Ferry to Sardinia

We bid arrivederci to Cinque Terre and head off to Sardinia for another adventure.  We catch the Moby ferry to Sardinia in Levanto, just below Pisa and approximately 132 km (82 miles) from Monterosso.  We decide to take the overnight ferry to Olbia, scheduled to depart Levanto at 23:50 (11:50 pm for us Americans) and to arrive in Olbia at 7am the next day.  We book two cabins and are set for our first big ferry trip.  We've seen the big ferries in ports in France, Greece, and Italy, but, until this time, have not had an excuse to take one.  Now we do and we're looking forward to it.

To get to Levanto, we hop on an afternoon train from Monterossso to La Spezia and connect to another train heading down the coast.  At the Levanto train station, we take a local bus (Levanto bus line number 1, 1.2 euros) for the trip into Piazza Grande in the center of town.

But, prima (first), before the ferry, dinner.  We enjoy a Diet Coke in Piazza Grande and Laura wanders off the Piazza to see what she can find.  Two blocks away, behind Il Duomo (the cathedral), she finds Ristoro Cafè Duomo and we wheelie over to another incredible meal in Italy.

  Il Duomo in Piazza Grande, Livorno

 Grand covered walkways and marble sidewalks near the piazza

Dinner consists of an antipasti plate with salami, prosciutto, pecorino, olives, tomatoes, and mozarella, with peperoncini oil and balsamic.  We follow that with shared (family style) tomato and ricotta over penne and pizza with porcini and sausage.  Accompanied by a rose prosecco to start and a great chianti with the main courses.

Pre-ferry dinner

But, I digress, this blog entry is about the ferry.  We take a taxi from Ristoro Cafè Duomo to the ferry terminal and are dropped off at the cafè where the ferry pulls in.  Our ferry is apparently late and we have another bottle of prosecco as we wait. 

 Ferry to Olbia here, cafè across the street

Eventually our ferry pulls in and starts to unload - it is really big!

Ferry backing in and parked

We board, get our cabin keys, and head up to the top deck to watch the departure from Livorno (not much to see in the dark).  We're glad to have a cabin.  We see other people with sleeping bags and air mattresses lying down on the decks and in the stairways and hallways for their night. 

 Walk on board, find cabin

Then, it's time for sleep until the announcement awakens us about one hour before arrival.  We head into the restaurant for croissants, coffee, and Diet Coke, then stroll around the ship as we enter Sardinian waters.  Up on the top deck, we see that the people who spent the night in chairs on the deck or in their own sleeping bags look really cold!

 Sunrise as Sardinia gets closer.

And closer

We wander around the public areas of the ferry while waiting for the call for walk-on  passengers to disembark.

Around the ship

 Off the ship and through the terminal to the taxi stand

We hop in a taxi and head over to pick up our rental car at the airport on the other side of the harbor for the next phase of this year's Italian adventure.