Yes I’m always interested in getting your feedback but I’m particularly interested in your opinions and experiences relating to driving in Italy on public holidays.

I travelled from Fiumicino to Loreto Aprutino on 28 December and back again on 6 January. Both trips took no more than three hours. In fact the return trip took us only 2 hrs 45 mins.

“No big deal” you might say as that is roughly the journey time prediction you’ll get from many online journey planners and Sat Navs.

The thing is I’ve travelled the route many times and taking into account the early trips when picking the best place to join (or leave) the motorway near Chieti was a learning experience, I’ve never completed the journey in less than three and a half hours. If traffic was really nasty on the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare – Rome’s ring road) it could take four hours or more.

Let me give you a bit of background. Those signs on the roads that seem to be no more than speed suggestions to many of my fellow travellers we consider to be speed limits. So if we see a sign with 50, 80 or 110, that’s the speed we try to keep to as we watch others pass us by.

After about half a dozen trips I reached a conclusion that the only way to get from Loreto Aprutino to Fiumicino in less than three and a half hours was to break the speed limit or fly.

But after travelling on January 6, the Epiphany, the day after the Befana makes her visits, we walked into the departure area of Fiumicino, Roma three hours and ten minutes after we left Loreto Aprutino.

That included a 15 minute stop at the Agip service centre at Monte Velino Nord (near the exit for Magliano de’ Marsi) for a well needed coffee and toasty, and the paperwork and car check when we returned our small Peugeot to the car hire company. After a quick calculation I realised we’d done the journey in record time – 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The journey planners and Sat Navs are right – it can be done (cue music, revelation style).

OK we did set off fairly early at 06:20. Not many people were on the roads. Although we were certainly not alone we didn’t see any significant traffic until we had had our coffee and passed the point where travellers from L’Aquila and Teramo join those from Pescara. But we really didn’t save any time on this stage of the journey. It’s usually plain sailing until the exits for Castel Madama or Tivoli.

After about two hours driving we crossed over from Abruzzo into Lazio and with the time around 08:30 we could see plenty of cars heading to Abruzzo with skis on the roofs. But although there were more cars on the opposing side of the motorway, they weren’t experiencing any hold ups either.

The real time saver for us was the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) itself!

If you’ve never driven on it think of it as a ring road that encircles Rome with the intention of reducing traffic in the city while allowing drivers an efficient way to avoid roads unsuitable for modern traffic volumes. Considering we approach Fiumicino from the east and our destination is the other side of Rome, there’d be no avoiding the joys of Roman city driving without the GRA.

I like the concept of the ring road; it just doesn’t always flow the way I’d like it to.

As we came onto the GRA the Sat Nav told us we were going to cover its 28 km section and the remaining 12 km to Fiumicino in about 30 minutes. As usual I didn’t believe it but that’s exactly what happened. We had no hold ups getting on or off the GRA. No hold ups as we passed the Ciampino exists, unusual. In fact there was very little traffic (by GRA standards) for 09:00 in the morning near Rome, very unusual.

Because we had a similar experience when we travelled to Abruzzo on at about midday on 28 December it seems that the GRA is a joy and perhaps even a comfort (very slight seasonal pun) over the Christmas period.

But I don’t want to make any assumptions. This realisation on the Epiphany of all days may not be valid.

Maybe certain public holidays encourage people not to travel and others ensure the motorways become a car park. I admit my experience is limited so I’d love to hear from you to see if I’m spot on or I just got lucky.

Either way it was the smoothest journey yet.

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An Epiphany on Rome’s Grande Raccordo Anulare

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The main change relating to buses is the inclusion of a section on buses to and from Rome.  Some of these are operated by private companies e.g. Prontobus (thanks CKC) and Rosato.  I haven’t used either of these companies but friends of mine took the Rosato bus from Fiumicino to Pescara last year and it worked out well  for them.

The other addition is a link to the SNAV ferry site which has details of the ferry timetabes from Pescara to Hvar (Stari Grad) and Split.   Taking a ferry across the Adriatic sounds like an excellent idea to me.

If you’ve had any experience with any of the transport options listed please add a comment and let me know if you’d recommend them or not.  Don’t forget any tips or tricks you may have discovered, or perhaps thoughts on what you’d do now that you didn’t do then.

Also if you know of other transport sites that cover the Abruzzo region please comment on this post with the details.

If travelling by car is your preferred option, in a previous  post I describe the experience of driving from Fiumicino to Pescara province.

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Abruzzo Buses and Ferries Transport Update

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To be fair, nothing much went wrong at all. We exited the airport, followed the signs for autostrada for Roma which brought us to the Roma ring road or GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare).

Then we followed the signs for L’Aquila, which brought us on to junction 14 and an exit off the Roma GRA for the A24/E80 that took us east.  This is a toll road.  You grab your ticket going though the toll plaza, and when you exit the autostrada you pay based on the stretch of road you used.  Roma to Pescara costs about €13.

