Majesty 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.

... can't relate to these characters, or even trust what they're saying. I suppose that's the point, a character study in alienation and a commentary on the powerlessness that is shared by both females of Japan's elite class and the Chinese illegal immigrants who comprise the underworld that makes their privileged position possible. I guess it's effective as a social criticism of the seedy underbelly behind the ...

... in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” A couple of the old cave houses have been outfitted and furnished to look as they did in the 1950s and are open to visitors.

There are several hotels that have opened in the Sassi and they have made a novelty of the cave houses by turning them into hotel rooms. We stayed in room #3 for two nights at one such hotel called Locanda di San Martino. Our room was truly a comfortable cave that had been decked ...

... It was edible, if not a bit onthe lukewarm side. We scoffed down food with Calvin and chatted. After dinner we went back to "our seats" and gathered a group to play Phase 10, including Calvin. The game was good fun, other people were playing Guess Who and Barbie Uno. we wrapped it up midnight ish..and headed to bed. Cory came first, Calvin last..ah well.. the luck of the game. No alarm and giving breakfast a miss tomorrow..sleep in!

... are built into the rock face, often with just discernible faded frescoes painted onto the walls. There really is a biblical aspect to the landscape, and it comes as no surprise that the town was used as the setting for Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’. ‘Simply Perfect’, he is reported to have said when first seeing Matera, and it isn’t hard to see why.

... to hire a car! We had decided to travel around the region rather than staying in one place, so we could really get a feel for what it was like. The further we drove from Bari and the Puglia border, the higher we rose, the wilder and more beautiful the scenery became. Basilicata is the most mountainous as well as the least known region of southern Italy. We found out before we came that tourism is not big in Basilicata, although Italians ...

... second stop Greek mainland. There are 5 port officials in the road, it's a bit like a round about with no round, the trucks parked up earlier are for one boat, the trucks incoming now and some of the cars are for my boat. The traffic for each boat has to cross paths to get to its destination, how crazy are the Italians, no organisation skills whatever, it was mayhem, how the port officials don't get run over I still don't know. I'm quite entertained by this ...

... 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 ...