Monday,
2 May 2016
Brussels
South Charleroi Airport is an international airport some 46 km south of
Brussels. It is RyanAir’s first continental base; Wizz Air and a couple of
other airlines also operate at Charleroi. I dislike Stansted but found that
Charleroi was worse. There were very limited seats available (even Stansted has
more), its complimentary wifi is only for browsing the airport and shuttle bus
websites and tourist info, and there’s no water dispenser at all. The boarding
area is also small and again with limited seats.
After
performing prayers, I had some breakfast before going through security clearance
and immediately headed for the gate. We had to go through the duty-free (so
clever of them to design the airport such) before we could reach the gates. Like
I said, the boarding area is small and before long, it was crowded. The gates
were close to each other so we had people going on one flight spilling into the
crowd for another flight. It was all poorly designed and clearly had only
profit in mind with passenger comfort an afterthought. I hope I would never return
to that airport. Heck, even Stansted was better! What a horrible, horrible
airport.
There
was a screen on top of the gate indicating the weather of your destination and I
was surprised to note that it was forecasted to rain in Brindisi. Hmm.
We
took off on time and I managed to doze off. We landed about ten minutes early into
a grey dull wet Brindisi but because we had to be ferried to the terminal, it
meant I missed the airport bus (it comes at a quarter past and a quarter to the
hour). I bought the ticket at a newsagent (€1 as opposed to €1.50 if you buy it
from the driver) and waited for the next bus. The rain didn’t let up at all.
The
bus arrived and I ran to board it. The ride took about eight minutes and I got
down at the train station and bought ticket to Lecce. The fare was a very
affordable €2.80 and I managed to get the 10:03 train.
We
reached Lecce 31 minutes later and it was starting to rain as I exited the
station. I tried asking for directions to my B&B from a newsagent but the
proprietor didn’t speak English. I did try finding the route on Google Maps
before I left for the trip but the map generated wasn’t helpful (rarity),
showing me the longer route to get to the B&B. Finally I walked to the
nearby Grand Hotel Di Lecce to ask for directions. The girl was very helpful
and helped print a map for me. Unfortunately, the route (also from Google Maps)
turned out to be way too far. I walked on and the rain got heavier with every
step. I did have a brolly (I hadn’t packed a brolly for a while and I squeezed
it in right before I left home for KLIA on Saturday as it was threatening to
rain) finally reached the B&B some 45 minutes later, knackered and my poor
suitcase was wet.
I
checked in and paid for the room. The owner, Giovanna, stays there too and
speaks good English. She even helped look for train connections to Alberobello for
the following morning (I had searched for it but my route was
Lecce-Bari-Alberobello and she told me there’s a direct train to Alberobello
from Lecce).
As
it was still pouring, I decided to perform prayers and opened my suitcase and
was horrified to find that not only was the bag wet on the inside but that rainwater
had seeped in! My clothes in their bag cubes were wet in places so after
prayers, I sat down drying them with a hairdryer while checking my timeline and
emails (yeah, I decided to take my multitasking skills to a different level). That
was not fun at all but at least I had my clothes dried - gradually.
I
left the B&B after 15:00 and headed to the old town. I stopped by at the
station first to buy ticket for the train to Alberobello the next morning.
Lecce is also dubbed as Florence of the South due to its many rich Baroque architectural
monuments. I walked up the castle then turned and headed for Piazza Sant’Oronzo
in the heart of the city. The Roman Amphitheatre is also here and so is the
Tourist Info Centre. I then walked to Porta Napoli and Obelisco before turning
back and exploring other nearby alleys.
Met this Jesper doppelgänger
at the Roman Amphitheatre
I
left after 6, stopping en route to buy some water, and headed back to the
B&B. There was still more than an hour to sunset but it was beginning to
get dark – the dark clouds never really dispersed. There were some patches of
skies in the distance though.
I
had a light dinner and stayed in the rest of the evening.
Tuesday,
3 May 2016
I
got up for morning prayers and stayed awake. I had breakfast just before 8 and
then rushed to the station for my train to Alberobello. I got to the platform
with a few minutes to spare or so I thought – the train left Lecce later than
scheduled. It turned out to be a day of delayed trains. I had to change at
Martina Franca station and the train from Martina Franca arrived late and as
such, we left late too. I finally arrived at Alberobello at almost 2 p.m. and I
followed signs to the Trullis Zone. It was about a km away from the station. When
I finally got there, I looked for a Tourist Info Centre but alas, it was closed
then and would only reopen at 15:30 or something like that. No choice, I had to
drag my suitcase along with me (and no, there’s no left luggage at the small train
station). I climbed up the stairs up to the trullis and began walking around. Before
long though, the skies opened up and I quickly sought shelter. I wasn’t about
to get my poor suitcase soaked again! The rain lasted about 15 minutes and when
it stopped, I walked around quickly again before turning back and heading for
the station. the earlier train delays meant I couldn’t linger there long for my
train to Bari and besides, I wanted to avoid more rain.
The
train to Bari was only slightly late (still late though) and we arrived at Bari
Centrale at a quarter to 5. I bought my bus ticket from the office (€1 compared
to €1.50 on the bus) and waited for the 17:30 bus to the airport. We arrived at
the airport some 50 minutes later – plenty of time left as my flight to Pisa
was at 21:50.
RyanAir
can accommodate only about 91 pieces of bags in its overhead compartments so once
that limit is reached, the subsequent bags are to be placed in the cargo for
free – mine included.
We
landed at Pisa at 23:20 as scheduled and after collecting my bag, I went to
find a place to spend the night. I purposely didn’t book accommodation for
tonight as I didn’t want to be wandering the streets of Pisa at midnight trying
to find my B&B. The airport is pretty close to a residential area but
still...
To
be continued
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