To find some proper spare space to sleep on the boat was quite a complicated mission last night. We were not -as we should have been- fast enough to look for the right spot to settle for the night. And when we finally did, at about midnight, all the good spots had already been occupied by the numerous other travelers sharing the boat with us.
We looked all around the boat for some time; were awaken and driven off from some few spots we temporarily settled, by the boat’s personnel; and, finally, ended up on a narrow piece of ground in the air-seats room, where we slept, not as comfortably as one would ideally want to, though soundly until the morning.
Now it’s almost 1:00 and we are afloat somewhere amidst the Adriatic Sea. It is a glorious summer day. There isn’t any slight trace of clouds in the sky. And there is nothing interrupting the perfect circle of the wide marine horizon, apart from a couple of Croatian islands to the distant east and some few bypassing vessels. In a few hours from now, we will be approaching land once again and will be disembarking at the port of Ancona, ready to head out chasing new adventures and exploring new lands.
At around 16:00 the boat was finally entering the port of Ancona. We got down to the garage, packed everything on the bikes, and started rolling through the streets of this new city.
Our first mission was to find a SIM card. I hate all telephone companies and most of all I hate Vodafone. But, for my bad luck, that was the first one we found and, worrying the stores might soon close, I had to once again be supplied with a SIM card from the aforementioned, hated company and start suffering right away all their stupid advertising campaigns in my message inbox.
Our next stop was the Camillo Benso Cavour square, where we got to fill up water from a little fountain and make a coffee while waiting for the sun to lower a bit before we start on our way.
Our destination for the day was the village of Belvedere Ostrense, where we would stay at our friends’, Luca’s and Zheni’s place. It was around 19:00 and the heat had considerably receded when we decided to get going. It was just then we realized we’d got a flat tire. That was quite unlucky to happen right upon the initiation of the whole trip. We anyway changed it very rapidly and proceeded.
Bad luck had reserved yet another strike for us. While ascending a steep hill, just by the outskirts of the city, Christina’s chain hopped off place and got hardly stuck between the cog and the spokes. It would have taken much more effort to put it back in place, but a very kind resident of the neighborhood came to our aid offering some tools and his help, and even soap to wash our hands in his house garage’s sink after we were done. It was very kind of him, and a very good first impression of what we may expect from Italian people.
Anyhow, by the time we were done, it was already quite late. We were counting on arriving at our destination by 21:00 (when it gets dark); now it was dark already and we had hardly left Ancona yet.
We contacted Luca and he offered to come and pick us up with the car. We continued a bit further and we finally met him in a dark road meandering over the smooth, dark silhouettes of the hill fields near Sappanico village.
We packed all the things off, dismantled the front wheels off the bikes, and crammed them all somehow in the back of the car. We were soon, then, in Belvedere Ostrense. We spent an exhilarating evening, enjoying the pleasant company of our Italian friends and the delicious Italian dinner they made for us. That’s pretty much how this first day in Italy went by.
Accommodation and Activities in Italy
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