Nov. 15th - Nov 17th
Our final stop in Italy is a quick trip landing in Bari and travelling north my train to Milan.
The ferry ride was really smooth and great, we had a cabin and slept most of the whole way. When we got up they even had a play center for us to play in! Unfortunately, our ferry was supposed to land at 8:00 am and it didn't end up landing until 1:30 pm. That was a big problem, as we had pre-booked train tickets to leave at 12:30 pm, which we totally missed that train.
Both the ferry people, and the train people were totally unhelpful and so we had to buy new train tickets for later that day. Which was really expensive, but it had to be done. We had to make it to Milan in order to continue our journey.
As we left the Ferry we made our way through old Bari, and what a beautiful little city it was. We walked through the old town and it was small little winding roads all enclosed inside the old city walls.
We walked all the way up to the Bari Central railway station and finally got our new tickets and made our way onto the train. We had been really excited about this train ride as we were excited to see the whole it of Italy as we rode north. However because we didn't even get on the train until 4:45 pm, and it was dark soon after, we missed the view!
We finally made our way into a dark and rainy Milan at 12:30 pm, and tried to catch a taxi to our hotel, only to find out that taxi cabs in Milan are very organized and we had to line up in one specific spot to catch one. AND THERE WERE 100 PEOPLE IN LINE!!! So instead of waiting 2 hours for a taxi, we walked... 2 km though the rain, and dark, to our hotel. Let me tell you, there were a lot of grumpy people. We had been travelling for over 36 hours straight at this point. Mom said she was really proud of us, that there were not many people who could keep going like we had.
We got in, changed, had hot showers and slept, and slept and slept. We didn't even wake up until almost 11:00 in the morning.
We only had one day in the amazing city of Milan, so we made the most of the few hours we had. We walked downtown and saw the main square, the incredible cathedral and the beautiful covered shopping district built in the 1800's to connect the cathedral to the opera house of Milan.
What an incredible city - we all wish we could come back when it was warmer and we had more time!!
The next morning was our last day in Italy. We are catching a flight from Milan to Marseille, France. Again, Milan gave us her rainy grey skies. But somehow it suited Milan, the rain highlighted the stone, the huge imposing railway station, the massive stone buildings. Gorgeous. One of the most beautiful Italian cities we have seen.
So we boarded air Ryan Air flight to Marseille and left Italy. Arrivederci Italia!
Mari and Tia
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