Hotel Gino Ancona

... worried about our travel Visa running out before we were done…If anything I thought that Greece would be rushed after Italy, but it looks like things have reversed.

Well at least I have supper tonight and ½ day tomorrow (that is if Brian doesn’t make us get to the ferry terminal too early).

Ciao Bella Italy! I wish I could have got to know you better. Here’s to another return in times of warmer weather.

... Allow me to Sufficate you within my magestry. You enter into such elegance, gold and riches, mouments and sculptures, graves, and paintings. I have been guilty of the crime I am here berating. I went to a church souly to see Michelangelo's grave/tomb. Adoration for what glory the church brings not for God or the religious aspect of it at all. Can I blame it on history and not on the church or on the organization. Who ...

... overtakes you on bends and also crosses onto your side of the road going around the sharp bends on steep mountain roads.. including massive trucks. It was enough to keep anyone awake. We were heading for Elba but it seemed like a long drive. Tricked myself though but first aiming for Lake Tramiseno, then siena and then before we knew it we were at Piombino and about to board the ferry to Elba Island...

... it was going well. I sat in for a hand for Anita, Dan took over Sara's cards and then I scored. Calvin did better than last time and Anita took the game out completing Phase 10. It was 11pm ish by this time and we had docked at the northern most Greek port, so we popped out on deck to see if we could see any Albanian stowaways trying to get on, we couldn't so we headed off to bed and slept with no intention of getting up for breakfast at 9am!

Off to the beach today, that is pretty much all there is to do in Ancona. Beautiful day though. 30min bus ride to get to the beach. The water was amazing, bright blue with white pebbles.

Got a little burnt! Everyone at the beach was so tanned!!!! even the babies!!!

... towards the pumps. I did check later and this bow was not a full Renaissance reverence, thankfully. But such olde worlde courtesy did the trick and the young lady cheerfully guided us through the procedure (which we had, it turned out, worked out correctly).

The dual carriageway was succeeded by the east coast motorway and soon we were in Ancona. Fears about check-in proved groundless - it all ran very smoothly and the only problem ...

... All the fresco on the wall. IT was a moment.

Michelangelo - a talented fellow although I think his sculptures are still better.
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With 2 hours to kill before I board the train, I did my shopping at a Celio which I remembered when I got lost the other night. With one man manning the shop, the salesman was not particularly helpful and I was disappointed to realised that the 2nd article for 50% off was only available ...

... see the otherside of Ancona. Not bad idea to make a little day trip. I saw plenty of immigrants in Ancona, which wasnt a new things to discover but I met plenty of discussion over it too. Another part of Ancona was a bit messy, that area I stayed too. 17 euros for a night, nice and clean place! And if you walk along the coast line, not far the atmosphere changes rapidly. Inside old town the atmosphere changes few more time, which make sthe city interesting. City keeps you moving ...

... speak none but at least understand a few words, but they understood nothing. We couldn't complain, as we didn't speak any Italian, but it did make us assume that few English speaking tourists venture this way. Luckily they had rooms and checking into a hostel isn't too complicated. They only have single sex rooms, as some hostels do. Julius lucked out with a single and I got a dorm room all to myself. We had the terrible luck of ...

... and chemical processing plants across the lagoon, we walked through decaying dockyards and rusted railway lines. We could see our ship, a Blue Star liner, in the distance as we walked slowly towards it.

At the appointed dock we entered an over air-conditioned building akin to an airport lounge and presented ourselves at the check-in. Once done, we were allowed to board the ship by way of the bow door and claim our spot on the top deck that was to be our home for the ...