Olive trees and public transportation - Italy

Current location: 39.795711, 18.360748 Porto Turistico Marina di Leuca, Santa Maria di Leuca, Most southeastern part of Italy.

Yesterday I bought a ticket to Italy – today I found myself on multiple trains heading to the most southern part of Italy; Santa Maria di Luca. My reflections so far have been that there are a lot of olive trees everywhere. And that the trains work really well, even though no one seems to know when they are leaving. I am going to a yacht to help out with a sail to Spain. A while back I got the tip to checkout www.crewbay.com, a sailors site where boats can find crew and vice versa, and I was surprised at how easy it is to get in contact with yachts that needed crew. So the day before yesterday, in the middle of my friends boat transport, I got the message that I was welcome to join for a month. So I got off the boat in Waxholm and went home and bought a flight ticket. It turns out that Santa Maria di Leuca is a pretty difficult place to get to, so today I have played around with the Italian public transportation system. I thought I was doing pretty well until 10 km away from my end destination the train-lady started gesticulating wildly about me trying to get to Leuca after 9 pm. This was impossible, I understood from how upset she was. I couldn’t possibly go there in the dark. Didn’t I have someone to call, she asked in Italian, and I responded in Spanish that I did, but that he was on a boat and that wouldn’t be of much use. She muttered that maybe I’d have to sleep on the train. I asked if there weren’t any taxis, and I think the answer is that this far south in Italy they don’t believe in taxis. I got off the train and all the employees of the train brainstormed together loudly, with arms flying and gesticulating everywhere, on how to get me to the Marina. Someone decided that another person would drive me. He turned around and asked in Italian if I was going to Leuca, and I told him yes, to the marina. He said there are no hotels there, I said, I’m going to a boat. Said and done, I got in the car and he drove me the 6 km that they all had decided I wasn’t allowed to walk. When I got off I said with my best Italian accent “mille Grazie”, and gave him some money for the trouble. He offered to give me his number in case I’d need a ride back at some point, but I explained that I am a sailor and that I’m sailing off to Spain. Now I’m in my new bunk and ready for sleep. Some day huh.

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