Day 19 - 3 countries in one day

With a big day of travel ahead we set off to catch the 8 o'clock ferry back to the mainland for our transfer to Trueste Airport. We were informed at reception that the boat was running about 10 minutes late. No problem, we factored in some extra time. Turned out to be 35 minutes late, hmm we'll be cutting it fine. Hop into the transfer vehicle, there are slow traffic areas due to roadworks and border controls, expected travel time 2 hours and 7 minutes. OK, is now an actual problem, bag drop closes in 1 hour 47 minutes. Time to start praying. With some low level flying along the motorways, a very swift transition at the Slovenien border, and a wave through at the Italian border, combined with a 10 minute flight delay...we made it! Off to Rome, we had an hour between flights. No time for an aperol though, it was a 25 minute walk to the gate and straight into the boarding queue. Touchdown in Bari and despite having prebooked our rental car, it was over an hour to get through the queue and into the car. Finally we were on our way to our base for the week near Ostuni. Brett and I are in a converted stable, which we think is delightful. The masseria (translates as 'farm', but ours is an old olive production mill) we are staying at is famous for its degustation menu. We had one included in our booking so thought it would be a good idea to have it on our first night so we didn't have to think about how to get dinner sorted. Unfortunately we hadn't figured on it starting at 8:30pm and being 7 courses! Although the food, wine and service was amazing, we had to bow out without having dessert - too tired and too full. We did at least have enough room to toast our 18th wedding anniversary NZ time, and will get to do it again tomorrow in local time.

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