Around The World – Bari, Italy
My goal on this leg of the trip is to stay one night in Bari on my way from Palermo to Greece. From a light bit of research, Bari seems like a nice town so I’ll try to get some sightseeing done along the way.
In Palermo, I slept badly through the night, finally awake around 10:30 AM. I packed everything up and had breakfast. I walked with my host about the train leaving tonight at 9:10 PM, she said I can stay in the apartment as long as I like, very sweet.
I walked in a new direction today, south-east, then north then west, just wandering the streets and looking for interesting buildings, about 4 miles altogether. I stopped at a cafe for a hot chocolate, it’s cold with patches of drizzle through the day. I went back home and posted my Napoli visit on Facebook and watched a bunch of videos until around 7:30 PM. Loading up, I went down to the street looking for a taxi, as I wanted to avoid the a half-hour walk I did yesterday, but now I’ve got my bags and it’s raining hard. 10 minutes and no taxis so off I go, looking behind me for taxis all the way, and not a single one went past…
I arrived at the Palermo Centrale station about 8:20 PM and checked the departure board. I went into panic mode because the train number on my ticket was listed as 30 minutes late (not a problem) and going to a totally different place (big problem). I asked the same lady as yesterday at the Info desk and she said I’m on track 5. That line on the board lists a train going to Rome as mine does, but the train number is different. Either I’m really confused or they have a display problem. Luckily 5 minutes later the whole board changed and accurately showed my train number going to the right place at the right time. Whew!
I rolled to platform 5 which was currently devoid of a train. A nice shiny high-speed train rolled up on the next track over, I wished I was on that one. 10 minutes later my train rolls in. Maybe 1970s looking, boxy and reeked of slowness. I went down to coach 8 and showed my ticket to get in. Now this is where my day got a whole lot better. Instead of a seating cabin of 4 as I expected, this coach is all sleepers, 4 bunkbeds to a cabin, 2 up and 2 down! Damn I’m going to be able to lie down and sleep rather than trying to sleep sitting up. OK, now I understand why this had a E39 reservation fee, but nothing on my ticket, the Eurail app or the ticket agent said it was a sleeper. Never mind, I’m molto happy.
I put my bags on the shelf, pulled the laptop, power supply, USB cable, pineapple juice and fruit bars and began to set up my hobbit hole. Then I realized, my “seat” number on the boarding pass is not listed on the door. The door says 71, 72, 75 and 76. Guess what my number is. 74. Yep. Luckily a nice young conductor who spoke excellent English told me the number system changed and I was in 75. So I got everything set up. There are four power plugs in the cabin so I’ll be able to keep the laptop and phone charged up all the way to Salerno by 9 AM tomorrow. Two other men enter the cabin and get set up on the other side, nobody below me.
I realized it was boiling hot in the cabin but as we pulled out right on time the air con came on and it’s cooling down a little bit. The conductor came by to check our tickets and he pulled my whole Eurail pass and train ticket out of my passport where I had it stapled so I only have to keep track of one critical piece of paperwork. He said I will get the pass and ticket back in the morning. Oh well no big problem. Today is January 16th and my 2 month pass expires on the 20th so this is my last train voyage on the pass. I will be taking advantage of the free sailing on the ferry to Greece on the 19th, just cutting it perfectly.
I take a melatonin, watch videos, secure the anti-fall-out-of-the-top-bunk straps from the ceiling to the bunk frame, cover myself with the small sheet and fall asleep.
I woke up several times through the night on the train, the most startling one was when the train rolled onto a ferry. I should have expected that, Sicily being an island and all. The ferry’s engine vibration rumbled the cabin as we pulled away and I fell back asleep.
The conductor woke me with 20 minutes to go until our arrival at my first connection in Salerno, just south of Napoli. I got dressed and stood in the queue for a pee. By the time I finished, I could feel the train slowing down as we entered the station so I ran back to the cabin and stuffed all of my things into the suitcase and backpack and just jumped off the train as we came to a stop. Whew! I did my standard pockets and backpack double-check: cell phone, passport, wallet, laptop, laptop charger, cell phone charger. Travellers know this is the kind of situation where you can forget something critical and it’s gone.
