It’s not that I don’t like Italy but that it’s a diversion I didn’t want in my Balkan Odyssey. However, when you’re travelling without a firm plan and with no travel tickets or accommodation booked then you are opening yourself up to disappointment.
I had spent a satisfactory day back in Croatia and had booked a ferry to Bari – a place nobody has ever heard of and famous only for having a ferry port there. I don’t think anyone goes there on holiday – they are all there, like me, because they need to get a ferry.
I wasn’t looking forward to wasting a whole day in the town. My ferry was at midnight the following day – again because of my lack of forward planning, the Saturday ferry goes at midnight – unlike other days.
At my hostel I bumped into a couple of girls from Poland who said they had been to Monopoli south down the coast. They were in the region for three weeks to learn Italian – I guess it’s cheap and boring and that will help them focus on their studies!
Monopoli was reached very easily by a local train using my five-day train ticket I bought several weeks ago in Germany but had not used much. Like Bari, Monopoli has some sort of castle and narrow streets. People here were sunbathing on the sea defences as well as a very small beach.
I killed some time looking for jobs on my laptop and eating cake and drinking small and very strong coffee. After several hours I had exhausted Monopoli and headed back on the fast train to Bari. I had left my big bag at left luggage at Bari Railway Station otherwise I would have had to cart that around with me too.
It was hot hot hot and I was sweating. Then, as I had retrieved my bag and headed into the old town to find somewhere to eat pizza, the heavens opened and everyone took cover. I waited it out and then waded through streams of pavement water in my new flip flops and waited as restaurant owners put the tables and chairs back on the pavement and tablecloths and cutlery rearranged.
The ferry to Greece was overnight and I had decided to get on the boat early, find a place to lie down and make a nest for myself. I went to the seating area and found a space at the front of the seats and lay out my body, using my big bag as a pillow.
I was quite pleased with myself until the followed morning when I realised it was almost the worst place to try to sleep. I did get some sleep but the floor was rock hard and I was in my down jacket and then a t short over the top to compensate for the air-conditioning. I had assumed that the deck would be a cold place to sleep but when I got my cold body and walked out there to see the sun it was a lot warmer and the deck was covered with people sleeping, in tents and on camping mattresses.
When I went back inside I realised then that the absolute best place to sleep was on the floor where the cabins were, there was carpet and good temperature and privacy and quiet. Note to self – do not rush to find a space and commit to it early. I ad probably the worst place on the whole ship.
By the time we had arrived at Corfu I didn’t care. This was the destination I had planned – the whole trip was about getting to Greece- everything else was secondary.