Wander Lost

Month: July 2023

  • Driving in Italy

    Last week we hired a car, drove from Fiumicino, through Rome, across Italy to Barletta around Barletta and Trani and eventually back to Fiumicino.

    As an ex driving instructor, I feel I am qualified to have an opinion, not just on Italian drivers but also the road system. For those who want a summary… it’s madness 😳… here’s why.

    First of all let’s point fingers at the beaurocrats. Apart from the motorways, most roads are in dire need of maintenance being full of pot holes, raised by tree roots and no or worn out road markings and signs. The last one explains a lot of the Italian driver’s behaviour.

    It’s difficult to keep to a speed limit if you don’t know what it is, giving way at a junction is optional when there are no stop or give way lines and pedestrian crossings? Good luck with that one. On that topic, Patty and I were harassed by a driver scowling at us and reving his engine. He was stopped on the crossing held up by traffic ahead. We started to cross in front of him and the traffic ahead of him started to move, he was angry we were holding him up more. Bear in mind Patty was limping with an ankle injury 😳.

    On one section of road there was a speed limit that kept changing between 50kph and 80kph. This was a very straight, wide road in a rural area. The safe speed could easily be 100kph along the whole stretch. There were half a dozen speed cameras on that road.

  • Fiumicino and Barletta

    Hi, everyone. This is Patty. There was some doubt (mostly on FB) as to whether I’d return to John and Lady Cindy (and Dotty 😁); but I made it back, as planned, and very happy to have done so.

    As John mentioned on a previous post, we hired a car to drive to Barletta. On the way out of Rome we thought we would explore some of the famous sites. First stop was the Coliseum.

    Right after refilling Dotty’s water bottle I turned around and slipped on the marble floor.

    Ouch!! It’s not the first time I hurt an ankle, as sprains go, this was a bad one. So, we spent the week in Barletta hiding from the 40+ weather in the air-conditioned apartment (not so conveniently located on the 3rd floor, no elevator 😬) . John has been an absolute treasure😍, taking care of me and keeping busy working on his app.

    Thankfully, the ankle has been improving daily. I can hobble around quite well. Sunday we returned to Rome and Lady Cindy. Last night we left the marina, and boy it was eventful. We had to wait for two bridges to be raised to go out onto the open water. The second bridge was a challenge as it only opened partially and we were already having difficulty with the river current and navigating at such low speeds. Once we got to open water we got hit with 20 knots winds, so we spent the 20 minutes trip to the anchorage in an intricate and forceful dance with the sea. The reward was that we slept with a cool breeze and zero mosquitoes!!

    We are now waiting for another set of strong winds to pass by before we start heading toward Sicily. Today we got some swimming done and we are slowly making progress on turning Lady Cindy from a bachelor’s pad to a love nest🥰.

    John will be writing about his driving experience in Italy. 😜 Initially we planned on sharing driving duties, but that’s one more thing I couldn’t do with my damaged ankle. I’m really looking forward to reading that post!!

  • From Sardinia to Roma via Corsica

    Over the last couple of weeks I have sailed from North Sardinia, to Corsica, across to the Italian mainland of Tuscanny and then South to the Roma region. I am currently anchored at Civitaveccia.

    Civitaveccia

    After the remote and underdeveloped beauty of Sardinia, Corsica and Orbitello, it was a bit of a shock to arrive in Civitaveccia yesterday. It went from miles of beaches to a big industrial and cruise port very quickly. Last night there was a lot of town and city noise that I am no longer used to; cars, trains, planes, loud voices, even fireworks.

    I am making my way down to Fiumicino which is the location of Rome’s main airport. I am booked into a marina there for a two busy weeks. I have some boat maintenance to do and have spent a lot of money on Amazon to be delivered there including new solar panels and charger. I have been working on my laptop a lot in the last couple of weeks and my current panels cannot keep up.

    On the 14th, Patty flies back from the USA and we have booked a hire car. After a few days in Fiumicino we drive to her apartment in Barletta for about a week then return to the boat. We then sail South together toward Scicily.

    The plan is to sail around the boot of Italy this summer and then over winter in Barletta. We can travel by land from there back across to West Italy to visit places from Pisa to Rome in the winter months when it will be less busy and cooler. That gives the advantage of having more time to explore places like Scicily.