A perfectly executed plan

The plan was to drive out to the Gargano peninsula to Manfredonia in the morning and then move onto Mattinata in the afternoon for a swim.

If one is looking at a map of Italy the peninsular is the spur about 2/3rd down the eastern coast or slightly south east from Rome on the Adriatic coast.

The distance to Manfredonia from Foggia is approximately 35 kms and the drive is mainly along a 4 lane highway (2 in each direction) through what is rather barren countryside

We parked the car at the first parking area we could find and then walked into Centro, a walk that gave the impression that we had made a mistake coming here but after a kilometre we found the Main Street which extended for around another 1 km. It was a well kept area in comparison to central areas we have been in recently and there was a nice buzz in the street with a lot of boutique shops 

The city is a port city so the Adriatic is on its back doorstep which adds to the environment.

A resident is obviously moving out of their home and using an external lift like this is the only practical option 

As the shops started closing early afternoon and the streets went quiet we returned to the car and headed further around the peninsular to Mattinata in search of one of their beaches and parked up beside Spiaggia di Piana di Mattinata which is a stretch of around 800m of stony beach again with areas being managed by various concessions supplying umbrellas and sun loungers at a cost.

There are areas where those who don’t want such luxuries can drop anchor and we did so and took to the very clear and cool ocean - it was an excellent refresh.

 When I say the beach was stony that is no understatement but some of the stones had interesting colouring 

We arrived back in the apartment late afternoon to complete a satisfying day.

As a side note we are in the region of Apulia, sometimes called by its Italian name Puglia, and it is the region that forms the heel of Italy’s “boot”

Kms driven to date 3740

Kms walked to date 527.2

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699/L Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479/L Freiburg

Spent on tolls €72.70 (should be more but not our fault 🤨)

Stumped

It could have been more embarrassing than it was.

Over our various travels we have stayed in many different types of accommodation from hotels to apartments to single rooms in a bed and breakfast and used many different types of showers without any issue but the one in the apartment had us stumped this morning.

Sherry called out to me to come and get the shower going as she couldn’t, so thinking that this would be a piece of the proverbial I sauntered into the bathroom and saw that there were only two knobs on the modern looking shower so surmised that one of them was the answer.

Having turned and pushed both of them many times no water flowed and with Sherry standing there in her birthday suit all I could think of was to text the host and ask for instructions, so did just that.

As we awaited a response I thought back to the front door episode at Pescara and how that was just user error, so went back into the shower box and played around with the knobs this time just pushing the lower one in from the top, not trying to push it like a call button, and thankfully water flowed.

It was straight back to the phone to advise by text that no help was required - not sure where the host resides but if he was nearby and came straight over it could have been embarrassing (for Sherry)!

Communication with the young waiter at a cafe this morning was fun as we tried to order Sherry’s cup of hot water. He had trouble comprehending that anyone would only want a glass of hot water, he typed into Google Translate the Italian equivalent of hot water (l’acqua calda) and showed me and I confirmed that it was correct so off he went to the kitchen but came back and asked whether it was hot water for tea and we told him yes, but without the tea, so off he went and duly came back with what was required. He too enjoyed the exchange, appeared to want to learn what these silly English folk were saying, was never dismissive in any way and went out of his way to get the order correct. He was well worth the couple of Euros I gave him as we left and he stood at the door of the cafe with a big smile and a thumbs up.

What must have also been embarrassing to a driver at a set of lights today was the fact that as the lights turned green the elderly driver in the elderly car two or three back in the queue immediately sat on the horn (and when I say sat on the horn I mean sat on the horn) to tell those in front to move on and as they did he stalled his vehicle which caused those behind him to sit on their horns and give him the hurry up.

As for our day we spent the morning wandering around the inner city looking in shop windows, there being no tourist sites of any worth to go to and then walked to a shopping mall on the outskirts of the city for lunch and supermarket shopping.

Before dinner we had a stroll through a nearby park which is dedicated to Karol Wojtyla (Pope Paul II) who visited Foggia on 24 March 1987

Inside the park

Entry to the park 

The Police Centre

Looking down the main pedestrian precinct at morning tea (the city still to wake up)

Inside the chiesa

With rain over night and the weather for tomorrow looking slightly better than today we have put off making the 45km drive to the beach area until then.

With the debate in NZ re GST being dropped on fresh food and vegetables if Italy can have different rates of their GST (called IVA) then there is no reason why we can’t- as examples IVA on our various shops have been:

Fresh food and vegetables and milk 4%

Tinned fish, eggs and yoghurt 10%

Plastic shopping bag 22%

At the supermarkets they supply compostable bags for fresh fruit and vegetables and charge €0.01 per bag

Kms driven to date 3621

Kms walked to date 516.2

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699/L Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479/L Freiburg

Spent on tolls €72.70 (should be more but not our fault 🤨)

Drained

Another move today further south to Foggia a city slightly inland. It was a full morning drive and we arrived in Foggia around 12.30 with checkin at 1pm.

