15. Brindisi to Greece 1970

I arrived sometime in the morning and searched for the youth hostel.  I found it about mid morning and checked in with what little money I had left.  It had been close to a week since I was able to shower and I wanted to look halfway decent when I met my friend James Timko at the San Vito base.  I was luxuriating in the hot shower, all lathered up with soap, when the water shut off!  The whole village was on water hours due to low water levels.  I later found out the water was shut off at midnight, turned on at 6:30 so people could get water for the day, then shut off at 9:30 and turned back on for a few hours for evening dinner and ablutions around 6:30 to midnight.  I was not a happy camper, thankfully the hostel was only about 300 meters from the bay.  I quickly toweled off and hiked to the water and took a dive off the pier to rinse some of the soap off. 

San Vito Air Force Base

Shortly after my saltwater rinse I met my friend James Timko near the San Vito Base.  I wasn't let on the base by security so James met me at the main gate and gave me a tour of the countryside, beaches and his rented villa.  As an E-4 and E-5 in Brindisi, he was able to afford to rent a villa with a couple of friends and still afford a maid.  We then went down to the piazza in the center of town and sat at a cafe eating a sandwich and drinking a cup of espresso.  While there, he showed me the two columns and steps that marked the end of the Appian Way from Rome To Italy.  He also told me that all military personnel that were stationed at the base had to avoid mixing with some of the men at the neighboring cafe because they were communists and socialist and if he was seen socializing with them, or if he got placed on report or arrested for having an argument or fight with them, it would be considered an international incident and he would lose his security clearance!

End of Appian Way from Rome to Brindisi

I had run out of money.  Fifty dollars had lasted me from London to Brindisi.  That evening James loaned me enough money to get to Greece on the ferry with a little bit left over.  The little bit left over allowed me to eat at an authentic outdoor Italian restaurant on the waterfront.  I sat there and ordered some pasta and it was really neat soaking in the atmosphere right there on the pier, looking at the lights from the harbor.  They even had music on an old blue and white portable record player (remember them).  I can even remember the record.  It was a 33 of Dean Martin singing Italian love songs in Italian.  After dinner it was just a short walk to the overnight ferry to Greece.