cook a meal, too. Our car was one of only a few and has been enjoying every moment of our journey. On our Anek Lines Superfast ferry, it was wedged into a corner of the vehicle deck, and jammed between a Turkish lorry, a Dutch campervan, and the slowest lift imaginable. The car felt special. It was.

***

Stayed at:

Cabin 6118 on Anek Lines Superfast II

Anek Lines

Piazza della Repubblica n. 1, 60121 Ancona

Tel: +39(0)712072346

Web: www.anekitalia.com

Email: info@anekitalia.com

Ate at:

Wherever we could, foraging as we travelled, but ended up with sandwiches and ice cream in the ferry bar. There was a decent self-service restaurant had we wished, and the crew fell over themselves to help.