While waiting Sherry toured a nearby fruit market and brought some peaches and encountered a smart operator - she was given a plastic container to put peaches she had selected in, and while he was weighing them unbeknown to Sherry he added 6 extra. However when Sherry took the fruit out in the apartment those 6 all had “bad” in them - I guess that is one way to get rid of your substandard fruit!

Met by Angelo (host) and Francesco (interpreter), 2 very pleasant and helpful young men (anyone who is willing to hump our suitcases up stairs is well regarded by us) and accessed a very nice apartment very close to the centre of town. Parking is on the street and as we unpacked A & F made it very clear that you don’t leave anything visible in your car if you want it to be there in the morning - as Francesco described it “it is a tricky city” 

After settling in we both found that constantly being on the move coupled with sleeps not as deep as one would like has caught up with us today and has left us feeling a little lethargic so the day has been very slow.

After unpacking we went out into the town to get our bearings and not unsurprisingly we found the town funereal as it was the middle of the siesta time - here it seems to be from 1pm - 4.30pm.

Even Francesco said the town hasn’t much to offer and if you want to see the beauty of Puglia one needs to go to the Gargano peninsular some 35 kms to the east and he gave us the name of a couple of beaches, so that is something, weather permitting, that we will do over the next two days of our stay.

A couple of photos from our walk around

Today we sailed through the toll gates with no problem at all - just saying like!

Kms driven to date 3621

Kms walked to date 506.3

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699/L Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479/L Freiburg

Spent on tolls €72.70 (should be more but not our fault 🤨)

Where’s the hole?

Sunday here in Italy so a lot of commercial activity is closed for the day but as we were going to drive to Chieti, a town around 20kms away we decided to call in to Megalo, a very large shopping complex on the outskirts of Chieti for lunch.

Lucky that we did as Sherry was able to find a very nice dress for Jill who gave her tick of approval as we video called her from the store.

Lunch was interesting in that when the menu says lard they mean lard much to Sherry’s disappointment as lard on a piece of focaccia isn’t something to die for! Also the cover charge at the restaurant for the two of us was as much as we paid for the bruschetta I had.

Moved onto another town, Ortona, and much as we expected it was dead but enjoyed walking the main street and also seeing the colour of the ocean as viewed from their promenade 

A rather quaint building on Main Street

There was a dilemma on the way into Ortona however as we had used the autostrade, a tolled highway, to get there and as we came through the unmanned toll gate at Ortona pulled up at the gate and went to put the ticket that we had got when we entered the highway at Chieti in the machine which then calculates the amount that needs to be paid and once paid the barrier arm goes up and away you go BUT do you think I could find the slot to put the ticket into. I even got out of the car and stood beside the machine trying to insert it into anything that looked like a slot that would accept the ticket all the time the machine voice was telling me to insert the toll ticket - I’m not sure she heard me saying “Where’s the … hole?”

By this time vehicles had started to back up behind me so noticing that the barrier arm was up we drove through knowing full well that we would be on one of their many cameras and pulled up on the other side so that I could watch what other motorist did. My view wasn’t great but given the time they took it wasn’t obvious to them either. I waited till there was a break in the traffic and climbed the rail and went to the machine and stood there examining it, without success, until more traffic arrived and all we could do was drive off. If a ticket or similar arrives in the post at home in the near future it will be confined to the bin and for anyone thinking what a dumbo I am we have been through many toll gates both on this trip and others without any similar issue!

Drove back along the coast road to Pescara, parked up and went strolling along the beach 🏖️ as it was a very warm day. The beaches here at 20km are longer than Rimini and just as crowded with all the same facilities 

What is noticeable is that the women no matter their age, their weight or their body shape almost without exception wear bikinis and it is a surprise to see a one piece. If they are comfortable in their own skin then all credit to them. When they get tired of sunbathing or swimming they can always buy a new dress from one of the numerous opportunities we saw on the beach

We walked 2 kms down the beach before turning back and even then the beach was crowded way off into the distance.

Kms driven to date 3437

Kms walked to date 499.1

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699/L Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479/L Freiburg

Spent on tolls €59.70 (should be more but not our fault 🤨)

Stormy

Overnight there was another mother of a thunderstorm but the morning dawned fine but cloudy such that we thought a swim might not be on the agenda today and so it turned out.

Drove downtown to a carpark that is very central to Centro, so central that is called Parcheggio Centrale, which allowed Sherry to start her treasure hunt in many of the shops. The shops are situated in the main along 4 streets that are in the shape of a rectangle. Nearing closure time for siesta Sherry found her treasure!

