Narnian Castles and Roman Ruins, Italy - goodbye!

Having been picked up by dad in the morning and said my goodbyes and thank yous to Joy for inviting me on such a fantastic holiday, we drove for most of the day to get as close to Bari as possible. We stopped for the day the town of  Roccamandolfi as we had booked accommodation there ahead. We arrived a little earlier than our check-in time, and to our dismay the gate to the hotel was all locked tight, and no hint of anyone around!As we were early, we decided to kill some time in the hope that when we returned, everything would be open.

We soon passed out of the village and began climbing the rolling hills. The views were fantastic, and after a minor mishap with having to let a giant tractor go past us on the rather narrow road,spotted a ruined castle and pulled off to the side to get a closer look! There was a very overgrown path leading up, and we picked our way through the tall grass to get inside the castle. I was a little jumpy after having seen something long and dark green move from the corner of my eye, potentially a snake -though I attempted to convince myself it had simply been a large lizard.
















The castle was wild and beautiful and utterly abandoned, and as I climbed the worn steps to the entrance of the castle which was now entirely open to the skies, it reminded me strongly of Narnia, and the moment Peter, Lucy, Susan and Edmund find an old castle only to realise long ago it had been Cair Paravel - their own castle thousands of years before, now totally gone, and with it all the people they had once known.

 After a good wander we headed back to our hotel, Casale Maginulfo, in the hopes that it would be open. And it was! The owners were absolutely lovely, but had as much English as we had Italian (that is to say, pretty much nothing). They had a solution however, as they had an ipad they would proudly whip out to speak into and then hold it out as Google automatically translated. Whilst it was a nice idea, the mistakes in the translations were hilariously wrong, but we muddled along.
 After checking in we spent the late afternoon relaxing in the sunshine under apple trees, drinking beer and plotting our course for Greece. We were on the cusp of an adventure of a lifetime, and I could barely contain my excitement!
But first, dinner. We started with a delicious bean soup that was without a doubt the best I've ever had in my life, then on to beautiful loaf of bread which we dipped in lemon-infused olive oil (whoever had that genius idea should wine some kind of prize). This was followed by lamb, lovely grilled eggplant and zucchini. By then I could barely fit the deliciously decadent chocolate dessert they forced on us, followed by a tot of chestnut liquor for me (lovely and sweet, mild and not at all like my usual experience with chestnuts) and for dad a little shot of Grappa which I soon discovered tasted disturbingly like paint stripper. I was not a fan.

The next morning after an excellent sleep on full bellies, we headed down towards Bari, with one important pitstop on the way; Saepinum. A beautiful and fantastically preserved Roman town, Saepinum was entirely off the tourist maps. Having been told of its existence by Yannick and Necia, and heard their words of praise for it, I was determined to see it for myself. 

One of the best things about this place, was that there were no other tourists around! Aside from some gardeners tending to the grass, we had the place to ourselves. It was easy to see the layout of the town from the roads and houses to the shops on the other side. It didn't require a wonderful imagination to really see how the town would have been, and I really appreciated that, as it can sometimes be difficult to do.

Captured by Romans in 293 BC, they built this town far below the original one which was high up on the mountain, and apparently some of the original can still be seen today (although we unfortunately did not have the time to traverse to such heights). Instead we enjoyed wandering the peaceful ruin, taking in everything from the theatre to the bath complex. I would say we got our money's worth, but it was free!

I particularly enjoyed this main gateway, as from it you could see the road stretching into the town, and the clear layout of the houses and shops. Outside of the gate there were some areas ringing the town that were clearly unfinished excavations, covered over as protection from the elements. i couldn't help but wonder what they had found!
Unfortunately a gardener's van was parked in the way of the view from the gate so I couldn't get the photo I wanted. Instead I made do with one of me instead. Almost as good right?
It was here that I began to realise how much better travelling with someone is; aside from having a lot of fun travelling with my dad, you can talk about the places you see, share and enjoy good food together, and actually get my photo taken! (the latter I certainly took advantage of, as can be seen later).

Bidding Saepinum goodbye, we headed for the port town of Bari (a generally run-down town that I would suggest passing through and getting straight on the ferry, as we did). Upon arrival we wandered into the lounge, only for a steward to ask for our tickets and after looking at them, he uttered 'deck' and pointed to outside. Having been unceremoniously kicked out, we headed for the top deck, scoring a table and seats before it filled up too much.

 Huddled on the floor in our sleeping bags for the night (luckily it didn't rain!) was less than pleasant. This and the fact that the food they served on board looked so disgusting that we didn't dare even try it, made for a less than pleasant passage. 

However all was not bad, as we drank beers and watched the sun go down to pass the time. I awoke early in the morning, my sleeping bag damp from the sea-spray. We were arriving at around 4:30 in the morning, tired and hungry, but we would be stepping off the ferry and onto Corfu island!