Home -> Europe -> Italy -> Travelogue 2004 -> Thursday 3 June

Along the Adritic to Fano

At night we are really glad that we didn't set up the tent when the thunderstorms begin and never seem to end. Outside everything is soaking wet when we get up in the morning. We have breakfast in the car although it is not very cold outside. But now and then it rains and it is not really inviting weather to take a stroll. But sometimes the sun comes out and then we have beautiful views on the coastline of the Gargamo peninsula.

The Gargamo is the spur to the heel of the Italian boot and is gorgeous to drive through: limestone hills and mountains, white villages and wide sandy beaches. And sometimes views that are shown in every travel guide, like the rocks to the right. In the northeastern part, near Vieste, is a lot of tourism, considered the number of hotels and campsites but it still is relatively quiet.

From Vieste we follow road SS 89 which goes all the way to the west. Near Rodi Garganico we take a break to have a coffee and although more and more clouds are gathering we can still sit outside. The temperature feels very nice.

A new road is being constructed (no sign of it on our new map!) and a part of is it ready, but we follow the old road which is very poorly maintained, but it offers better views since it goes higher up the hills.

Sometimes we think we are in Scotland: cows, sheep, goats and dogs roam freely over the road and regularly we have to stop for a herd of one or the other. The dogs guarding the sheep look like sheep themselves, white and hairy as they are.

Then it starts raing again, pouring even and the clouds hang low above the lanscape, taking away any view on the beauty around us. We wanted to go a bit more into the interior of Italy, but since we won't be able to see much we take the highway to the north, through the county Abruzzo. Only at 6 we start to see some blue spots in the air, somewhere in the distance and after half an hour we finally see the sun again. Not a perfect journey to take pictures of the scenery which is quite nice. The rough mountains slowly turn into sloping, but still quite high, hills when we drive into the next county, Le Marche.

When it is time to look for a place to spend the night we are still in doubt wether we will take a hotel or sleep in the tent. The weather forecast last night was quite bad for the whole country, but it looks so beautiful now. We stop and look at the laptop through the campsite guide. Less than 10 km. away should be a nice one. When we had seen a motel along the highway we would have taken a room there, but we didn't see any, so we drive to the campsite.

Camp Mar y Sierra, near the town of Fona, turns out to be a nice campsite which also has rooms and bungalows (the latter not being ready yet). It is already after eight and we don't feel like putting up the tent so we take a simple room, since we have the choice. This way we are sure to keep the tent dry. The campsite lies on a hill and we have a nice view.

In two days we have now travelled from the southern point of Italy to a far end up north. We haven't seen much of the interior of the country, but we knew that beforehand. We wanted to taste a bit of all of Italy, since the country is too big and has too many sights, attractions, culture and nature to see in a few weeks. Every region has it's own characteristics and charm. But we have decided to spend our last days at Zadar, Croatia, to visit our friend Joshko. So, tomorrow will be our last day in Italy.

Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije