Jolly Hotel Ancona

It seems like we&#8217;re a little too late for traveling further by bike. Walking down the street today it was only 6 degrees and raining. A few more degrees and it will be snow. Far too cold for cycling and camping (at least by our standards), and not very fun for sight seeing either. This is winter settling in in northern Italy. <br><br>The plan was to cycle south today along the east coast so that I would at least get to cycle and see some ...

... disputing that many of these structures are to be admired. But here they are reveared, the structures themselves apart of what is being praised. These monuments, structures, are beautiful and devastating within themselves. the Magestic facade sometimes depicting what appears to be an angry force, a domenieering stance looking out at the world as it to say I cannot share my beauty with you, I will Not. You must come to me ...

Arrived early in the morning and it took us forever to get off the boat. No kind of organisation at all and then we had to queue for an age to go thru customs in the van, but then we were on our way. I was driving and got my first taste of Italian traffic... oh my god. It was crazy and we werent really sure where we were going and neither was Harriet our GPS. I love how everyone just pulls out wherever they ...

... bags as well onto the boat.<br> It was 3pm is by this time, we lined up in the hot sun for a bit..then were let onto the boat. Our cabin was 7099 and we were escorted to our rooms, but not before our escort turned the wrong way. We would have had no troubles finding it ourselves! We headed out of the cabin to scope out the ferry, it was heaps nicer than the last one, and didn't smell bad! It had a pool deck a few lounges, card table, shops etc. Our ...

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.<br><br>Got a little burnt! Everyone at the beach was so tanned!!!! even the babies!!!

... vista of lumpy and spiky territory. Getting towards level ground again, we came down towards the dual carriageway at Bagni di Romagna and were relieved to spot a petrol station. It was only self-service and, though we were sure it took notes, we weren't quite sure how to operate it. Therefore, Paul ventured into the attached cafe and - in his words - "bowed" at the girl inside, informed her (in Italian!) that he didn't speak Italian, and ...

... pass off as my student. They were all really down to earth and such great company! And so I offered to share my room with them because the seats were ****** for sleeping and I understood the agony of watching your luggage while you sleep. Thus we all bunked into my cabin with the youngest on the floor =). It was definitely more secure being in a cabin than out in the open. <br><br>This chance meeting will count towards one of the highlights of my trip. =)<br><br><br><br><br><br>

... desk said 'English' before I had even said a word, is it really that obvious?! As I had a couple of hours to spare til the train I decided to leave my bag in left luggage at the station, what a nightmare, I had to queue for over an hour... Some English lads were in front of me, they looked about 15, and I listened in to their conversation, one of the guys bag weighed only 5kg, imagine!! Mine is about 15kg at least, try that sonnie ...

... even those were completely booked up. By the time dinner was over, we made a B-Line for a booth to get some sleep. Successfully squirming my way through bigger, slower people, I got us a booth and we settled in for the night. We played cards and had some snacks for dinner. Eventually, we curled up in our booth and got a few hours of sleep. I was promptly awoken at 6 a.m. by an elderly man taking the chair from under my feet. It seems he wanted to use it and didn't really care that ...

... Grand Canal and tourists and unique magic, a city of canals and no cars. We'd visited Venice before, in the mid-70s, but I think it will always strike me with a sense of wonder, no matter how many times I see it. To get to our small hotel, where we had a reservation for a top-floor room with a terrace and narrow view of the Grand Canal, we negotiated with a water taxi pilot to take us the back way -- not down the Grand Canal, crowded with ...