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Thursday, September 26th - San Vito to Brindisi - 12,100 km
The day is hazy and warm but there is a steady breeze from the north. I am anxious to get to Brindisi, which is only 20 km away. As soon as I am done my breakfast I roll out of town. The road to Brindisi is flat and as straight as an arrow. The breeze is a slight tailwind but mostly a crosswind.
I roll into Brindisi at 10 am. I find the ticket office and have my ticket in hand for the noon departure to Corfu, Greece. This time I'll get there before the last minute, but I still have an hour to tour the town. And it is a pretty town, built on a hill and covered densely with white stucco buildings with outcroppings of darker brown-grey stucco buildings, much older ones, sprinkled in amongst the white stucco. The architecture looks very Mediterranean, including the Brindisi Cathedral. There is a fortress built at the mouth of the harbour and an extremely long breakwater that was completed last year. 
I board my ship at 11:15 am, lock my bike in the hold and take my bags to my room. I return to the deck to watch the ship disembark and sail out of the harbour. I get a good shot of the forteleza as we pass it. 
When the port disappears I return to the lounge. This ship is as large as the one that brought me from Bar to Brindisi. I walk around to explore it but there is nothing interesting to do on board. I spend the rest of the afternoon reading and writing letters.
I try chatting with other passengers, but I get no further than polite greetings and exchanging a couple inane comments about the weather. No one wants a conversation and there are no single men around my age to help me forget that I am alone here. The television is playing an Italian programme that I cannot follow so I read to keep my mind occupied on something other than my boredom and aloneness. Tomorrow I will be in Greece. The trip takes longer than the crossing from Bar because the distance south to Corfu is considerably longer. I pass the time be going to bed early.
PHOTO 1: Brindisi
PHOTO 2: Brindisi waterfront
PHOTO 3: Brindisi Castle
PHOTO 4; the Forteleza
PHOTO 5: the Punta Riso breakwater finished in 1989
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