Farewell Panarea

Panarea

The fun has to end sometime.  Here are the last few glimpses of Panarea before we took the ferry back to Naples.  There are no reserved seats on the ferry.  Your ticket gets you onboard but it’s your job to stow your luggage and find a decent seat.  We waited at the harbor for the ferry.  Everything was calm until the ferry arrived.  The frenzy began when the gangplank came down.  People swarmed towards the ferry like the harbor was on fire.  One man shoved his wife and kids ahead of him onto the gangplank and then passed three pieces of luggage over other people to his family.  At first I thought, “just go with the flow, there’s no rush.”  Unfortunately we realized if we didn’t join the scrum we’d be the last ones onboard.

Panarea

A 50 something year old Italian couple sat in front of us.  There were only two of them and a few bags spread over four seats.  A young woman asked if all the seats were taken.  The older woman said that she had a knee problem and needed to extend her legs across the seats so sorry, no seats available.  A few more people tried but they were also denied a seat.  The ridiculousness continued when we pulled into Naples.  The man stood up gathering his things.  All of a sudden the woman threw her newspaper at him and started yelling in Italian.  Apparently their small dog peed all over her bag and he hadn’t bothered to notice or care.  He wanted to have a nice lunch but she didn’t want to do anything so boring and ordinary.  Her whole day had been ruined.  It’s amazing how quickly your vacation bubble can disappear and that peaceful, relaxing time seems miles away.  Fortunately Panarea had made a vivid impression that I wouldn’t forget.

Panarea

Panarea

Panarea