Crete had been enjoyable – a few degrees warmer weather would have been ideal, but such is life,  you just can’t have it your way all the time 😟. But, what you don’t want to hear ( and we did hear it ) is that “it’s usually hotter than this by late March” ( of course it is – when we are not here ! ).

Back in Athens all was well, apart from the van being blanketed in dust ( courtesy of a storm the day before ) – this time we did not have any battery issues, it fired up right away.   Only a trip to the car wash, laundromat and grocery store stood between us and departure for Italy, a 10 hour, two day trip north to the port city of Igoumenitsa, from which we would ferry across the Adriatic Sea, to Brindisi in Italy.

While ferries are an essential and typically expensive nuisance in Europe, the route from Igoumenitsa to Brindisi is a godsend. Threading a narrow gap between Corfu and Albania, the route takes just 8 hours to cross the ( almost always calm ) Adriatic Sea. Assuming you are next headed to Sicily ( having initially travelled down to Greece via Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania, as we had ) and don’t wish to repeat that lengthy, and mountainous route ( not to mention at least 5 border crossings ), the Adriatic ferry crossing turns an almost week long journey into a very comfortable 8 hour, €175 “cruise” (of sorts). It’s an awfully circuitous route from Igoumenitsa in Greece to Brindisi in Italy without that ferry ( take a look at the map in the image above ) !

One of the benefits of travelling in March is being able to simply roll up to the ticket window, pay, and literally drive on to the ship (impossible in summer), with the ferry port also doubling as a quiet, secure wild camp for the night before. As always, one enjoys the company of other van travellers at such places and we spent time there and on the crossing with a delightful French/Czech couple and their lovely daughter. The ferry was barely a quarter full, the Adriatic was like glass and before we knew it the lights of Brindisi were coming into view. Arriving late, most with vans camped by the port itself, as we did.

Here we bumped into another couple Martin ( a Brit ) and Anna ( Hungarian) with whom we travelled on to our first stop in Italy, the historic city of Lecce. Lesser known than other Italian cities, it is however no less beautiful. Situated in the heart of Puglia, and known as the “Florence of the south”, Lecce is known for its substantial Roman -era archaeological ruins as well as impressive 17th century baroque style buildings.

From Lecce, a little zig-zagging followed, through Puglia passing coastal  Monopoli, Polignano then on to a fascinating place neither of us knew anything about – Alberobello, home of the trulli/trullo structures. Packed with tourists and very interesting to explore, it’s a definite stop for anyone passing this way.

Our final destination this week was beautiful Matera, recognized as one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities and renowned for its “Sassi” – ancient cave dwellings carved into limestone rock. If any of the pictures below look familiar, it was a significant filming location for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion Of The Christ” ( the James Bond film, “No Time To Die” was also set here). At a distance the whole village looks like a medieval-era community with nothing immediately visible to suggest you are in 2026 ( so a perfect film backdrop, especially for Mel Gibson’s epic).

So there was lots going on this week, but as with Greece the distances here are mostly not great, making it pretty easy getting from town to town. From here we’ll head northwest towards Naples and Pompei before turning south towards Sicily.

Till next week….