A great way to get to Italy…by boat!
November 10, 2009 | Francis Nicholls-Wunder
The big boats to Italy!
The beauty of backpacking around Europe is that you only have to travel a few miles and you wind up in a completely different country with a completely different language, a completely different culture and a completely different atmosphere. Now this is all well and good when you are simply crossing the borders on land, but there are a couple of large European countries that can make that just a bit difficult. One of those is Italy, with its only land border quite far from some of the more popular tourist destinations. So how else can you get to Italy? Surely you don’t have to succumb to an expensive plane ticket!
Of course not! There is always a way to avoid an expensive flight. One fantastic way to get to Italy is to take a boat. You can get several ships to Italy from many surrounding countries such a Spain, Croatia and France. There are even some long hauls from the likes of Greece. Some of these boat trips can be quite lengthy but they are often on very large ferries and cruise ships that have all the mod cons: Personal cabins, dining rooms, bars, sun decks and even entertainment…though it is sometimes unfortunately in the form of karaoke.
You can often save on the price of tickets if you have a student card with you or sometimes simply if you are under a certain age (usually either 18, 21 or 26). Either way you can get on a boat, with your own bed, on a cruise that could last up to a day for well under 100 Euros. This is usually a lot cheaper than organizing a flight or an even longer and much less comfortable train/bus ride in a spur of the moment fashion. Not to mention I find getting through all the processes of the docks is usually les of an ordeal than making your way through international airports.
More to the point many of the docks are quite close to the centre of town, for example in Barcelona, as the town is built around the beach and the water. On the other hand international airports are usually a bit out of town so that that the noise doesn’t disturb residents. This means you will often have to spend even more cash to get out to the airport, which is on top of your actual flight costs. And we all know how so many cities up the prices of transport to the airport.
