Ancona – Italy
We arrived at our hotel for the one night stop over close to Ancona, we had chosen The Fortino Napoleonica. We had initially just liked the hotel purely on internal & external pictures and of the views it had overlooking the Adriatic Sea. However, it also had a very interesting history. Built in 1810 by the viceroy of Italy Eugenio de Beauharnais on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte no less, with the strategic task of defending the southern flank of Ancona and implementing military blocks of naval traffic of the enemy English in the Adriatic. Once I knew this, for some macabre reason I was quite interested to see the view from where our poor sailors of the English Navy may have been cannon balled by Napoleon over 200 years ago.
Well at least we knew what happen to him in the end.
The Fortino Napoleonico is located a few meters from the white pebble beach of Porto-Novo, one of the most loved and exclusive corners of the Adriatic coast. Its unparalleled panorama on which this spectacular structure was placed. Its construction was made partly by recycling the stones of the nearby Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria di Porto novo.
Returned to the Papal State after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire and subsequently owned by the Italian state – after the battle of Castel fidardo in 1860 – neglected, it fell progressively into ruin. In the ’60s an important recovery work was carried out, with which the Fortino was completely restored, maintaining however a total respect to the original architectural lines. In 1969 It was turned into a hotel we see today.
We were very impressed with our room, very stylish, clean & crisp, with those nice extra touches, new white his & her slippers, bath robes both (quite small) probably more for the Italian clientele. But what was really nice Acqua Di Parma toiletries.
Our evening meal was taken in the central part of the courtyard. Beautifully decorated, very chic, tables all laid out, crisp linen table cloths with starched napkins. Hmm this might be one of our pricier evenings.
As we were seated my mind wondered slightly to bygone days, when this room an ammunitions area was probably filled with hot sweaty Italian solders, running back and forth with their cannon balls. Our waiter approached, he took our drinks order and after a quick Gin & tonic I was back to reality. Our meal very tasty, for some reason I seem to remember the chocolate desert more than anything else.
Morning came quickly, breakfast and then a few hours spent on loungers looking out on this now calm very beautiful un-war like sea view, we strolled down to the stoney beach, a few very leathery skin tanned people topping up in the midday sun, laying sporadically on the path way, only looking up when our shadow spoilt their rays.
Time to check out, a few more last-minute pictures taken, we headed now down the coast to Ancona port for our final hours in Italy.
Ancona port, well what can I say, once you find the correct way in you will eventually be ok. We found the signage pretty much non-existent and eventually had to ask for directions for the way in. We were early off course, however there were still people before us, so Ed’s way of thinking is not just his own.
The port stewards had organised ten rows for queueing, five rows to the left, five rows to the right for cars and caravans, we had only three cars in front of us. Cars to our left and right it all started to get packed. The jetty empty of any boats, sorry I mean ferries, I checked the ferry scanner to see where it was. Well, it didn’t even show up on the map. Worrying! I didn’t mention this to Ed off course, I couldn’t cope with too many hours of unnecessary stress I thought. A couple of hours had passed, we had already opened the pringles and several other salted nibbles by this point, then the drinks came out, every time I looked to my left the lady passenger in the adjacent car was staring at me, I smiled, she didn’t smile back. Was it all the eating I thought, perhaps I should have offered some through our open window. All of a sudden, the weather changed, rain clouds appeared then a serious down pour. Oh no, are we going to have a rough journey? It turned out to be just a quick passing storm.
The ferry eventually docked, it was quite a scary moment as it approached, almost looking as if it would mount the dock and squash us all. A bit of panic set in on Ed’s face and he told me to get out of the car as quickly as possible. My rationality took over, they do this every day don’t they! a few calming words later, all was good and the Ferry had docked safely.
A whole hour of disembarking was witnessed, we could not believe just how many vehicles this ferry could accommodate. Eventually it was our turn, we drove onto the ferry after watching pretty much the whole of Italy’s Freight entering before us and once aboard and with no customer service help at all, we eventually found our cabin for the night. The ferry crossing would be 20 hours to Patras and we looked forward to an evening meal on board, followed by a quite nights rest in our cabin. Well, that was the plan anyway. The onboard restaurant was surprisingly good and a lovely Greek couple allowed us to share their table as it was rather busy. Our cabin would be a welcome sight, as we approached, we noticed all kinds of people taking up their spaces for an evening sleep over, on staircases, landings, chairs, floors, pretty much anywhere there was space. Sleeping bags & pillows everywhere, presumably this was not their first crossing as most were well prepared. I was glad of my pre booking on-line for a cabin. Ed & I settled into our room, we giggled childlike at our separate bunks, soon after departure the internet disconnected. The slight rocking of the ship noticeable and the humming of the engines together with a thumping bass sound of music in the background coming from two floors up was audible, however somehow, we still managed to fall asleep. At roughly 2am Ed & I woke from a deep sleep. For a couple of seconds, I couldn’t quite work out where I was, however Ed was already up and heading to the cabin door. As the door opened a sea of bodies sprawled out mostly in sleeping bags were visible everywhere. Most asleep, however three, one guy and two very giggly young ladies had decided to sit outside our cabin. Well, I was so proud of Ed, I’m not sure how he managed to say in a calm voice, Guys there is a disco thumping upstairs on the 8th floor. Please go up there where you can laugh & talk to you hearts content. The Guy replied sorry sorry! Well, that’s what I transferred it too anyway. The door was slammed. Peace ensued.
Morning and time to check out the ship in day light. First a light breakfast Croissant’s & coffee. The ship 8 stories high 5 allocated to parking, there probably wouldn’t be much to see. We were on the 6th floor which was all cabins, lets check out the 7th apparently a swimming pool, bar and outside viewing area. We could here that same thumping sound as we came closer, what we saw was a sight for sore eyes 100’s of youngsters mainly still drunk, a large group still boogeying to the bass beat, their own music system plugged in to a large speaker.
The pool a mass of tangled rope a broken cover and now waterless. The crew now desperately trying to clean up in every direction. Where were they last night we thought.
An announcement over the tannoy 1st stop Igoumenitsa in 20 minutes, to our surprise the youngsters started to pack up as best they could, oh yes, they are getting off!…..
It turns out they were Gymnasts on a European tour heading back to Lithuania, all 450 of them. To think Ed could have been quite easily double somersaulted with a triple back flip down the corridor last night.
450 souls now disembark, some being carried off by their companions, one in a white plastic chair.
The ship returns at last to a calm atmosphere, the crew and staff still either cleaning or restocking.
Our onward journey another 4 hours to Patras in peace, watching the world go by from the deck.
