Day 45

Dobro jutro!

What a day we had today. We went on an all-out mission to Get Out Of Italia!

We awoke somewhere in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, bound for the port of Napoli.

Our original ferry was to take us from Palermo to Livorno, a journey of twenty three hours. We then planned to drive to Bologna for an overnight stop.

After our first ferry was cancelled, we found another ferry that could take us from Palermo to Napoli. Napoli is a lot further South that the original destination of Livorno. But the ferry journey was a lot shorter, only ten hours.

The ferry company was run with typical Italian organisation end efficiency. Disastrous chaos. Long story short, our ferry was supposed to leave Palermo at

8:00pm, but we actually sailed at 10:30pm.

The captain must have said “all full ahead” though, because we were docked in Napoli just before 8:00am, and we were off and driving by 8:30am.

We were both very glad to be off that ferry. The ensuite in our cabin was disgusting. In fact the whole cabin was. Aunty Karen would have had an absolute fit. Aunty Karen would have taken one look at the beds and would not even allow Rufus to sleep on them. This morning Koro debated whether or not to have a shower. Even though he hadn’t showered since our early morning start in Athens, he thought he might still come out of the shower dirtier than when he went in! But, it did the job, we managed to get a night’s sleep and travel while we slept.

From the port we made our way straight to the Autostrada, pointed roughly North, and stayed there for eleven hours. It was a journey of 950 kilometres, easily the longest drive we have ever done in one day.

We stopped roughly every two hours, went to the bathroom, had a drink and some food. The rest of the time it was driving.

Buzzy Bee had the important job of guarding our car and our toll money while we ate. He took his job seriously and did it well. We ended up paying the tolls on our card rather than with cash. €65, or about NZD$110. Ouch!

For the first two stints we were able to make some serious distance. The speed limit was usually 120km/h, but traffic was light and the conditions excellent, so we set the cruise control for 150km/h. Even at that speed we were still getting passed.

After we had passed Firenze traffic started to build, but we could still travel very quickly. After Bologna, towards Venezia, traffic built again. By the time we had passed Venezia it was getting dark, and there were lots of trucks on the roads. The closer we got to the border the more trucks there were. The slow lane was a constant wall of huge trucks, all registered in countries like Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic. Trying to exit the Autostrada to take a bathroom stop was quite difficult, as we had to find a break in line of trucks we could sneak into without getting squashed.

We are both over Italia, especially Sicily. It is noisey, chaotic, and the people are not that happy or friendly. We are very glad we went to Sicily. The Valley of the Temples in Agrigento is well worth the effort it takes to get there. Siracusa is a beautiful city. But Catania and Palermo are not pleasant.

As we got further North, we noticed a change in the county. The roads in the North are in much better condition, the roadside vegetation was mown and pruned, the people seemed a bit happier and more attention was paid to road rules. We love Firenze, Venezia, Pisa, Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast. Roma you have to visit, because that’s what you do when you come to Italia for the first time. But, from Roma we’d recommend a day trip to Pompeii, and then head back to Tuscany.

Daylight saving has ended in Europe, and started in New

Zealand, so we are now twelve hours behind New Zealand (when we started in September we were ten hours behind). Sunset is shortly after 5:00pm and getting earlier every day. Hence, by the time we crossed the border into Slovenia it was very dark.
So far all we have seen of Slovenia has been through the beam of our headlights. So far it has a very nice, relaxed, happy, organised feel to it. The hotel is beautiful, the staff professional and friendly. The restaurant they recommended was fantastic. Great food, two drinks each, and it was only €35.

Koro feels a bad that Grandma spent her birthday sitting in the passenger seat of the car while Koro muttered obscenities and questioned the legitimacy of the parentage of the Italian drivers. But the welcoming room in our hotel and the fact we are now in Slovenia and somewhere different has made up for it a little bit. And, tomorrow we are off to visit a horse farm, so Grandma will be in her element.

We are looking forward to the next couple of days.

Love to you all from Grandma and Koro and Buzzy Bee. XXX OOO.