I mentioned way back on the Zurich - Tenero journey (the distant past of three days ago) that I had mapped out a plan all the way through to the ferry. It’s worth mentioning that I had originally booked a midday sailing, and therefore chose a 5 day rail pass on the assumption that I had to be in Bari by Thursday night (that is, tonight).
However, just a few days before I set off for London, the ferry was cancelled. I was able to hastily rebook (into worse accommodation for not much less money) onto a midnight departure, but in my head the plan was still Bari by Thursday.
Which I could have done, but it would mean skipping over somewhere I really wanted to see - San Marino. I’m on a bit of a small countries kick this year, with trips to Monaco and Luxembourg, and hadn’t yet added a new country on this adventure.
With the later ferry departure, I could now fit in an overnight stay - not strictly necessary by my country collecting rules, but I’d prefer to give it more than just a couple of hours having come all this way! The only catch is that I’d have to pay my own way down the Italian coast to Bari.
But hang on - the ‘5 days in a month’ pass doesn’t have to be consecutive days. If I’m only going to take a couple of hours to get from Venice to Rimini, would it not be better to fund that out of pocket today and save the last pass day for the much longer Rimini - Bari stretch?
A complication was that I had already booked seats on trains Venice - Bologna - Rimini, at €13 each - a frustration of interrailing in Italy is compulsory booking fees on many services. But sunk costs shouldn’t tie you to bad plans, and so early this morning I started pricing up for pay as you go travel to Rimini.
It soon became clear that my previously chosen itinerary - using high speed trains - would run me hundreds of euros booking now, So I pivoted to regional trains. These were far cheaper - £22 for the whole thing - but slower, and leaving earlier. Soon, in fact. Real soon.
The Mercure is a good 25-30 minutes walk from Venice Mestre - I made it in 22, but was a sweaty mess by the end of it. Surely one of my fastest bed to platform transitions, helped by having barely unpacked the night before!
Train RV3967
Operator: Trenitalia
Class: 2nd
Departure: Venice Mestre 08:53 (scheduled) 08:58 (actual)
Arrival: Bologna Centrale 10:50 (scheduled) 10:52 (actual)
Journey time: 1h54
Train RV3915
Operator: Trenitalia
Class: 2nd
Departure: Bologna Centrale 11:34 (on time)
Arrival: Rimini 13:09 (scheduled) 13:07 (actual)
Journey time: 1h33
Of the journeys themselves, not much to report. I couldn’t have travelled first class even if I wanted to, these Trenitalia Regionale Veloce services being standard class only (albeit with a variety of seating types arranged across two decks). Still, they're modern trains, with more comfortable seating than some I've used recently (looking at you, OBB), a good supply of europlugs and USB sockets, and effective air conditioning.
I had plenty of room on the first leg, with 4 seats to myself all the way to Bologna. I took advantage of this time to book the next train - in my haste to get to Mestre station, I had only managed to lock in this one, and briefly convince myself of possible connections - plus arranged accommodation for tonight.
After navigating Bologna’s confusing platform system - why would you have three different platform 3s? - and finally picking up breakfast, I joined a rather more crowded service to Rimini (on an identical train). Worse, several of my neighbouring passengers didn’t care for headphones. I think it’s clear I’ve become a first class snob.
Rimini station charges a whole euro for toilets which are of the hole in the ground variety. Let’s just move on.