December 3, 2021: Rome, Italy

Breakfast this morning was on the roof terrace restaurant, finally one that was open. Very nice full breakfast with hot and cold selections and nice cappuccinos. We had rain today, well of course it was a travel day, so the walk to the train station turned into a taxi ride. The hotel allowed for a late check out, which was nice, we came down jumped into the taxi and within minutes we were at the station. The elevator was fixed, hurray, and up we went - all smooth.

The fast train ride was more or less uneventful because of the weather but then it broke at sunset for some nice, dirty window, sunset pictures. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Mascagni, a few minutes by taxi from the station and were very pleasantly upgraded to the “luxury suites”, very nice. We have done well on this trip, with a combination of Covid and the off season, hotels are so happy to have the business that, when possible, will upgrade you. Dinner was close by last night, nice Italian place with a waiter that was from, Gerace - what are the chances of that. We shared the recommended Buffalo mozzarella and both had a delicious pasta dish with shark fish. Only a few pics today, hope you enjoy…

December 2, 2021: Bari, Italy

2,160 kilometres later and we have come full circle back to Bari. All in all our little Fiat 500X was the star that made this drive so enjoyable. It was the perfect size to negotiate many situations especially parking, we have rented bigger cars here in the past and they are just not worth the trouble. You are going to inevitably enter a village not really built or designed for cars and believe me this is where length and width can become an issue. The Fiat was no problem, I enjoyed going down some if these almost impossible little lanes. We fuelled up just before entering Bari, drove straight to the hotel, pulled up, early check in, dumped the luggage, reset the GPS for hertz and 10 minutes later we were dropping her off. On the way back we confirmed which track the Rome train was going to be on for tomorrow, number 3, and noticed that, of course, the elevator was currently, out of service - hope that gets fixed by tomorrow. Note, if you are challenged physically, Italy is not for you, tough to say but even though it looks like areas like curb ramps and elevators are here, someone will park something at that ramp and you can only cross your fingers that the elevators are in working order, just saying. Also, don’t wait until you get too old to do Italy, just don’t, just too much to see and you want to have energy to see what you came to see. This is of course if Italy is on your life’s list to see.

From the train station we strolled along the pedestrian only shopping area and stopped into a shoe store. An hour later we both had purchases, got to love Italian shoes and boots. With retail therapy over we had a little lunch before heading back to the hotel for our afternoon chill.

dinner tonight was a stroll back into the old historical centre and a great little restaurant we enjoyed dining at 2 weeks ago, R45. Pizza for me, lasagna for Jan with dessert of course, tiramisu and a pistachio cheesecake. A wonderful evening as we strolled back to our hotel in a warm breeze with the Christmas lights all lite up through the palm trees. A lively seaside city this Bara. Back at our hotel by midnight… Our adventure continues tomorrow as we head back to Roma… a few pics hope you enjoy…

December 1, 2021: Trani, Italy

We checked out of Sassi at 11:00 am under beautiful blue skies and after of course, a wonderful continental breakfast. The person at reception warned us about bringing our car down to pick up our luggage, she had indicated that it was a restricted zone and that we would be fined. I asked if this was the case even in the off-season. She said, yes, they have cameras recording constantly. She suggested a taxi to take us up to our car, we very reluctantly agreed. For the, maybe, 5 minute drive, the cost was over 20 euro, unbelievable, I think they are on the take here… lol. Two days of parking in the local lot was another 23 euro, so there went my euro reserve, now need to replenish our cash supply for the next half dozen days. 

The drive to Trani was all of an hour and a bit, nice relatively empty highways. We did have 2 GPS’s going because I just didn’t trust the Garmin to take us the way I wanted to go, so google maps win this battle today. We arrived and found a great, free, parking spot pretty close to the , Mare Resort Hotel. Very nice hotel and they upgraded us to a junior suite, nice, we have a nice water and Christmas tree view. After check in we strolled the waterfront and found a nice restaurant for our late lunch, local pasta with mussels and dessert of course. We continued our stroll over to the recently cleaned castle as well as the water edge church. Back to the room for a little relaxing and organizing as we now must start thinking about our departure, Covid tests and packing all the items we purchased. Covid tests are booked for Monday the 6th in Rome, we are trusting they will be 24 hour tests. So it’s Bari tomorrow for an overnight, then train back to Rome on the Friday, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Out for a take a way pizza tonight, with the junior suite, might as well enjoy it. A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…