 

Now after about 70 km on the A24/E80 you need to decide which part of Abruzzo you are heading to, either the direction of L’Aquila/Teramo/Giulianova (A24) or Avezzano/Sulmona/Popoli/Chieti/Pescara (A25/E80).

We were heading to the more southerly part of Abruzzo so we took the Avezzano/Sulmona/Popoli/Chieti/Pescara (A25/E80) direction.

Overall we had three moments of driver/navigator semi-heated exchanges during the whole  journey.  The first was due to the Sat Nav not agreeing with the road signs.  We followed the instructions of the Sat Nav – that was a mistake, easily rectified, but a mistake all the same.   The second and third were due to hunger and not setting the Sat Nav to local time.  We put off eating because we thought we’d arrive an hour earlier than we were going to.  Big mistake!  If you feel hungry, stop, even just to grab a coffee and a pastry.  Trust me, it saves a lot of hassle!

If you have the time, consider stopping off at some of the towns you pass on route. We didn’t.  We wanted to get to our destination as quickly as possible.  But if where you’re aiming for brings you close to any of L’Aquila, Teramo, Sulmona, Popoli they are definitely worth a look.

For the return journey the weather had changed and there was a lot of rain.  Since the route takes you quite high up, through and around the Apennines, we had to drive though cloud!  Visibility wasn’t great at times but the road is good.

If you are driving back to get your return flight give yourself time to get around the Roma GRA and to Fiumicino or Ciampino airports.  Traffic can snarl up in cities and the ring-road around Rome is no different.  (This article from the english version of Corriere Della Sera gives you an idea of the extent of the Italian city traffic problem.)  Ciampino airport is worth considering as an alternative to Fiumicino (Da Vinci) as it is closer to Abruzzo along the Roma GRA and could (remember I have not tried this yet) save 30 minutes driving time.

The overall route itself is breathtaking.  You drive though some spectacular scenery.  This time of year there is snow on the mountains to add to the stunning views.

If driving is not your preferred option then you might want to try a bus service that a reader of this blog passed on to me (thanks CKC).  They are called Prontobus.  I have not used them myself but the service may work for you.  There is also the ARPA bus service from Roma Tiburtina.  And also a service that friends of mine used last year called Rosato.

Buon viaggio!

Post from: About Abruzzo

Rome to Abruzzo by Car

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If you have been reading this blog you’ll already have all the information you need.  My suggestion:

• Explore the Campo Imperatore in the morning (great views from Hotel Campo Imperatore)
• Head to Rocca Calascio and walk around the ruins, stopping to have a picnic
• Visit Santo Stefano di Sessanio and maybe have some refreshment

Those of you who have already read about these places will realise that in winter they’ll get snow. They are so high up I suspect they can’t avoid it. In fact Campo Imperatore has plenty of ski routes.

So far I have only been there in spring and summer when the days were long and the sun was shining, so it was easy to get around.

It is a great day out though.   And well worth planning for. Don’t worry if the day slips away and you can’t do everything, you can always come back.

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Road Trip!

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The first time I saw a trabocco I was amazed.  Spider webs and leggy insects came to mind.  You wonder how these structures survive in the precarious positions they are placed.  From reading about them I understand they have to be constantly maintained in order to stay structurally sound.

If you fancy seeing them, start at Francavilla al Mare, and head south east on the SS16, hugging the coast. This will bring you from Francavilla al Mare, to Ortona, San Vito Chietino, Torino di Sangro, Vasto and San Salvo.  This stretch of coast is sometimes called “La Costa dei Trabocchi” (The trabocchi coast).  

I have heard that there are restaurants attached to one or two of these trabocchi, but I have not found them yet.   Maybe somebody out there can point the way to one.

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La Costa Dei Trabocchi

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Francavilla, has a great beach, plenty of restaurants and a good bus service to Pescara.  You are close to the state highway SS16 (Strada Statale Adriatica) and the A14 (Autostrada Adriatica).  If you want to explore the coasts North and South of Pescara the SS16 is perfect.  The A14 will take as far north as Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, and as far south as Taranto, in Puglia.

Although I enjoyed my stay there, I soon discovered that I preferred the feel of towns closer to the mountains.  More on that later.

Post from: About Abruzzo

Francavilla al Mare, Chieti

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Maps and Transport, you may find them useful.

Post from: About Abruzzo

Maps and Transport

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How have I travelled there?  Either fly to Rome and then on to Pescara by bus, fly to Bologna and on to Pescara by train, or fly directly to Pescara from Stansted or Frankfurt-Hahn.  There are many ways, these just happen to be the ones that worked for me.

Post from: About Abruzzo

Getting there!

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