Italian Road Trips-Ancona

This week, I rented a car from Sixt.  I picked it up in Podova.  It is a cute little Fiat Panda.  Gas mileage is not as good as I expected.  Not as good as the 500. 

On Tuesday, I drove to Ancona, Italy.  This is on the East coast on the Adriatic Sea.  I was expecting this beautiful 'little' seaport.  Instead it is a thoroughly modern Sea Port, host to hundreds of cruise ships and cargo ships daily.  I found my way into the town center, which felt like I could have been driving in Rome, and finally saw this tiny little road that led up and away.  I took it!  Turns out it led me to the Cathedral of Ancona.  Predates the 6th Century and offers you an amazing view of the Adriatic Sea, and the CITY of Ancona.  The picture above is not one that I took.  I found this on Wikipedia.  I got some close ups of the cathedral and some lovely shots of the Sea, Town and Ships.

The drive to Ancona was interesting.  My brother's GPS had me going on the Autostrede through Bologna to get there.  A 3.5 hour drive was more like 4.5 hours, by the time I got there.  I decided to take the long way home (a 5 hour drive), but I got to see more of the country side.

Sunflowers?!  Is Italy home to the Sunflower Seed?  I saw hundreds of acres of Sunflowers growing.  I need to google this.  Did and Europe is the major sunflower seed exporter to South Africa.  Interesting.  Another thing I found:"The sunflower's seeds have been long prized for their oil content and are sold from China and the U.S to Russia as a snack food, it has also been cultivated across Italy for centuries because of these qualities. Research is currently being carried out to refine the oil for use as a bio-diesel.".   They were lovely and not what I expected.  They are prevalant in all of Italy, apparently, next to grapes and olive trees. 

Nice trip, but I was exhausted when I got back to Bud's.  Very frustrating drive with the GPS, who didn't know her way home.  When I reached Ferrara, Italy, I got back on the Autostrede and just zoomed home.  Very long day.  at least 10 full hours of driving, as I didn't stop long to sight see.
Bummer. 

Oh, Sad to say, but the East coast of Italy is not as pretty as I expected it to be, at least to Ancona.  Pretty, but not what I expected.  I think that will be on the West coast.  A good thing to note is that if you want to camp in Italy, it is a big thing.  Lots of campgrounds, especially on the Adriatic Sea.

Will post more pics of the cathedral and sea later.