El Ferry / The Ferry (part II)

Així que el ferry va sortir a les 3am. Vam prendre alguna cosa en un dels dos tristos bars que hi havia a bord. Ja que l’altre estava tancat. Sense res més a fer, vam passar les 21 hores de viatge passejant, sortint, fumant i dormint. Res més…ja que no hi havia res més a fer. La nit va ser una mica dura, ja que la mar estava mogudeta i de tant en tant et despertaves del moviment.
Ens vam despertar cap a quarts de dotze del matí. Vam descobrir que, tot i que el vaixell havia sortit a les 3 de la matinada, l’esmorzar s’havia servit només fins les 9 del matí. Molt bé, doncs anem al trist bar a comprar un cafè amb llet i un croissant. En quedaven dos. Vam tenir sort.
I així vam passar el matí, el migdia, tarda i nit. Amb els respectius àpats entremig. I ja està. Fins que cap a les 12 de la nit vam atracar a Livorno. El Sucio, brut de la sal, entelat i bé. Anar tirant fins a Florència. Per sort, en sortir del port, ja ens deixaven encarats a la carretera cap a Florència. Per desgràcia, al cap d’una estona, vaig agafar una sortida equivocada que ens va fer recular i tornar a entrar a la mateixa carretera.
El viatge ens el vam prendre amb calma. Poca llum, boira i tots els vidres entelats. Havíem de passar per un poble que es deia Ganduzzello. I vam anar tirant recte fins que vaig veure un senyal cap a Piazzale Michelangelo. Buf…ja sabem que anem bé més o menys. Perquè, a qui pots preguntar direccions a quarts de 2 de la matinada a un poble més aviat petit. I vam arribar al camping…a les 2. Al fin!!!

So the ferry departed at 3am. We had a drink in one of the two sad bars on board. The other one was shut. Nothing else to do, but spending the 21 hours of this trip rambling, getting outside, smoking and sleeping. Nothing else…as there was nothing else to do. The night was pretty tough though, since the sea was a little bit rough and you woke up from time to time due to the movement.
We woke up by half eleven in the morning. And we found out that, even if the boat departed at 3 am, breakfast was served until 9am only. Ok, so we go to the sad bar for a coffee and a croissant. They only had two of them left. We were lucky.
So we spent the morning, afternoon, evening and night like this. With them meals in between. And that’s it. Until we arrived at Livorno by midnight. Sucio, dirty from the salt and completely steamed. So Florence here we go. We were lucky that as we left the harbour, we got the motorway to Florence straight away. Unfortunately, I took a wrong turn that lead us back and take the same road again. We took the trip rather easy. No light, fog, and steamed windows. We had to pass by a town called Ganduzzello. And we continued straight ahead until we saw a sing towards Piazzale Michelangelo. Then we knew we were on the right way. Mainly because you are not really sure whether you can ask anyone for directions by 1.30am in a small town. And we got to the camping…by 2am. At last!!!

El Ferry / The Ferry (part I)

Si algú ha vist els anuncis de Grimaldi lines i està pensant en agafar un ferry per anar a Itàlia, que s'ho miri força bé abans de comprar el bitllet. Al menys per anar a Livorno. No té ni piscina, ni gimnàs, ni jacuzzi, ni discoteca, i evidentment no té casino.
Tot va començar força malament. El ferry havia de sortir a les 23.59 del dissabte dia 7 de juny. Però a les quatre del migdia vam rebre un sms dient que sortiria a les 3 de la matinada, pel mal temps se suposa. Ens ho vam prendre amb força calma, no teníem res més a fer.
Cap a la una de la matinada, vam agafar el Sucio cap al port. I no sabíem per on havíem d'entrar. Li vam preguntar a un empleat del port, i ens va dir que podíem entrar per allà i que anessim fins el final i a mà dreta trobaríem el ferry. Allò semblava més Sospechosos Habituales, al port, ple de containers, nosaltres sols, ningú per allà. Només faltava una limousine esperant-nos i quatre matons amb fundes de violí.
Total, que vam tornar per on havíem vingut, i li vam preguntar a un altre empleat. Molt amablement ens va dir que havíem de tornar enrera. I així ho vam fer. Fins que vam trobar molts cotxes, i un empleat ens va preguntar per on havíem entrat. Però bé, al final ens vam posar a la cua i vam esperar fins que vam entrar al ferry. El qual era força petit. I no semblava tenir gaires distraccions, la veritat. A més a més, el Sucio havia de passar la nit fora. Un cotxe a la intemperie enmig del mar, durant 20 hores. Això no és gaire bo.
I vam entrar a coberta i tal, buscant la distracció. Ja eren quarts de quatre. No tenia res. Dos bars -un tancat- i una petita botiga d'uns 10 metres quadrats. I punto. Sort que vam agafar camarot, perquè lo que era el pont, era el bar. No hi havia cap lloc amb butaques pels passatgers que no en tinguessin.



If any of you has seen the Grimaldi Lines ad and is thinking about taking a boat to Italy, check all details before purchasing your ticket. At least if you are going to Livorno. It's got no pool, no gym, no jacuzzi, no night club and obviously there is no casino.
It all started pretty bad. The ferry was scheduled to depart at 23.59 on June 7. But we got an sms by 4pm saying that the ferry was departint at 3am due to bad weather, apparently. We could do nothing else but taking it easy.
We took Sucio to the harbour by 1am. And we didn't know where the entrance was. So we asked an employee, and he told us we could enter through there itself, straight ahead and do a right, and we would find the ferry. That looked more like The Usual Suspects, on the harbour, full of containers, nobody around. The situation only needed a limo and a few thugs waiting for us holding fiddle cases.
Anyway, we got back the way we came from, and we asked another employee. Kindly, he answered we had to turn back. And so we did. Until we found more cars, and another employee asked us where we got in from. But, in the end, we got in the queue and waited until it was time to get in the ferry. Which was pretty tiny. On top of that, Sucio was sleeping outside. A car in the open in the middle of the sea for 20 hours. That cannot be good.
So we got in the ferry looking for some distraction. It was already half past three. Two bars -one of which was shut- and a tiny 10sq.m shop. That's it. We were lucky we got a cabin, because the deck was the bar. That is, deck passangers had no proper place to sit and rest.

Hem Tornat - We're Back!

Hem tornat de vacances al cap de dues setmanes de viatjar pel nord d'Itàlia i sud de França. Vam marxar el dia 8 de juny de matinada, i vam tornar tot just ahir al vespre. També vam fer una paradeta a la Costa Brava. Per tant, podem dir que hem recorregut bona part de la costa nord del mediterrani... Florència, Venècia, Milà, Niça, Mònaco, Cannes, Saint-Tropez i Tamariu són les poblacions que hem visitat. Per més inri, vam tornar i vam tenir la notícia que seríem tiets...un altre cop. Demà el primer capítol del viatge.

We are back from holidays after two weeks travelling around North Italy and South France. We left early hours in the morning the 8th of June, and we were just back yesterday evening. We also stopped in the Costa Brava. Therefore, we can say we have been in most of the North coast of the Med. Florence, Venice, Milan, Monaco, Cannes, Saint-Tropez and Tamariu are the towns where we have been. As if this wasn't enough, we found out when we got back we would be uncle and auntie again. First chapter tomorrow...stay tuned!