Ancona

Our goal today was to travel by 2 trains from Matera to Ancona (on the East Coast of Italy).
Fortunately we had virtually completed packing last night because this morning we woke at 0545 to no power! An interesting morning poking around in the dark having breakfast, packing, etc! No hot water either.
We were due to catch the 0748 train from Matera to Bari Centrale where we would swap to a fast train to Ancona (4.5 hrs).
We were at Matera Centrale with plenty of time to spare and a train came through heading for Altamura (half way to Bari). A conductor jumped off the train and ordered us onto the train, saying we would swap trains at Altamura. What to do? We jumped on, then at Altamura we (once again) made a mad dash out of the station and around to another platform. We boarded the train with 30 secs to spare (again!)
At Bari we knew the drill this time round and where to go for our train trip to Ancona.
Booked into the Fortuna hotel across the road from Ancona railway station (a dump at $A245/night), showered, had the mandatory Aperol Spritz and then jumped on a bus into Ancona central area.
On recommendation from Shirl, we climbed halfway to heaven to see the Cattedrale and then descended to a more sensible altitude for a light meal and a cool drink. We managed to get the bus back to Hotel Fortuna to prepare for another long day on, hopefully, only 2 trains as we make our way to Bolzano, near the Dolomites for this, our last adventure of this holiday.Read more