Barcelona
The drive to Barcelona was fairly straight forward, however the traffic was horrendous. Apparently that’s normal for a Saturday, everyone going to the beach. Our campsite for the next three nights is Camping Barcelona. Check in was very easy as we had already paid, and we were allocated pitch D27, down street 5. The camp site is very well set up including a free bus to the beach, good sized swimming pool, restaurant, mini supermarket, and water at each pitch. Toilets and showers are very good as well and warm water at the washing up station. We didn’t do much the first few hours after we arrived, we then went down to the pool for a relaxing swim followed by a lovely shower. The temperature outside was still very warm around 30 degrees.
Day two we planned to go to the beach and check that out. Bus left from the entrance every 30mins or so to the little town of Mataro just up the coast. The beach was on the other side of the railway lines, which necessitated us going through an underground pass. When we arrived at the beach the sun was intense, but slowly the clouds amalgamated making it very overcast, but still very warm.
We lay on the beach for a while then ventured in for a swim. There doesn’t seem to be much of a tide difference along this coast, as I didn’t notice any big difference in the sea level during the time we were there. The water gets deeper fairly quickly so you don’t have to walk for miles, like back home. The water temperature was lovely. Back out of the water and some more lying on the beach. The bus picked us up were we got off and in no time we were back at the site. The temperature was much more manageable today at around 25 degrees. When we arrived back at the site we were both still tired (there is no way of explaining that one) but with the cooler temperature John headed for the bed and Lorraine took the two chairs outside and we both had a good nap.
We booked the bus to Barcelona for tomorrow and the hop on hop off bus as well. It was only 16 euro return to Barcelona for us both, but the hop on hop of was more expensive at around 60 euros.
Today was the day to get the Ferry from Barcelona to Italy. We got up and did all our services, including getting the van ready for the road. We spotted a LIDL on the way to Barcelona so headed there first for some groceries. We knew this was going to be a long day but the heat made it seem even longer.
Getting there was unbelievably easy, google took us right to the terminal. When you pray about something, why are we so surprised when it all works out. We had to go into the terminal to check in, then around the side of the building to join a short queue. We made a good lunch to keep us going as we didn’t sail until 21:00hrs
If we could have left the doors open, the heat would have been bearable, but pesky flies mean’t that wasn’t an option. We did find a nice shaded area around the corner but still in view of the van. Embarkation seemed to take for ever, and of course motorhomes were the last to go on board.
First impressions, the stair well was grubby, staff weren’t great and the cabin was very basic. The rest of the boat was very well appointed and very clean. Don’t think they cater for many english speaking travellers. Even though the bed was not great we were so tired that we both slept well and a nice morning shower was lovely.
We went up for a cup of tea, but the boat was very quiet. We went up to the top open deck and were surprised how many people knew to bring their bikini for sun bathing. We got a couple-of sun loungers and enjoyed the sun for a while.
We are due to dock about 18:00hrs then a short drive to Gino’s garden Aire just outside Rome, were we are staying for three nights.
Rome
Gino’s Garden Aire was reasonably easy to find. A quick call to Gino and the gate was opened for us. The drive from the port was an eye opener. You need to have your whits about you with the Italian drivers. They are nuts and bend the rules at every opportunity. We arrived quite late about 20:15hrs so we got settled in and went to bed. Gino was a wealth of knowledge and very helpful.
We made the mistake of not heading to Rome very early, instead we walked to the station and arrived in the heat of the day. A lesson we need to learn. We caught the train to Rome Terminal. Then the metro to the coliseum. We then walked to the Trevi Fountain where we had an ice cream.
We then made our way to the nearest metro and back to Rome Terminal. We made a mistake on the way home with the train and ended up doing the journey three times, getting it right the third time.
We should have went back to Rome a second day, but with the heat we just couldn’t face it and instead stayed at Gino’s and took it easy. We did make the decision not to go to Pompeii. Instead we made plans to head north and Visit Pisa. We left for 7:15 and it was a 4 hour drive to Pisa.
Even the sisters have to eat. (McDonalds in Rome)