Hotel Royal Trani Bari

... shouldn't have taken the first agent's word for it. Seemed to be ships sailing at all hours - must surely have been one with space on it overnight? Definitely the only way to do this route.However, we get by: but I wouldn't recommend Ventourist line: cheap, for sure; but tacky -very, very tacky!Another night in an anonymous port.<br><br>

... Loud and Incredibly Close<br>Jonathan Safran Foer<br>purchased and left behind in Florence<br>=========================== <br>On the opposite end of the spectrum of first person narratives written a non-objective voice, Oskar, the 9 year old hero of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a absolute riot. I guess the motif works better for heartfelt comedy than noir.<br><br>I picked this up in Paris after ...

... a taxi that you haven't called. Jyles insisted though. <br>I checked the locks on the doors before I got in, and made sure I could escape. It was legitimate, but in a normal situation I would have said no. <br><br>We got to the ferry terminal just on time. Since it was an overnight ferry, we got bunk beds and had an awesome sleep. <br>

... 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.<br> We made the ferry on time ...

... Italian, it was little surprise to find that this was once part of ancient Magna Graecia; in fact you are more likely to stumble upon Greek temples than you are Roman ruins. Known in Italy as a land of myth and fable, this little region was clearly full of surprises. <br><br>Whenever I think back to the first day in Basilicata, images of mountains, beautiful scenery and sunny skies fill my thoughts - a lovely start to the holiday!

... 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.<br>

... trucks. Fortunately someone spotted us driving loops amongst the trucks and sent us in the right direction. I then go from Italy to Greece with some Greek loading officer shouting some fairly hefty abuse in our direction, I know enough Greek to understand that Malakas is not a compliment. Lots of arm waving, mixed Greek and Italian, some shuffling of trucks and vans, the late comers are woven into the load, and I mean woven, through some quite tight ...

... the announcement that we were approaching Bari! Mmmm, what a great night's sleep on the boat! Lots better rest when you're not the one in charge of the vessel through the night (eh, Lee, John, and Clay?!). We met up with the Navy girls and made our way off the boat and onto our first Eurorail to Rome. With 3 hours before our train left Bari, Greg and I took the time to explore this port city of Italy. Not much to see except a royal McDonald's whose meny ...

... out to be a pretty awesome place and our first taste of Italy. It is a city of 2 parts, the old and new. The old city is a series of intertwining narrow streets with lots of apartments, small shops, restaurants, and, of course, churches. The new town is like any other, contemporary with lots of high-end shopping, cafes, etc. So we spent the day killing time with espressos and sightseeing. Bari had a cool castle in the middle of it all, where we ...

Breakfast on the ferry wasn't too bad. Cold cuts, cheese, bread, jam, and the other usual stuff. Guiseppe gave me more tips - he's a really good guy. We went to the train station to store our things, then he bought me a coffee. We sat for awhile - I planned the next phase of my trip. I possibly could fit in Malta and Tunisia, but would it be worthwhile? I need to do some more research and decide later. Guiseppe gave me a bit of a tour of Bari. The castle - looked ...