Arrivederci, Italia

The train journey from Verona to Ancona began through drizzly and unexciting fields. Then, a short time before we reached our destination, we hit the coast and ran beside it for the remainder of the way. Heavy apartment buildings and small beach huts obscured the sea view for much of the way, but once or twice it was possible to glimpse the sea.

Ancona is not the sort of place I would go were it not entirely necessary. The town seemed to have little to offer, had a flimsy transport network and was ugly in a way that might almost be interesting, were it not for the total lack of anything to do. Annoyingly, the checkin for the ferries had moved so I had to get a shuttle bus simply to have my boarding pass exchanged for a ticket, and come back again.

The ferry itself, however, surpassed my expectations. My ticket was 'deck', meaning that for the 10.5 hour overnight trip I had no bed. I had rather romantically assumed in my naivity, however, that deck meant being placed outside to be at one with the elements and taking whatever nature could throw at you. Thank God, I was wrong, for the weather only worsened throughout the night. I spent the evening in a long gallery area with comfortable sofas reading and finally drifted off to sleep.

Arrivederci, Italia

Ancona, Italy