Italy and Ancona.

Friday 27 May.

 

Originally it was in the afternoon when we were supposed to be arriving in Ancona but we must have made up time somehow as it was now docking for 10:00 am. So there was still no rush and we had a leisurely breakfast in the buffet. After that Moira did some of the packing, we have to leave our case out tonight for us arriving in Venice tomorrow. At about 9:30 am we went to the stern and watched as we arrived and tied up in Ancona. It wasn't a very big place and had lots of domes and steeples dotted about its skyline. Up on Guasco hill perched the Cathedral of San Ciriaco and from there dominated the town. In the harbour there were lots of large vessels that we thought were other cruise ships at first but they turned out to be car ferries. They seemed to connect with the other countries on the other side of the Adriatic. There were a lot of motorhomes queued up ready to board one of them.

Cathedral of San Ciriaco on Guasco hill

 

A nice welcome to Ancona.

Once ashore we made our way up the hill to the Cathedral. There were a number of walking routes around the town and all signposted, this one to Cathedral was No1. It wasn't much of a climb but it was a hot day again so we took it easy. On the way up we passed the 15th century Church of San Francesco and had a look inside. It wasn't particularly striking and neither was the Cathedral. They were both plain and austere, no nice stained glass windows that we like. There was a good view from the top of the hill over town and the harbour and out to sea.

Church of San Francesco.

 

After a 5 minute break in the cool interior of the church where we sat, we followed another signposted route, to the Roman Amphitheatre. This was a disappointment, it was fenced off and all we could see were some ruins that had been partially excavated but were now overgrown with grass and weeds. It appeared that this and a lot of the other archeological projects had run out of money and had been temporarily (hopefully) postponed. We did find a path on the next marked route, to the Faro (lighthouse), that ran above the amphitheatre and we got a good overhead view, though it was difficult to make out any of the detail.

Cathedral of San Ciriaco.

 

The Faro walk was very good and it climbed out to the point high above a rocky head projecting from Ancona. This gave us a view of the sea on the other side of point and as we looked a series of boats made their way along the shore heading round to the harbour. They were a peculiar shape at the bow and we thought they were some sort of fishing vessel. After reaching a water tower and the lighthouse it was downhill on a nice paved path back to the town.

Water tower near Faro.

 

When we reached the main street a handy little supermarket appeared where we bought a couple of beers to go with our lunch. The next thing was to find a place to sit and eat it. There was a tree line square, Stamira Piazza, but no seats but luckily there was a wall where we perched comfortably. We were in the shade of a tree and had the sandwiches and fruit that Moira had packed at the buffet while we had breakfast.

 

Piazza Roma

After our picnic lunch the next priority was to find toilets. The map we had picked up from the local info office at the harbour had all the loos marked and we made for the ones at Piazza Roma. When we got there we discovered that there was also local WiFi and it was free for 10 minutes. After publishing my blog and downloading the 'Telegraph' I FaceTimed Suzy. We managed a few minutes with Hollie and Abigail before the free time ran out.

 

From the Piazza Roma we picked up another of the walking routes. This was just a short one round a small area with a lot of places of note. There was Roman paving that we didn't notice any different from the normal type, a couple of fountains without any water, St Thomas Becket's hospital, a 16th century Palace, a 13th century gateway and the Church of San Domenico. It was now beginning to get tiring with the heat and not really a great deal of very interesting places. We were probably suffering from 'too much of a good thing' after Malta and Dubrovnik and this was a bit disappointing. We decided the last thing to see was the Pia Gate, a large archway spanning the road running adjacent to the docks. We walked along passed the ferries still loading with cars and lots of motorhomes; Moira is going to Google later to find out the distinctions of the ferries from here. The large gate, no doubt one of the fortified entrances to the town in days gone by, was quite impressive and another photo stop.

Church of San Domenico

 

We were going to head back to the ship but decided that we were as well sitting at a bar here with a cool beer than on the ship. So we found a restaurant that was happy to just sell us only a drink and sat there watching the world go by. Unfortunately they also knew how to charge here as well, a glass of beer cost €5.

 

When we finished our drinks we headed back on board the ship. We were early it didn't depart from Ancona for another 90 minutes. After leaving the daypack in the cabin I got us coffee and we sat in the shade beside the pool. I worked on the crossword and got it finished just as the ship cast off. This time we got seats on the deck above, beside the running track, where we sat to watch us leaving Ancona. Once clear of the harbour and running down the coast that was quite mountainous we retired to the buffet for dinner. We managed to get seats at the window and could watch our progress along the coast from there.

 

Pia Gate

After dinner there was her another 'final performance' in the theatre. It was the dancers, acrobats and contortionist putting on the best of all their shows. I don't know how they picked the best it all looked the same to us. Although we didn't think much of it, most of the audience gave them a standing ovation at the end.

 

We decided after the show we had had enough of everything and went back to our cabin. Moira finished the packing and left the case outside the door for collection. I worked on my photographs and transferred them from the camera to my iPad. After all that it was nearly 10:00 pm so we got to sleep. This was our last day of the cruise, tomorrow we arrive in Venice.

 

 

Leaving Ancona.

 

 

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