We slept extremely well and if the road and if railway were noisy over night, we didn't notice it. I suspect that a weekday morning would have been noisier.
Given that we only had a 30 minute drive to the port at Ancona to do today, we had a very leisurely start to the day, both having showers and a relaxed breakfast. We still arrived very early, about 11:30 for our 16:00 departure but there was nothing to distract us between Senigallia and the port. We had bought a return ticket for Ancona to Patras in the Peloponnese knowing that there was an option to change either leg from Patras to Igoumenitsa in North Western Greece. Subsequently we had decided to start our visit to Greece at Igoumenitsa and return from Patras. We were able to make this change, without charge, at the ANEK office at the port and we then drove round to the embarkation point. We had been told at the ANEK office that we could go off to explore Ancona, leaving the motorhome in the port provided that we returned by 14:30. We took the opportunity and were very glad that we did. The port area was full of history from Roman times to the Mediaeval and behind the port was some stunning architecture such as the 13th century church of S. Maria Della Piazza built on the site of an early Christian basilica and incorporating Roman material; the 15th century Governor's Palace and many beautiful 19th century houses. If you are leaving from Ancona port, do get there early and have a look at the town.
We were one of the first motorhomes to board and as such, we had a position on the side with views directly out over the sea. This was the same as the trip from Bari to Patras that we did on our 14 month trip around Europe in 2007/8 when we were the only motorhome but this time there were many motorhomes and we were lucky to get such a good position. With 'Camping on board', where you can stay in your motorhome over night, they always advertise that electricity is available. Last time, we couldn't find it but this time Jane spotted drums of power cables 5 metres up on the roof. But how were you supposed to get the plug to the motorhome? I asked one of the staff and was supplied with a very long pole with a bent piece of wire attached. It was very efficient at retrieving the plug, we were soon connected and the pole was passed around all of the other motorhomers.
We enjoyed our normal entertainment of watching the rest of the lorries, coaches and cars being loaded. Every time I think that they must be falling out of the other end of the ship, it just seems impossible that they all fit. We spent a while investigating quite the most luxurious Greek ferry that we have travelled on before returning to the van for Raddichio Rissotto – we were after all still in Italian waters!
Photos: The Arch of Traiano; The author's better half with Ancona in the background.
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