With our flight departing
at 7:10am on Monday morning, we decided to spend the night
before at the Hilton Hotel at Gatwick Airport. We dined
at a Japanese steakhouse adjacent to the foyer of the
hotel. It was a very disappointing experience. Although
the restaurant was quiet (probably for a good reason)
compared with the rest of the hotel, the food and the
service were poor and we should have read the reviews
before going. We shan't repeat that mistake!
|
|
|
| |
Despite the comfort
of knowing that we didn't have to travel to the airport
on Monday morning, neither of us slept too well knowing
that we had to get up at 4:30am. At least it was only a
short walk to the terminal, where we checked in quickly
and by 5:30am, we were relaxing in the BA lounge. It is
one of our favourite lounges, with excellent views of the
planes and the runway. The food is also very good, not that
we felt like eating at such an early hour. |
|
|
| |
It was an hour at least
before we there were any planes arriving or taking off due
to the airport's night time curfew. |
|
|
| |
Bruce spotted the plane
(the third one along) which would be flying us to Bari this
morning. |
|
|
| |
Boarding was done efficiently
and after a bit of a delay, due to so many other planes
arriving and departing, we pushed back almost 45 minutes
late, but we were soon airbourne after that. Breakfast was
really quite good, as airline breakfasts go and we even
got champagne! |
|
 |
|
| |
We were lucky to have
a really clear day and got some excellent views along our
route, including these over the Austrian Alps. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
The place on the left
bank of the pointed inlet is Grebaštica, Croatia |
|
|
| |
|
| |
A new industrial zone
dominates the landscape near Šibenik, Croatia. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
The island of Šolta
closest to us, with Split across on the mainland. |
|
|
| |
Another magnificent view
of Split. |
|
|
| |
The curious shapes making
up the island of Hvar and the even more curiously shaped
Pakleni Islands off its coast. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
A lovely view of the
port at Bari, as we made our approach to Bari Airport. |
|
|
| |
|
| |
A look back at our plane
after we disembarked at Bari Airport. |
|
|
| |
Despite departing Gatwick
forty five minutes late, we somehow arrived on schedule.
Arrival formalities were surprisingly quick and we only
had to wait five minutes for our taxi driver to appear.
He apologised for that, blaming it on traffic, but we were
very satisfied with how smoothly everything had gone. Forty
five minutes later, we arrived at our hotel in Trani - see
next page. |
|
| |
 |
|
