Corfu, Greece to Brindisi, Italy 30th and 31st May

 Hi all, 

We left Corfu yesterday afternoon, in what turned out to be an ode to Homer’s Odyssey - or alternatively a mini Greek shipping tragedy! I don’t know why the new Spirits of Tasmania need the $500m plus budget overrun on their port infrastructure, as if they took a leaf out of the Greek ferry manual, they would just drive up to the closest wharf, drop the loading dock and drive the cars and trucks off. 

Oh, did I mention that the mooring might be up to a kilometre away in the dark from the passenger terminal, where there is no information at all, passengers just wander aimlessly towards which ferry they think is theirs, through the truck and vehicle traffic currently loading and unloading simultaneously! Until, if still in one piece,  they are rescued by a passing shuttle bus, and dumped near the truck loading bay, with cases. Then, after some more confusion they are taken by another shuttle right through the exhaust fumes of the loading bay to a lift to reception. 

Thankfully, the Grimaldi Line ship itself was fine, and the “suite” we had joking booked was actually a real suite, very spacious and comfortable, if in a 1970’s Motel style. We had a great crossing to Brindisi, via the Greece port town of Igoumenstia, the less said about that place the better. 

When we arrived in Brindisi, surprisingly still safe and well, the above chaotic process was repeated. Then we dodged a very obvious scam taxi driver and took the welcome local bus to beautiful Brindisi, which Felicity reports was the main Roman port for travel to Asia 2000 years ago.

Please note the lack of photographs for the above journey - they would only bring back the trauma 😢😅

However, we do have some excellent first shots of this lovely Puglian port town - another reason to break the “you can’t go to Italy every year” rule. We are looking forward to the next 10 days in Puglia.

, 
Oops, Roman column in the background, then the foreground!


Then we took in the wonderful waterfront, where similar to Verona they seem to have paved the old town in marble - Norm believes there is high potential this was pilfered from some ancient Roman building (like Verona), the ultimate in recycling.




All that antiquity made us hungry and there was no shortage of seafood restaurants to pick from. Norm chose the (piccolo) selection of local seafood crudo - lucky it was the small one, but he got through it, apart from the barnacles!


We are having a rest up in our nice “mini apartmento”, which is excellent and right on the old port, with a supermarket/wine shop 10 metres away - perfecto. On the subject of Italian, which we weren’t talking about, after 5 or 6 visits here, Norm has finally started to use the lingo with some limited confidence - moving away from the old habit of just adding O to every word 😅

On that note Arrivaderci, all.

PS - there have been some rude comments, from brother Colin, about Norm’s choice of tee shirt. Numero uno Colin, Norm thinks the pattern may disguise the 4 to 5 kilos he may have put on while in Ireland and Corfu - he may be delusional! Numero Due, Colin, Felicity bought the shirt - danger drongo!

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