This is the forth chapter describing my trip to Italy. This chapter is going to be about my way back. Actually, i was thinking to write about Napoli, but my opinion and my view about Napoli is depended on my way back… So let’s write the story in an effective way…
My way back from Forio (in the island of Ischia) to Thessaloniki was quite long and lasted almost 17 hours but it was interesting enough. First of all, i went to the port of Forio to catch the last ferry which was supposed to depart at 20.30. Unfortunately, there was no such ferry, so i had to catch a bus (by the way i know the bus system of Ischia better than the natives now) from Forio to the city of Ischia, in order to catch the last ferry which was supposed to depart at 21.30. The trip with the bus was quite interesting, since i was the only passenger throughout the whole drive and beside that, there was no inspector (anyway, i had my ticket, which cost me 1,20 euro!!!).
At 21.00 I arrived in the city of Ischia and went directly to the port which is more or less 50 meters down the street. I was very surprised to see that there was no ship at all. At first i got really nervous because i though that i lost any chance of leaving from this island, but after discussing with a man (in Italian of course) i learnt that there is a second port in the city, some 150 meters away, where the ferries park (the other port was only for flying dolphins – as the one i took to arrive to the island).
I went to that new port, i found the correct boat (which was supposed to depart at 21.30) and tried to enter the ship, when i found out (by talking to another guy again in Italian) that i had to go back to the first port to get a ticket, since there is the only place i can do so (no way to get a ticket on the boat or just outside of it). So, i got back to the first port, i bought a ticket (9 euro – fair enough) and got back to the ship. In the meanwhile i went to a store to take a coca cola. The man there asked for 2 euros for a tin of coca cola. Of course in the end he took only 1, but anyway, i think that in Italy coca cola is made by gold or something. Entering the ship was nothing special, just like every other ship i had seen in my life. Anyway, i found myself a seat and tried to relax while listening to music from my mobile (and watching in the television the match Manchester United – Roma 7-1 – of course in Italian). Accidentaly, i found out that just next to my seat there was a pluger. I took advantage of the pluger by charging my mobile! Well done so far.
The ship left at 22.00 (instead of 21.30) and arrived in Napoli at 23.40 (instead of 23.00)! Then, i called an Italian friend of mine who lives in Napoli to tell me how to get to her house, because she was going to host me until it will be time to get to the airport (there were other 12 persons besides me). She just told me to ask people how to get to Piazza San Domenico. Easy stuff i thought, but this was not the case. Anyway, it took me 45 minutes to walk a 15-minutes distant (as she told me) and i had to ask around 22 people for directions (by the way, no one could speak English – and no Chinese around). The whole walk will be described in the next chapter that will be about Napoli.
Anyway, at some time i arrived in the house (which will be described in the next chapter). I stayed there until 4.00 together with some other people from the same training. Then, 8 of us took a taxi (actually took two taxis) to get to the airport. The flight was supposed to depart at 6.50 but we got to the airport at 4.15 and guess what… there was no one to the airport apart from us. We passed through the normal procedure and we got on the plane with one hour delay something that is extremely logical since we are talking about Alitalia.
Needless to mention that the flight was a disaster, because there was a school on this plane so no chance of getting some sleep (by the way, i hadn’t slept at all for almost 20 hours!!!). We landed in the airport of Rome some 30 (!) minutes later. In the airport of Rome, i spent some time at Ferrari’s shop where i bought a t-shirt that last year worthed 80 euro but this year only 29 euro!!!
Then i got on my plane on time (pretty surprising for Alitalia) and for a moment it crossed my mind that i will be in Thessaloniki on time. Anyway, when everybody was on the plane, the pilot announce that a passenger decided not to embark at the last minute, so they had to take out all the baggages to find his. Needless to say that we were in the plane 1 hour and 30 minutes before we took off! The flight was interesting enough, with no school or Chinese people to bother me.
So… this was the end of my trip… Glad to see Thessaloniki’s airport once again (which by the way is by far better than Napoli’s). There is one more chapter about Napoli, so keep on touch.
P.S. The picture is from Pantheon, Rome.
