Jumping in Ancona

We woke up at 6:30 am to pack and check out from our hotel in Roma. At 8 am, we were on our way to Termini Station. It was 3 km away, and we decided we could walk it. The walk was a bit more strenuous than planned with our big luggages as Roma is decidedly very hilly! We made it though, and arrived a bit before 9.

Our train to Ancona was departing at 9:28. We had a quick stop to get an espresso and then were on our way to the platform, 2 EST. The name is in the clue; this was not a normal station number and turned out to be a good 10-15 minute walk to reach! We made it eventually, about 10 minutes before departure, right on time.

The train was not too busy and was quite comfortable. Off we went for a 4-hour ride. The ride was quite pretty, very green, and included many tunnels. We mostly spent the day reading and looking outside.

We arrived in Ancona almost on time and decided to walk towards the pedestrian center as it was not even 2 pm, and the ferry to Split would only depart at 7:45 pm. The walk to the center took quite a bit longer again than it appeared on the map. But at least the weather was beautiful. We arrived at the city center at about 3 pm after being a bit confused at some point about the way to take (damn those hilly cities!).

We stopped by the first restaurant we found and ordered some maccherone with ragù sauce for me (which were more like noodles than macaroni), seafood gnocchi for J along with some grilled vegs and chicken parmegiano salad. Man, that was way too much food, we almost exploded on the way out!

At 4 pm, we decided to walk up to the ferry terminal and see if we could already board. This time, the walk was shorter than Google led us to think it would. We were super early and could not board until 2 hours before departure. So we decided to sit on the terrace and have a coffee. While seated, waiting to be served, I pulled out the reservation confirmation and realized that it said we needed to exchange it for a proper boarding pass at the “sales office” to get access to the ship. We had no clue where this office was, so we paused the coffee break to go look for it.

We walked all around the ferry terminal and didn't find any Jadrolinija office. At some point, we stopped looking and asked a guy in one of the waiting area's offices if he knew where to find it. He replied that yes, we needed to take a (free) shuttle bus to go to the biglietteria on the other side of the port! Oops, good thing we checked!

The bus stop was right in front of the terminal. While waiting for the bus, a huge group of 16-year-old dutchies arrived, apparently on a trip to Greece. Nice holiday! The bus came a few minutes later and brought us to the check-in offices, quite far down on the port area. In less than 5 minutes, we had our tickets and a voucher to give at the reception on the ship to get the keys to the cabin. Why this check-in office is so far and why nothing is indicated at the ferry terminal is beyond me.

We climbed back on the bus that was still waiting and returned to the terminal. We still had one hour to spend, so we decided to go to the bar where we tried to have a coffee and sat on the terrace in the sun. It was a very nice place. I got a medium Forst (German beer) while J ordered an Aperol Spritz for 11 euros, which included a huge portion of tapas-like snacks. Although we were already super full, I couldn’t pass on the pizza bites.

Boarding was supposed to start at 17:45, but it only really started half an hour later and was completely slow and inefficient. At least our Mauritian training made us zen about it. Finally, on the other side of the passport check, we took a few minutes for a jumping picture.

We then proceeded to board the ship while big trucks were reversing into the hold, which looked and smelled very much like cargo ships I had been on years ago. An employee guided us to the small elevator and instructed us to go to level 3 at reception. The inside of the passenger area looked like a worn-down cruise ship (Marko Polo, that's her name, is from 1973 after all) but not without charm.

They gave us a weird plastic key card with holes, and we were assigned Room 3075 on the same floor. The room was tiny with two bunk beds on one side, another bed on the other and a fourth pullout bunk bed if required. Alongside was a mini toilet and shower. Basic but comfortable. After settling in, we went out to gather some views of the city at sunset. Unfortunately, the outside bar was closed so we didn't stay out too long 😅.

Back inside, we found the indoor bar nestled in a very old-fashioned resting area with large tables and chairs. Very gezellig. We had a nice glass of Croatian white wine and J had a Croatian beer, all for 5.80 euros. After that, we decided we weren't so full anymore and headed to the restaurant. We could choose between self-service and à la carte and chose the latter. J had a (huge) steak frites and I had pork skewers frites and aqua frizzante, all for 30 euros.

After such a long day, we decided to head back home and rest. We are supposed to dock at 7 am tomorrow and take another ferry at 7:40 am to Dubrovnik. We're not really sure we'll make it!