After a week of partying and sightseeing in Barcelona it was time to board our ferry to Livorno, Italy.
The ferry was scheduled to leave at 11.59pm on Saturday night so we didn’t book any accomodation that night thinking we would just chill out at the hostel until we had to check in.
Low and behold, I received an email from Grimaldi Ferries notifying us of a six hour delay.. AHHHHHH. After Friday nights partying and three hours of sleep, this isnt what we wanted to hear. Alas, we waited and waited catching the odd nap here and there until we finally headed down to the ferry terminal at 4am. That was already 24 hours without sleep with only three hours sleep in about 48 🙁
We finally got aboard the ship at about 5am and in a daze of tired confusion made our way to a chair and collapsed with exhaustion.. We were just dropping off when an Italian biker woke us to inform us that he had arranged free cabins for all the passengers (about 40 in total). WOOOOOOOO !! We immediately jumped into bed and fell asleep. Just as well really, as the ferry didnt leave until 9am ( 9 hours late).
We arrived in Livorno, Italy at 7am after being kicked out of the cabin three hours previously. Still half asleep we rode the 15 miles to Pisa and did a 20 min photo shoot and walk around.. What a magnificent place but nothing much else to do there but eat expensive pasta…
Pisa was over with by mid morning so we decided to head to Bologna. We had no map, the GPS wasn’t playing fair and with lack of sleep and patience we had a cranky ride to Bologna and a bit of a fall out. Neil was really feeling the pain of the lack of rest and hardly eating and I just wanted to get to Bologna as quick as possible. It was always going to be a shit day !! We ended up just taking the toll road motorway and found our way into a hostel recommended by tourist info in Bologna. Bologna was just an “en route” stop for us. It’s filled with expensive boutiques and pasta restaurants. Not much for me really.. Maybe ill find out its hidden secrets on another trip. The hostel wasnt up to much either. More of a concentration camp than a relaxing place to stop. On the plus side, we found a map there so we could plan a less stressful route to Venice, without arguments ! We spent that night dissasembling Neils carb as it’s been butchered by hab handed mechanic. It constantly leaks but we don’t have the parts to fix it ..All fun eh.
We left Bologna on Tuesday 21st Sept and arrived in Venice the same day. It took up four hours to ride 100 miles as we stuck to the free roads which were pretty conjected. Italy’s pay roads are fast but paying seven Euros to travel 100 miles is taking the piss a little !
Here in Venice we met up with the two New Zealanders, Craig and Cam who we will be sailing into Alexandria with and probably riding through Egypt and Sudan with.. It’s going to be fun ! 🙂
So, today was a day of sightseeing and photo taking in SPECTACULAR Venice. Being so packed with tourists takes away the shine a little but its well worth a visit for a day. I couldnt stay there any longer though.
So tomorrow morning we head to the ferry terminal here in Venice and board our boat to Egypt and to where the REAL adventure starts. The boat takes four days and with customs the other side, i’ll probably be off the radar for a while….
Until then……….