April 18th: Nearly Not Bari to Dubrovnik

To catch the ferry to Dubrovnik we needed to cross from Rome, on the west coast of Italy, to Bari on the east. It was a full day’s drive and we arrived at Bari port just after 6.00pm. Loading commences at 8.00pm for the 10.00pm sailing. We hadn’t pre-bought tickets, and the ticket office was closed but a queue was already waiting outside the ticket window, so the signs were good. At 7.00 the lights came on, the blind was raised and two faces appeared at adjacent ticket window.
We get our turn at 7.30ish after being queue-jumped several times by bus tour operators each with 50 passengers’ passports to be checked and tickets issued. Feelings of outrage firmly under control since nobody but the British rigorously obey the rules of queuing.
Paul and Trish’ motorhome is no problem, but here is an English caravan that has no official registration document. I explain that no such document exists in the UK. The car registration document covers everything and the caravan is just a towed box we sleep in.
The ticket office clerk wasn’t having any of it.
“No papers, no ticket, as you going outside EU. You must ask police then maybe we give you ticket. Police in Terminal, that way.”
Her hand waved vaguely towards the far side of the port. The wave was more dismissive than directional, and anyway the far side of the docks was swiftly sliding into a filmy curtain of darkness.
It wasn’t negotiable. There is only one ferry company, Jadrolinija, running this route so you need to comply with their rules, however exasperating. And time is ticking on: it’s 7.45pm, nearly loading up time. The next ferry is in two days time.
We discover there’s a shuttle bus to the Terminal, which Paul and I catch leaving Jane and Trish to keep an eye on the vehicles. At the terminal we can’t find the police, and anyway why would the Italian police care what went to Croatia, surely that would be the concern of the Croatian police?
Before despair has time to set in, we have a great stroke of luck. The information desk at the Terminal is manned (womanned?) by a large Mrs Fix-it. Speaking good English, she takes up our cause with a missionary zeal. Within 10 minutes she has rooted out the police, customs and an official from Jadrolinja all of whom see no reason why the caravan should not travel to Croatia. She gets the Jadrolinija official to phone the ticket office to instruct them to accept the caravan. Job done. Just a dash back on the shuttle, buy the tickets and proceed to the loading queue. Phew!!
The ferry left at 10.00 and chugged on through the night to Dubrovnik. All cabins are knocked up at 6.00am to partake of the free breakfast before docking at 7.00am. The photo below, taken on the way to breakfast, shows the cold light of dawn with its washed-out colours as we near the Croatian coast.

After breakfast a new world emerges as the sun paints its first rays on the final approaches to Dubrovnik. It’s a scenic canvas of inlets, small islands and red-roofed houses. We dock and drive out of the port, eager to see more.

A small but relevant post-script: the customs weren’t particularly interested in the caravan and weren’t scrutinising our documents. It was just another tourist vehicle, a cursory check and then they waved us through.