Hotel President Giovinazzo

As it turns out, filling that day wasn't so much of a problem.... we tootled out of town, found a beach, wandered about & looked at the boats; tootled back, found somewhere to eat, had a chat with a few Brits and - hey presto! - before you knew it, time for bed! But the one on board was a bit more of a challenge... all 13 hours of it! BIG ...

... from Japanese to English. Or perhaps it's just that the elements with which I could relate - growing up under an environment of intense academic competition with both peers and siblings - simply accentuated those with which I couldn't - thinking said sibling soulless, incest, pedophilia, parental abandonment, grandparental dementia. Plus the elite-schoolgirl-turned-prostitute motif has been done to death.
Bari, Puglia, Italy david_chung

... Greece. The ferry was pretty comfortable, beds which i actually fit in, decent food and no over riced beers!! We spent the night on the rear boat deck drinking the night away and amusing ourselves playing 'sniff, tag your it'. Basically a totally random game where you are dared to walk up to some random stranger, get as close to them as you can without them noticing you and then simply sniffing them. Doesn't sound much but with a few beers under your belt ...

After a short amount of time in Pompei we hopped on a train to Bari. We took an overnight ferry to Croatia. We just about missed the boat because our train was late. So we did what you should never do, we accepted a cab ride from a random at the station claiming to be a taxi. Generally it's safe, but I still never think its good to get ...

... Dan got a map of Pompeii and we saw like 1/16 of the ruin! I was dissapointed we couldn't see more but Enzo did say that it would take 2 days to see all of the ruin. The bus ride from Pompeii to Bari was a few hours, we stop for a snack/lunch/toilet break after a few hours. Dan and I had a calzone and a drink, we bought some onion pretzels, pepsi and paprika italian pringles for munchies on the ferry.
We made the ferry on time ...

The most surprising thing I found before leaving England was that no one even know where Basilicata was! Even friends who thought they knew Italy well weren't aware of Basilicata as its not very well known. On the plane from Stansted, most of the English people we spoke were going on holiday to visit family or friends and most were staying in Puglia, not Basilicata.

If you're planning to visit Basilicata, you will defintely need ...

... are only a small number of sleeping cabins that have to be booked way in advance and cost a lot of money. So like a lot of other people our ticket was "deck space". Meaning we could find a piece of floor somewhere and sleep. It turned out to be a pretty uncomfortable nights rest tossing and turning with about 200 other people all crammed into every nook and cranny of the boat.

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.

A must see for those off the tourist path.

Despite warnings from our host for Jie not to take her handbag out into the city, and to 'stick to the big streets', we found Bari a very safe and vibrant city.     We had been told that southern Italians were more chilled out (or lazier?) than their northern cousins. This was certainly our experience on arriving and getting the bus from the station to our B&B which was near the old town.    We had to ...

... venture out and get horribly lost to give me an extra hour or two's sleep. Wish granted she managed to only discover her cabin a while later after serious help ...