To boat or not to boat? For anyone travelling between Split, Croatia and Bologna, Italy, that is a very legitimate question. The overland path is about 1000km. The boat option comes with a good night’s sleep and cuts the ride to a 2-3 hour high speed dash. At least on a on a good day with no side trips. The costs are comparable so it’s more about what you want to see and how much time you have available.
We were a bit short on time so we chose to sail, but next time we’ll definitely take the long way.
The heat made it all but impossible to don our full enduro regalia. This resulted in new temporary backpacks, at least for the boarding day. We did put on the our abrasion and impact layers back on the following day.
We boarded Aurelia, our 7th Mediterranean ferry this year, having finally figured out a smart way to manage our luggage. For one, we stopped worrying about what to leave on the bikes and what to bring up to the cabin. Almost everything stayed. The only items we did bring were our documents, fresh underwear and a pair of pants for walking around the deck. Well, a pair of minimalist flip flops each as well. Walking up and down the stairs in enduro-adventure boots in 30C is little fun.
But let me back track to the boarding. That part was a bit of a mess.
We arrived at the loading dock at the very end of all the ferry piers in Split about two and a half hours before the scheduled departure time. Most trans Mediterranean ferries have you go through a number of check points and the boarding tickets are printed at some kind of a booth. Sometimes, the boarding passes are even printed in the loading lanes. Only once did we have to pick up the passes at the ticket office. Bari to Patras.
Somehow, I assumed that this Adriatic crossing would be of the on-the-spot printing variety. It wasn’t. When we rolled up to the loading booths, all the vehicles had already passed through, no one was checking any tickets and we were waved on ahead. Unusual. No checks, early lineup. Smelled like trouble already.
A couple minutes and a few zig zags later we found ourselves at the very end of multiple long lines of cars, vans and trucks. Normally in this situation we would have taken advantage of the motorcycle privilege and bypassed the lineup altogether, but here the space was tight. The Dutch camper vans were a bit careless, the Italians as creative as ever and my side bags extended about 20cm too far on either side. We were stuck.
We unmounted and spent the following half hour sweating in the shade of a nearby bus.
Eventually, we saw first signs of movement up ahead. The loading had begun. We watched the chaos for a few minutes before enough space freed up where we could ride up to the front. But here we were in for a surprise. Rather than proceed up the ramp and onto the ferry we were… redirected back to the ticket office.
Our electronic tickets proved insufficient. We needed the official passenger, bike and cabin ticket printouts from the office instead. Just a 150m back they said. Probably to keep people from swearing out loud because it turned out to be a good 8 minute walk instead.
Should you be taking this ferry yourself, this is the building you’ll want to visit to pick up your tickets before lining up. Look for signs to SNAV.
Sweat pouring down our faces and not particularly pleased we trotted back in our enduro boots. Naturally, none of this is in any way explained on any sign posted outside any of the ferry buildings. And no, we weren’t the only ones in this predicament.
Back at the loading docks twenty minutes later we were finally allowed to bring the bikes onboard. Unlike the ticketing, the bike tie down procedure was quick and efficient. A crew member dedicated to the task lead us to the exact spot on the second deck and had both bikes immobilized with two cords each in seconds flat.
Standing in line to pick up our cabin keys we were now only 20 minutes away from the best showers we had taken in 2026. No, nothing luxurious about the facilities. Let’s just say that one could pick out the motorcycle riders in the line up by the salt lines on their garments alone.
Once in fresh clothes and flip-flops our moods turned rosy. Even the Croatian lager they served onboard seemed tasty. And I don’t drink lager.
By 8pm the sun had set and we ventured outside on the top decks. The air was breezy and pleasant. On the highest deck a group of young Bosnians setup a makeshift karaoke which sounded more like a national choir. Beautiful both for its spontaneity and the harmonies.
Ancona, around 7:15am.
As we needed to be in Bologna by early afternoon our itinerary had to be rather modest. No beaches to explore south of Ancona, no inland ventures to Arezzo or Florence. The prospect of a straight autostrada dash seemed downright depressing at first until I realized that we’d be passing within a stone’s throw from San Marino. That made all the difference.
The Republic of San Marino is, of course, one of the two foreign entities embedded within the greater Italian state the other being the Vatican. As a map geek I’ve been fascinated by the idea of a city size countries even as a preteen. And so barely an hour after disembarking, we were already getting off the highway and beginning our long climb up the mountain to the historic heart of the Republic.
Once we reached our destination we took turns taking a few minutes to peek at the old town. About 80% of our luggage is in soft bags so not very safe to leave alone. Always makes me think hard cases would have been better in those situations, but our base to base travel erases most of that advantage 98% of the time. Aside from the crossings, we typically have no luggage at all. Much more convenient for any exploration, especially off-road.
Back on the Autostrada the heat was pretty intense and the traffic often at a standstill. Here we followed the example of Italian riders and simply moved over to the emergency shoulder. This allowed us to move forward at a steady and safe 50km/h rather than sit melting under the August sun.
Alternating between slow shoulder bypasses and high speed dashes, we eventually rolled into Bologna and checked into our Airbnb around 2pm.
Second best showers of the year followed.