Rome - Ancona - Zadar

Last day in Italy and I (Andy) must admit it  that it could have come sooner! Little whinge...the Italian way = inefficiency. Having said that, the weather and beaches and sights have been magnificent. Kristin has enjoyed it a lot more than me.

Anyhow, got the that off my chest,  we wandered around  the area of Rome close to the  station Roma Termini, near our hotel (checkout  11...train supposed to leave at 3:30) .

First we went to the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. A classic Roman Catholic Cathedral.  I think there must have been a Pope or two buried there ,otherwise they built the church  on a bridge called Max ( Pont ... Max was on a lot of plaques ). 

Next visit was to the Republic/ Nationalze region via a post office  (I hope the non electronic people  are enjoying their postcards ...oops that's  right they won't  be reading this).  
     

Our next visit was to another Church/Cathedral/Basilica, the Santa Maria Basilica. Once again a wonderful building but what was really  of interest was the inbuilt sundial  (actually a solar calendar) built into the  church  itself. It was also a bit of a tribute to Galileo. There was a pendulum  (Galileo was first to use this to measure time, a significant advancement in clocks) and also a a large statue of him.

After a look around a local market and the outside of the museum, we decided it was too hot and a drinks break and lunch was in order. We gave our travelcards to an Irish couple, who looked at my Rosebud FC shirt and mentioned that they used to live in Mt. Martha and now live in Perth - small world!

A break back at our hotel foyer to collect our  bags and enjoy a bit of A/C and wifi before catching the train to Ancona. As you may realise by now Andy organises everything to the minute!
Unfortunately the Italian railways are not on Andy's wavelength  ( what was wrong with Musolini? )

After a 45 minute delay at Roma Termini with all the Gypsies and pick-pockets, waiting to get a platform number. We finally boarded the train to Ancona. When we got to our seats, we thought it was warm but put it down to the sun shining through the windows and the 36C temperature. 15 minutes into the trip we were still sweltering and finally the conductor(?)  Suggested everyone go to another carriage...we accidently found 1st class! The rest of the train ride was pleasant, except it arrived at Ancona one hour late.

It was okay because the ferry was leaving at 10pm...we arrived at the Railway  Station at 8pm not 7 pm...our booking said you must present to the ticket office 2 hours before departure. ..so we panicked!. After 15 minutes of trying to walk to the ticket office  and got lost. ..we rang the the ticket office ." No problems you don't  need to be here for another hour"...Why don't  they print that on the email? A walk back to the station and got a taxi, apparently  there is a free bus to the  ticket  office.  More Italian efficiency  ...800 m to ticket office from Railway station then another 900m to ferry port! and no signs for the stupid English speaking tourists.

Now we are on the ferry  and have knocked off a half a bottle  of Rum, things now seem normal. We have an outside cabin (bunk beds    
By the time this is posted  we should be in Zadar, Croatia.(We are!)

For those of you who may have thought we may have slackened the pace off...keep watching as we are doing 5 Croatian cities in 10 days .

Cheers,

A & K.