2 June

Janene awoke with itchy feet, so instead of staying in Termoli a second day, we caught the fast train to Rimini. Checking out of the hotel was interesting. It's obviously still the off season and we may have been the only guests in the hotel. When we arrived last night, the adult son of the family that runs the hotel checked us in. He spoke a little English. But he was nowhere to be found this morning – in fact, we had a hard time finding anybody at all. When we came down at 0800, the entire building was shuttered and locked. We finally found a buzzer and tried to tell the Italian-only speaker that we needed to get breakfast, pay the bill, and get to the station. Much rapid talking ensued, but someone showed up in a few minutes. We paid and retrieved our passports, then were directed to an area with some packaged breads, jams, etc. The man disappeared, so we grabbed some things and returned to our room to finish packing.

We turned in the key and the man gestured and talked a lot, even though he knows we speak practically no Italian. We understood him to be saying that we should eat breakfast, and then he would take us to the station in his machine. So we went back to the bar and they brought us juice and croissants. I was hoping his "machine" would be one of those little 3-wheeled scooter trucks, but it was just a VW minivan. He got us to the station with plenty of time to get our reservations and catch the train. He continued to talk rapidly all the way to the station, and we continued to smile and nod.

We were soon zipping along the Adriatic shore at around 100 MPH and taking advantage of the power outlet and table to get pictures organized on the computer.

The train ride to Rimini was pretty standard. No snacks or movies like in Spain, but nice and comfy. We changed back to the regional trains from Remini to Ravenna, made a connection from Ravenna to Ferrara, changed trains again to go from Ferrara to Padua, got off and looked around Padua, felt very unsafe on the streets there, and got on the next train south which back-tracked us to Montegrotto Terme, where we spent the night. Montegrotto is a hot-springs spa town which is apparently fairly famous. It also has the mandatory ancient ruins, also hot-springs related. The town is very upscale, immaculately clean, and totally non-threatening. After dumping our packs in our room, we walked around town until dark.

sunrise on the Adriatic

Ravenna

Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Basilica of Santa

Maria in Porto

to Montegrotto Terme

diesel-engine train

Janene on hotel balcony

Joe on hotel balcony

horse statue