I’m in Bari, Italy right now. To get an idea where it is, it’s on the “heel” of the boot of the map of Italy. My goal was to catch a ferry to Greece for the final leg of my trip before heading back to Dubai. Yesterday I caught the bus without any problems, and got to Bari as expected. I found my hostel in a about an hour, so at this point everything is going great. I go to check into the hostel and the guy tells me that I could only stay one night, that my reservation doesn’t count. Huh?? I told him that I was trying to take a ferry so it may not matter, but I won’t know until I try to get a ticket.  I put my stuff down and head to the terminal to buy a ticket, they say no, “It’s full.” I ask about tomorrow, “It’s full.” I try to talk to her, and she starts to get really upset with me, I returned with getting upset with her. When I say, “upset” I pretty much mean raising our voices. I was so angry with her that an hour later I was still cussing her out in my head. One thing that she did suggest before she got “upset” was to try another company across the terminal, when they opened in the morning. So that was the plan. In the meantime I needed to get something to eat as it was getting late and I hadn’t eaten anything for most of the day.

This morning I got up early to get to the terminal to see if I could get passage on the other carrier. I was kind of worried because the company I talked to last night said they were booked for two nights, so I didn’t have much hope that I’d get a ticket. They opened at 9 and I was there about 8 along with about 10 other people. One at a time we talked to the lady behind the counter, and we all got the same answer, “We’re full, but you can come back later an try again.” So damn. I went back to the hostel and tried to get my reservation validated. The excuses this guy gave me was ridiculous. I think the best was that it was an email. Of course it was an email, that’s the way the web site sends confirmation to you. So now I don’t have a place to stay, probably no ticket to Greece, and not a clue of what to do. I eventually decided not to do anything except walk around the city, eventually ending back at the terminal. To my surprise they had room for me, so I bought my ticket. So to sum up for you, things went from hopeful, to despair, and finally working out. I like when that happens.

Bari is an interesting city, it’s fairly small, and has a really nice old town. In fact I love the layout of the city, architecture, and the vibe that I get from it. They do have a problem with businesses though. Last night I searched for a grocery store to get a water and snack before going to bed and couldn’t find one anywhere. I finally asked someone and they said no. The guy kind of laughed when he answered, almost like what a ridiculous question to ask. He suggested that I go to a restaurant.  I guess I understood that because it was Sunday night and I guess it’s expected that many of the small shops would be closed. This morning though everything was still closed. I’m serious, at 10 in the morning there isn’t any businesses open anywhere. Maybe a few restaurants, and some newspaper kiosks, but regular businesses are shuttered. UPDATE: I asked why was everything closed and I was told that it was a holiday.