Hotel Orientale Brindisi

Destination 399<br><br>[Arrival from Ferry]<br><br>After a night with more than just a fiew hours of sleep on the ferry from Greece, I arrived early in the morning around 7:00am scared facing the heavily industrialized City of Brindisi! The first sight of Italy was not the most charming - hopefully to be changed soon. Therefore, after arrival and one of the quickest Immigragtion check (1 Minute), immediate departure on motorbike to explore more charming places.<br><br>See next entry.

My friends and I stayed at this bed and breakfast in Mola just south of Bari. It was the best yet. Large old English style accomodations, we stayed in an apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, large veranda overlooking the main street. It even had a full kitchen. The breakfast was the best we have experienced. It is worth the trip just for the accomodations. A nice beach area with breath taking views is just 10 minutes south in Polignano. <br><br>A must see for those off the tourist path. <br>

This is where Pietro, an old Italian guy, jumped into Bruce and navigated us to the trulli. He saved us from a traffic jam in the narrow streets of Puglia.<br><br>Pete was also called Pietro while in Italy. :-)<br><br>Trullo comes from the Greek word, "tholos" &#8211; meaning &#8220;dome&#8221;. See the pictures of the wee houses.<br><br>We found the Belvedere pub here too - also the name of our local in Aus &#8211; meaning &#8220;beautiful view&#8221;. It was beautiful.

After spending one more nite in Naples, we boarded the train and headed for Brindisi. There we would catch the overnite ferry to Corfu, Greece. I had been to Corfutown, a couple of times, but this, too, was Dennis' first time, and I was anxious to show him around.<br><br>We both thoroughly enjoyed the train ride. Intially, we were in a compartment with a young couple that made-out ...

... over 500 years old and ended up at the Adriatic sea! It was absolutely beautiful and i took a ton of pictures for you :) Tonight me and sam are taking a train trip to Rome!!!!!! the train leaves tonight at 9:30 pm and we dont' get there until 6 am tomorrow. We are meeting up with a teacher they had the first week, staying in a hotel and coming back on Sunday. I am so excited!! i will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures. love and miss you all!!

... we figured he´d unlikely be going anywhere, so we could still see him if we came here another time!<br><br>We drove down the coast, stopping instead at a tiny little village by the sea, with a stall by the water selling fresh mussels. We bought a couple of kilos and cooked up chilli mussels overlooking the water watching the sun set. Another of our great spots!<br><br>Slightly inland were the villages of the ...

... was for 24th OCTOBER, not September! So I had to wait another couple of hours in the port, and once again found myself in Igoumenitsa at 1.00 a.m. for the 2.30 ferry across to Italy, but to Brindisi. I still havn't seen Igoumenitsa in daylight. 

... his do-it-yourself car burglary kit and an audience watched while we successfully retrieved our key just in time to board our ferry! As Kel offered money, Mossimo explained "no no no it is the Italian way". Deck passengers once again, we capped off a great day as Kate found herself on her **** covered in oil on the car deck as she elegantly made her way onboard. A beer was in need as we faced another 17 hours on a ferry to Patras (Greece).

... were seeing what the locals enjoyed. The food was very nice and you could keep going back for more till you had used up all your tickets. But the wine continued to flow. After about an hour there arrived a local troupe of singers, dancers and musicians who entertained the assembly. They danced and then came among their audience taking them on to the floor to try the local country-dances. By then the wine had done its' work and everyone in our group got up and kept the ...

... we had no reservations and then we found out one of the ferry companies on our interail ticket had gone out of business...so we waited around all day keeping our fingers and legs crossed (couldn't find a toilet) that we'd get on that nights sailing to Corfu. We meet two great Aussies, Jody and Carolyn, so we had great company to ease the long day! Eventually the mini buses started to arrive to take small numbers to the port...which is appox 7 km away from the town....we ...