A couple of shop frontages 

While Sherry was in stores I stood around people watching and was lucky enough to get a picture of a dog wearing sunglasses 

Having lunch in one of the numerous eating places we made a decision that a swim was not to be as the sky was darkening and rain looked a decided possibility so we decided to walk to Ponte del Mare, one of the longest (466 metres) pedestrian bridges in Europe, as it was recommended by the lady at the Tourist Information centre as a must see.

Sure it was a unique looking structure and gave good views over the fishing port but doesn’t qualify as a must see and if the city thinks it is then it needs to be kept rather more clean that it was

By this time the weather was looking rather ominous and sure enough on the way back to Centro we got caught in another thunderstorm and with no rain protection either worn, carried or from verandahs we arrived back at the car not as dry as when we parked it.

I’m sure when we awake tomorrow the weather will be once again perfecto,

Kms driven to date 3345

Kms walked to date 489.8

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699 Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479 Freiburg

Spent on tolls €59.70

When is a latte not a latte?

Left Ancona this morning to move further down the Adriatic coastline of Italy to Pescara.

After doing it many times we have it down to a fine art - breakfast, shower, pack, load car and on the road by 9-9.15. The stressful parts of the drive are leaving and entering the cities especially at that time in the morning to leave and around lunchtime when we arrive. I drive the ins and outs and Sherry does some of the motorway driving as she did this morning to allow me to follow the Warriors game against the Titans.

After around an hour of driving we pull into one of the auto stops which are about every 30 - 40 kilometres for morning tea as we did this morning.

Usually I have a cold drink and Sherry has “una tazza di acqua calda” (a cup of hot water) and as I “studied” Italian before we left the ordering is left to me. This morning I decided against the cold drink and thought I would have a cappuccino or something similar and looking at the drinks board I saw that they had a latte listed so that is what I ordered. The server asked me whether I wanted it “calda” and I thought that was a silly question as who   usually has their latte cold so I responded “si”.

In short order Sherry’s hot water was in front of us and so was a cup of hot milk! For all my study of the language it had completely slipped my mind that the Italian for milk is latte.

Met our host at the apartment and took occupancy conversing with him and his wife in pidgin Italian English and also through Google Translate and they soon left us to enjoy our stay. Not long after they left we went to go down to Centro but for the life of us couldn’t open the front door of the building even though they had left us the keys - one for the apartment door and one for the main door. After numerous tries and lots of cussing we rang Placido (our host) who sent us a WhatsApp message back “turn the handle to the right and pull the door open, no key required” so that is what we did but to no avail. Messaged him back and while waiting for the response I tried again this time pulling somewhat harder on the door and to our embarrassment the door opened easily. Lesson to be learnt - don’t be so timid with other people’s property!

We were unsure how far away from Centro we are so took the car rather than walking (temp 34 degrees) and after going round in a few circles got it safely parked in a huge carpark adjacent to one of the main shopping streets. The retail area was starting to slowly awaken from the siesta as we had a walk around to familiarise ourselves and we were quite impressed with the general Centro area as it differs from most in that it is not in an old town as Pescara is right beside the coast and has numerous beaches right at the end of the street we were in - another Gold Coast type environment.

So plans have been made for the next couple of days - go to Centro in the morning to check out the shops and after lunch return and go to the beach for a swim and walk along the broad walk which extends some distance in both directions.

And if you are a Nutella fan at the auto stops there are a vast range of Nutella products

And if you like something bready for lunch then you have the choice of any of these at the auto stops

A panini or similar at €7.95 is approximately $NZD14.15

Kms driven to date 3341

Kms walked to date 479.7

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699 Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479 Freiburg

Spent on tolls €59.70

It’s a squatter…

…she said!

We had planned a quieter day for today - a walk out to a suburb for lunch, then in the afternoon back to Passetto for a swim.

Mid morning we started off to Via Mario Torresi, around 2.6kms away, as research showed there was a cafe there that served other than piadina, pasta and pizza and we were comfortable that it would be open.

Ancona City is situated in a bowl and Via Mario Torresi is the equivalent of being on the saucer i.e you walk up the hill and then down the other side until you are back at sea level.

The walk up the hill was “as steep as” - I estimate 25% slope - and it became quite a plod particularly as the temperature was approaching 30 degrees

When the top was reached there was a great view out over the harbour and beyond

as well as of the Mole Vanvitelliana, a pentagon shaped structure constructed in 1732 and which is now the cultural hub for the Marche region hosting such things as arts exhibitions, live performances etc. Over time it has been used as everything from a hospital to a fortress, from a sugar factory to a customs depot.

