Ancona

Saturday 24^th August

We were set to arrive in Ancona at 7am and leave at 3pm. This meant an earlier start than Sue and I generally like. In fact, this is the pattern for most of the cruise, with some departures being even earlier. The others decided to meet at 9:30 and take a taxi around the countryside and then view Ancona if they had time. I did not want to be ready that early, and I wanted to see Ancona rather than the countryside, so we parted company for the day. (It’s important when travelling in a group to be prepared to split up when you need to; it works much better for all.)

There was an information kiosk at the port and I was given a map and told the best places to see. Ancona is set on a hill, so my route involved walking uphill to finally reach the Duomo at the top. Ancona is a port town (both industrial and also for ferries to many other places) and was heavily bombed during the war, so that much of the old town was destroyed. I visited quite a few churches that were extremely bare and white inside. I actually prefer that to the over-ornamentation you see in other places, but I assume it is the result of incomplete restoration. I saw a 12^th century church that I think had been built over Roman remains, as there was a wonderful display of mosaics that I discovered by chance, by following others down some steps. I had been warned of one church that would close at midday, but told I should reach it in plenty of time. I did. That was being restored by the equivalent of English Heritage. I continued walking up and up to the Duomo and reached it at about 12:05. I wish I’d been warned that it closed at midday!

The view from the top was spectacular and I spent about half an hour taking photos.

Just as I set off on my return journey, a taxi pulled up and the other three got out! Incredible timing. I decided to continue alone rather than wait for them to take photos. My route downhill was slightly different and I found other interesting churches and the archaeological museum, plus various piazzas.

While wandering around I kept thinking of Floriana, who was born in Ancona but emigrated to Australia as a child. It was interesting to see what so many of the Italians left, and to think of how different they must have found Australia. There must have been a lot of homesickness for the antiquities that had been part of their everyday life.

I was back on the ship around 1:30 and found that the lunch queue was out the door! I gather it was still as bad when the others turned up at 2:15. MSC needs to work on their crowd control, or provide more eating places for its passengers. Even providing tongs for each food bowl in the buffet area would be a help in speeding up the service.

I decided to rest and read in my room, but ended up sleeping instead! I must have dozed for about 3 hours, on and off.

The evening was billed as ‘Gala’. Seeing there was no description for that in the book (which only described formal, informal and casual), it was difficult to know what to put on. However, I thought the accompanying diagram in the daily programme was of a black tie, so wore my black sequinned dress. Looking around, I would say that everyone else had difficulty deciding. I have never seen such a range of styles in one evening, from women in sequins and long dresses to men in open-neck shirts and jeans.

After dinner we wandered the shops and then I went back to my room for an early night, catching someone on the way to ask for ice in my ice bucket – seeing my hint of leaving the lid off that morning hadn’t worked.