We both slept well although the bed was a little hard and after ablutions headed for the breakfast room and hoped that the main restaurant would be open but no such luck and so to the fast food we went. The prices were extremely high and the quality extremely low and we paid 22 Euros which included the free part of the breakfast which comprised of one small croissant and a cup of coffee which is not much and so we added another croissant each and an yoghurt and hence the 22 Euros.
After an uneventful crossing from Barcelona we arrived in Civivitecchio which is Rome’s main Port. To get down the ramp was another load of chaos with everybody cutting each other up to get to the ramp first and some have to back up by misjudging the turning circle of their vehicle it was sheer bloody chaos and the only way to describe it. Then the hooting started and the single Asian car controller basically gave up and left everybody to sort it out themselves. What is amazing however that the ship only had about 300 passenger when the previous week it had 1200 and so how they coped at the ports is beyond imagination.
However, finally we got off and headed for the Port exit and it was getting rather dark and the signs were poor and we were heading about 20 miles down the motorway to a small seaside town to the hotel which we had great difficulty finding as it was dark with very small signs and a one way system which the SatNav could not understand and even that was shouting for help. Turn right, then turn left then turn right and then turn left it was saying and so we turned it off. Finally we found the Hotel at around 8.45 pm where we parked across the road and asked if the restaurant was open and the answer was NO it closed at 8.30 pm but you can go down the road and there is a nice place. We dropped our bags in the room and tried to turn on the air conditioning system and it did not work and this was a proble as the room was very warm.
So on the way out I questioned this with reception and she said that we had booked a standard room and she could turn the aircon on for 10 Euros and this now became a superior room, I agreed to pay but could not believe this.
However we found a great little restaurant where we both had a pizza and Vina Casa Rosa which was great. We then quickly visited an internet shop so that Noel could print of a letter from Lloyds Bank which may just get him back online with his Bank, but this is another story.