According to my schedule I have 8 minutes to jump onto the train to Caserta. I found a status board, got the track number and climbed on about 3 minutes before we pulled out, perfect timing but cutting it a little close if we were the slightest bit late arriving. I could have caught the next one but I might have had the domino effect of missing my final connection to Bari. This is an hour-long, inter-city, no-reservation-fee train, with a nice 2nd class area with a power plug.
I had an hour layover for my train run to Bari which pulled out right on time. Frankly I’m impressed, all of my Italian trains have been on time. This is a first class medium speed train, new and comfortable. I have a table of 4 to myself with power. It was snowing along the way – I wasn’t expecting that in southern Italy even at this time of year. It made for a nice picturesque landscape flowing past.
We arrived in Bari at around 12:30 PM and my Airbnb is quite a distance from the train station so I grabbed a taxi. Not cheap but after travelling for 15 hours I earned it. I arrived at the Airbnb and was buzzed in from the street. The building is 7 stories high and I don’t know what floor I’m on so up I go in the stairs with my bags. And guess which floor. Go ahead. Historically, which floor am I on? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not 1 through 6. Yes, 7. A bit tired when I arrived at the door. Turns out a friend of the host is staying in another room until his flight to somewhere later today and he buzzed me in. I’ll be taking the ridiculously small, bangy-loud-doors lift from now on.
I rested for a while and then decided to walk to the ferry dock and check on both the status of the ferry tomorrow due to reported heavy seas and what kind of passage I get with my Eurail pass partnership deal. It was brutally cold and blowing wind all the way down, especially with the wind coming off the water with nothing slowing it down. It even snowed some kind of little puffball snow, looked like tiny styrofoam balls, maybe it’s some kind of hail. And of course the ferry office is closed. It’s Sunday and it’s the only day of the week when the ferry leaves at 2:30 PM rather than 7:30 PM.
Very hungry, I walked back into town and with the help of Google Maps found an upscale pizzeria, time to just give in to the local cuisine. I sat down and was handed a menu. I found a pizza I liked and showed it to the waiter. He said “no pizza.” The irony of no available pizza at a pizzaria when I finally decided to stop fighting for other kinds of Italian food and have a pizza was not lost on me at that moment. Perusing the menu again I chose mini gnoccis and a glass of red wine, both were good but small. The bill came, with an unknown charge for E1.50. I asked, he said “Cost of the table.” Hmmm, if I bought it can I take it home with me? Maybe just the candle or the silverware? I suppose this is a mandatory tip but I always found that Europe is a no-tip-we-charge-you-in-the-food-price-zone. Maybe it’s a mafia surcharge? Just kidding Signore Corleone, just kidding. Please don’t hurt me.
I walked back to Airbnb and my host has arrived home. I explain the possibility of the ferry cancellation and he says I can stay an extra day if the ferry is shut down tomorrow, there is no customer booked for my room.
Having no luck at the actual ticket office, I tried to book my ticket for the ferry online. I navigate my way through the process only to receive an error message, something like “Cannot book with zero cost”. Well, I’m supposed to get a free ticket with my Eurail pass, how am I supposed to do this? It’s extremely low season so I’ll just go down for the sailing tomorrow with all my stuff. I found a contact email and sent them a message asking if the sailing is still scheduled for tomorrow.
I went back out for dinner and found another nice sit-down place just a block away. Of course it didn’t open until 8:30 PM and I stood in the cold on the street until they unlocked the door. They had many combinations of pasta and sauce! I’m going to get what I’ve been looking for for two weeks! I choose penne with a creamy pesto and it’s magnificent. And it comes with a E2 table charge. Hmmm, must be a Bari thing.
Back at the Airbnb I see a message from the ferry company – everything is on for the sailing tomorrow so with my next travel leg locked in I watch some videos and fall asleep.
A short visit to Bari, mostly because it was where the ferry leaves from, but I was pleasantly surprised by this nice little city. Better than Livorno, but short of Bayonne New Jersey, everything is better than Livorno. Anybody remember the late 1970s Saturday Night Live fake commercial for the Navy… Da da da, port of call, Bayonne New Jersey…