On a notice board from where I took the above photo there were stuck death notices or a notice advising the anniversary of the death of a person- such notices are very common outside churches.

Down the hill, realising we would have to climb back up it on our return, we came to a smallish shopping area which housed the cafe, however when we got to the exact address the hours of opening had been changed to an opening time of 5pm!!! Second time we have been thwarted on the trip and all we could find was a pizzeria so we had what we had come to try and avoid, a shared pizza for lunch.

Sought out a toilet for Sherry finding one in the bus station. She duly paid the 30 euro cent charge to gain entry and in a matter of seconds Sherry was back out of there - “it’s a squatter, if got down there I’d never get up again”! Another 30 cents wasted!!

Got ourselves back to the apartment, a short reviver and then it was off to the beach for a longer reviver, this time with a couple of coins in the pocket for the lift. Again the beach was crowded with the sea slightly rougher than yesterday but for us it was straight into the sea to cool off.

Having done so for 20 minutes or so we started a walk back to the apartment this time choosing a different route walking along the tree-lined Viale Della Vittoria which ran from Passetto to Piazza Cavour just below the apartment - we are glad we made the deviation as the trees gave some shade on what was a very hot day.

Kms driven to date 3173

Kms walked to date 473.6

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699 Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479 Freiburg

Spent on tolls €49.60

Fabio may be right!

When Fabio implied that Ancona may not have a lot going for it we thought he may be just pumping the tyres for his own city but having been here for a day and a half he may just be right.

The main shopping area which is confined to one street in the main is not very inspiring and if there are attractions that are must sees none so far have grabbed us.

Until lunchtime we were in and around the shopping area and after lunch we went swimming, which was far more enjoyable as by then the heat had drained a lot of our energy but not so much that we couldn’t walk to the closest swimming area at Passetto.

Arriving in the area we were greeted with a sight of the war memorial 

and then to get to the beach there were around 10 flights of stairs (ok going down but coming up was another story) however there was a lift available to get back up.

The beach, a typical pebble beach, was well crowded with many umbrellas in use 

As soon as we arrived it was into the sea, with sandals still on to protect the feet, to get the body temperature back under control.

The water was a pleasant temperature and very refreshing and after bobbing around in it for 20 or so minutes we then started walking around the coast and to our surprise came across just over 100 “holiday homes” built into the cliff face each being around 2 metres wide and of unknown depth, which the owner or maybe lessee had decorated and furnished to their own taste.

According to a board by the war memorial there are over 500 such structures around the coast of Ancona which started off as boat sheds but from the 1960s they started to be converted into “holiday homes”. From those we could see inside of as we walked passed the users have made them very functional.

As we left the beach we thought we would take the lift as the walk up the stairs looked very daunting but alas it was not to be as you needed to buy a €1 ticket and the ticket machine only took coins whereas as a precaution I had only stuffed a couple of €5 notes in my pocket, leaving credit cards, watches and loose change etc. back in the apartment in case our gear was uplifted by persons unknown when we were having a swim.

We literally staggered up the stairs and made our way home.

If nothing else gets our attention we will back tomorrow (with coins) to rinse and repeat.

Kms driven to date 3173

Kms walked to date 463.7

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699 Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479 Freiburg

Spent on tolls €49.60

Fabio…

…

If you are in a customer services role and need a mentor then Fabio is the perfect person.

He runs UP Hotel in Rimini and has all the skills one needs to do so.

Why UP we asked him - “Everyone is a Unique Person!

He was always present in the breakfast room having a conversation with all and sundry, making sure that they were having a good meal, answering any question, enquiring what your plans were for the day, giving advice on those plans and cracking jokes.

“There is only one thing wrong with Italy” he said, “the Italians”

He was the typical Italian always talking with his hands

There were some aspects of the hotel which were unique (or we had never experienced them)

* an honesty box - if you wanted a coffee or a snack just take it and record on the screen adjacent and it will be added to the bill

* gave guests a branded aluminium water bottle to use while a guest

* on leaving gave a small carton of water and some biscuits to have on the trip

It was great to have enjoyed his company and hopefully his point of difference helps UP Hotel stand out from the 1000 odd hotels in the beach area of Rimini.

Moved further down Italy today arriving at Ancona, a place Fabio didn’t speak too highly of and perhaps he is right.

It is a port city with car ferries moving folk across the Adriatic- as we had our first walk around there was a Greek ferry leaving port, we assume, for somewhere in Greece

At the time we were in the central area it was approaching the end of siesta so there wasn’t much life to be seen

We will see what we think after another day tomorrow.

Two views of Ancona from the terrace in the apartment 

Kms driven to date 3173

Kms walked to date 454.6

Spent on Diesel €226.02

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.699 Verona

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479 Freiburg

Spent on tolls €49.60