After visiting Matera, our Puglia tour was pretty much complete and we needed to start the travelling home phase. Not the most exciting part of the tour but unfortunately all good things have to come to an end. In our case, we traveled from Bari to Rome by train, spent a couple more nights in Rome and then flew home to Vancouver.
First things first. We set our alarms early so that we could catch the 08:45 Trenitalia high speed train to Rome. The service was comfortable and took only about four hours with no train changes to get to our destination. We did need to fold our bikes up to use this train as there is no place on board for full size bikes. We are getting pretty quick at organizing our bikes and panniers when this is required. There was no drama catching the train but riding on the streets in Rome did take a bit more courage than the quiet streets we have been travelling on! We have completed this route between the hotel and Rome Termini a couple of times already, so we knew what to expect.
This fountain is in front of the Bari train station. Looks like the weather is changing - a good time to head home!
We watched the train board carefully to see what track our train got assigned to. Here we are - track 4! We hustle over and begin to prepare the bikes for travel.
After checking into our hotel, we had a day and a half to see more of Rome and prepare for our flight home. We spent the rest of the day walking in the neighbourhood and on Tuesday we went to see the Vatican area. Later in the day Scott took the bikes apart and put them back into their suitcases. The cycling gear was also stowed away for the flight home.
Scooter heaven. The riders all race to the front of the line at the red lights. No traffic rules seem to apply!
Our final day and we stopped at a cafe looking directly at Piazza Venezia for breakfast. It was a very busy area and the outdoor seats were a great place to watch all the action. We thought to ourselves, Rome is busy in November.
Moving along, here we are at the Trevi Fountain inspecting the new walkway that has been installed during its restoration in preparation for next summer`s extravaganza.
The walkway is really not very attractive but you do get up very close to inspect the detail of the sculptures. Would be so much nicer with the fountain actually running.
Dinner was at a busy but casual and fun restaurant. We both really enjoyed our last meal in Italy knowing that soon it will be back to home cooking. In the morning we took a cab to the airport and the flights taking us home. Everything went exactly as planned, but it was a very long day. All in, it takes about 24 hours.
This concludes the blog for our Puglia tour. Thank you to everyone that followed along. and we hope to see you all again soon.
Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles) Total: 628 km (390 miles)
