Wednesday 1st May 2019
Yesterday we arranged for a late checkout from Vilanova Park and had a casual day packing up, preparing to travel to our next stop, Italy. This activity was interspersed with coffee breaks and sitting out in the sushine, to wile the time away until our 5pm departure from camp.
We set off toward Grimaldi Lines Terminal at Barcelona docks taking the toll road so as to avoid the winding narrow coast road with the caravan. The expected tow time of 45 minutes became over an hour due to traffic but we had plenty of time to spare.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 51 Cumulative: 30,574
Checking in at the terminal we were quickly issued with our tickets and sticker to hang in the car. The tickets also serve as the door key for our cabin. A short time later we made our way into the holding yard ready to board.
The boarding didn’t start until much later but I managed to find a way to pass the time 🙂
Unfortunately loading started just as the second half was about to kick off so I only got to see the first half.
We boarded the ferry and immediately had to go up a rather steep, narrow, ramp. This negotiated we were directed to reverse park in front of a line of trucks by a rather gruff marshaller. This completed we gathered up our stuff required for the 21 hour crossing and made our way to our cabin.
Settled in, we made our way up to the restaurant and had a pleasant, if very late, dinner and an even more pleasant bottle of Italian wine. Once relieved of €88 for the bill by the excellent waiter we made our way back to the cabin for the night. It was at this point we realised we’d tipped the waiter well despite service being included! Schoolboy error 🙂
We awoke about 9 hours later! 🙂 I pulled back the curtains to reveal a beautiful morning outside. After a shower and a bit of breakfast I set off to explore the ship for a while.
Grimaldi Lines Ferry
Much to Kims’ delight the crossing couldn’t have been smoother. Even passing through the infamous Strait of Bonifacio the sea was like a millpond.
Around 19:30 we were finally off the ferry and making our way down to our selected campsite Camping Roma Capitol. A Camping Card site priced at €20 a night, plus €2 a night each tourist tax.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 75 Cumulative: 30,649
We started out in pleasant enough weather but soon, as we proceeded south, we ran into a storm and the sky turned very dark with heavy rain. Bad enough conditions made worse by the standard of Italian driving.
After one navigational mistake we arrived just before 21:00 and told to choose a pitch on this huge, almost 30 hectare site.
Camping Roma Capitol
The facilities here are superb. The washrooms are warm & clean and consist of individual wet rooms with shower, toilet & sink. The restaurant is excellent, as is the swimming pool and its own bar area. The pitches are large. The living roofs on the restaurant and pool bar are particularly impressive. It has good rail links into Rome to visit the attractions.
One thing about the site is it seems that at this time of year the site is almost deserted! Strange