I still remember as if it had been yesterday: When we had to go back again, everything went wrong. As if fate wanted to tell us that we should stay longer in Ischia. The day started great. Maurizio gave us a big discount, we had to pay much less than planned. We decided one last time to have breakfast in the Dolce Sosta to say goodbye to Ischia. But after breakfast everything went wrong. I don’t remember exactly: Either we hadn’t looked at the time or our timetable for the ferry wasn’t up to date anymore. When we drove to the harbor, we saw from distance how the ferry was already moving away from the harbor. No problem we thought, the ferries go almost hourly. But of course there were complications. Arriving at the harbour, we joined the line of waiting cars and Michel and I went to the ticket counter. When we arrived at the ticket counter, we found out that the ferry was already complete. Slowly we got into time pressure: Firstly, we wanted to avoid the chaotic after-work traffic at Naples, secondly, our next destination was four hours by car from Pozzuoli, and we had agreed with the hostess of our apartment that the keys should be handed over at 6 pm. The next ferry from Ischia Porto didn’t leave until 3 pm, and that was clearly too late for us. Fortunately there was another ferry at 1 pm from Casamicciola. So we decided to go to Casamicciola and try our luck there. I was quite stressed because I didn’t know if we could leave Ischia in time. In Casamicciola we had more luck. We had to wait an hour on a parking lot, but we could still get tickets for the ferry.
Around 14:30 we arrived in Pozzuoli, after a stop on the nearby island of Procida. 10 minutes later we were finally on the motorway towards Orvieto, our first stage of our return journey. The car journey was quite relaxed and so it was possible for me to finally lean back and sleep for an hour. On this day I learned something for life: buy the tickets always before or be two hours earlier at the ferry, so that the same does not happen again. Unfortunately this was not yet the end of our run of misfortune: First we got lost thoroughly, then, finally arrived in Orvieto, we did not find our apartment, so that we could check in only around 7 pm. But the apartment was big and clean and the hostess was super nice. We took a shower and afterwards we decided to go out and search in the city for a restaurant. It didn’t take long and we found a restaurant that we all liked (probably because we were very hungry and wanted to eat as fast as possible). While eating we met a Swiss couple and talked about the Swiss military and conscription. I don’t know how we came up with this topic.
Actually we wanted to go to bed early after dinner, but then things turned out quite differently. We drank peach vodka in our apartment and talked about women, relationships and love. It was a very honest and good conversation among boys. The only stupid thing was that I missed my girlfriend again. However, the evening had a very good ending for one of us. Thanks to the vodka and the conversations, Michel dared to contact a girl he liked with WhatsApp, who later became his girlfriend. The next morning we got up early and made our way to Vernazza, a small village in the Cinque Terre area. I remember Fredi getting up an hour earlier to look at Orvieto. Michel and I were way too much tired to get up early. Where was I again? Right, direction Vernazza. Not much happened on the way. It rained a lot, but the landscape was really beautiful. During the whole drive we listened to music and sang loudly, even if we missed the sound from time to time. The main thing was that we had fun and enjoyed the ride. After la Spezia we drove in the Cinque Terre along the coast. This route is very recommendable, even if it is a long detour, because the view of the landscape is magnificent.
Vernazza was a huge disappointment in my opinion. Do you know the beautiful pictures in Instagram or in the Internet of the Cinque Terre, in reality it looks completely different. Completely overflowed with tourists and totally touristic. Our apartment was also not very nice and very dirty. Despite the disappointment I would recommend you to have a look at Vernazza at least for a short time. We walked through the village and then decided to take our last jump in the sea in the bay. Actually very stupid of us, because it rained and there were also big waves (not recommended for imitation!). Nevertheless we had our fun. Later Fredi and Michel wanted to take the train to the neighbouring village. I didn’t feel like going with them, because I wanted to talk to my girlfriend on Facetime. Actually I’m not that affectionate, but we’ve only been together for a short time and in this time it’s normal to miss each other. In the end, Fredi and Michel didn’t go to the neighbouring village, but walked around Vernazza. In the evening we cooked at home and decided to go to a bar. But this became difficult, because almost everything was closed. In the end we found a bar and could drink another two beers.
The next day we drove to our last stage Turin. On the way we made a stop in Carru, at my grandmother’s home, for me the best cook in the world. We had lunch there and told her about our trip. My cousin was also there and I asked him, because he is studying in Turin, where you can eat well and what you should visit. Completely satisfied and stuffed with good food we continued our journey.
Turin is a big, fascinating city. We visited the Superga, a hill near Turin with a great view over the whole city. Superga is associated with a sad history. In 1949 a plane flew into the hill because of the dense fog and all passengers died. The special thing: it was the football team AC Turin, which was at that time one of the best teams in Italy and was called “Il Grande Torino”. Of course we visited the memorial, which was very impressive. People from all over the world had come to pay their respects to the fallen. The rivalry in sport has its limits: life has a higher value because the enemy teams and their fans also showed their respect after the tragedy.
I can’t show you a photo of the memorial because I didn’t take a photo out of respect. In the evening we went to a very famous restaurant called “Scannabue” to celebrate our last evening. The food was indescribably good! Back in the apartment we toasted one last time and went to sleep. The next day not much happened: we drove back to Switzerland and said goodbye in Zurich. So our roadtrip ended after almost 3 weeks. Thanks again to you, Fredrik and Michel for the great time and hopefully soon for a new adventure!
P.s: Don’t forget that you can see all photos of the trip in form of a slide show in the picture gallery. I’m looking forward to a little feedback and a “Like”.
Lee's Travel Blog 