Driving down to Greece after sorting out all our paperwork in Switzerland was a bit of a relief.

After a quick stop in Locarno, we entered Italy. Yes, we were finally on our way!

We had about a week to get to Ancona where we would catch the ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece which gave us ample time for a little bit of Italian goodness.

We drove through some beautiful tiny villages, had delicious food and camped at some great spots. We signed up with Agricamper and could stay with olive farmers, goat farmers and actual Agriturismos where we could just park out the front.

We love the idea. You don’t have to look for hours for a camping spot. The spots are in quiet places. You support the locals. And, you get in contact with some lovely people. On top of that, some serve you delicious local food, so it’s all very relaxing. It’s just a pity we don’t like olives, because there are lots of them 🙂

We visited towns in Umbria like Gubbio, Spello and Assisi. All of them are quite cute and in an immaculate, well-restored state. We also drove through the epicenter of a region that was affected by the huge 2016 earthquake.

It was quite shocking to see how devastated some of these lovely villages are. Most people live in temporary settlements, I guess until they have the money or energy to start all over again. It makes you appreciate what you have even more.

Soon we were in the heart of the Apennine mountains in Monti Sibillini National Park. Quite stunning actually and not very touristy. Or maybe that’s because we are still quite out of season. Here we tackled our first really narrow roads and did a few nice hikes.

Before we knew it, it was time for our ferry crossing. We had booked an overnight ferry. The unloading and loading of the ferry was complete chaos. It took them a total of over 2,5 hrs to get all the trucks on board(ca. 100) and all other vehicles.

For some reason, we got on last. Either our van had such an odd shape that they didn’t know what to do with it, or they thought we had time, so we could wait. Several times we got told to get on and get moving only to get told to drive back to the queue and let some trucks on. It was quite hilarious.

We didn’t really enjoy the boat trip. It was all very tacky and they had carpet in the cabins. Yep, I hate carpet in any shape or form in a hotel room or anything else than my own place. Plus I was feeling a bit off too. Anyway, it was only one night and soon we would be in Greece!!