The International Transport Game

[Bodie]

Continuing our Lake Como touring we board Gestione Navigazione Laghi No. 19, which leaves at 1600 and crosses the lake to Tremezzo arriving at 1617 on Wednesday afternoon.

Source: as above

 

[DasLunatic]

We then travel to Como itself onboard one of the express boats. At 1710, we board boat SR21 and we are deposited at Como, the time now being 1800 this Wednesday evening.

 

[Springs Branch]

We proceed to the nearby railway station at Como Nord Lago, but rather than taking the train we opt for an interurban bus ....

The 1828 departure of FNMA bus service C77 to Varese, Stazione FNM railway station, arriving at 1939 Wednesday evening.

Source: muoversi.regione.lombardia.it/

 

[Bodie]

We cross over to Varese station and catch the 2013 Trenord R 23077 to Milano Porta Garibaldi Passante where we alight at 2126 on Wednesday night.

Source: reiseauskunft.bahn.de

 

[Springs Branch]

Next we join Intercity Notte train 797, departing Porta Garibaldi at 2317. The €39.90 fare is a bargain for the 10½ hr journey taking us to Napoli Centrale arriving 0938 Thursday morning.

Source: lefrecce.it

 

[Bodie]

Very nice move, gets us through the night.

We head underground now and step aboard the Naples Metro. Line 1 operated by ANM (Azienda Napoletana Mobilità SpA) whisking us away at 0957 and taking us to Vanvitelli where we arrive at 1024 on Thursday morning.

Source: Google Maps

If you like funiculars then this is the place to be. Just the three to choose from!

 

[Springs Branch]

It's only two minutes walk from the Metro to the Cimarosa station of the Chiaia Funicular, where we travel downill to the terminus at Parco Magherita.

Advertised frequency is every 10 mins with a six-minute journey time, so let's say we arrive at the Parco Magherita station at 1036 Thursday morning.

Source: Google Maps

 

[Bodie]

Heading for the busy port we walk the 700m to the bus stop of Riviera Di Chiaia 256 and at 1106 we take the ANM 151 bus to Marina-orefici arriving 1115 on Thursday morning.

Source: Google Maps

 

[Springs Branch]

We have arrived close to the ferry terminal. There are many enticing destinations which can be reached from here - Palermo, Catania and Trapani in Sicily, and Porto Vecchio in Corsica. Unfortunately all these epic moves seem to sail either around breakfast-time or late evening.

Instead we opt for a scenic land-based excursion on the Circumvesuviana rail line toward Sorrento.

We walk for 1 km through a somwhat scruffy part of Naples to the Porta Nolana railway station. Here we board Circumvesuviana train no. 35 departing at 1209 to Pompei - Scavi Villa Misteri station, arriving at 1246 Thursday afternoon.

Source: www.eavsrl.it/web/en/content/timetables-rates

 

[Bodie]

Of course, I did notice how close Pompei is to Naples. Good call to visit.
We linger in this time capsule, but eventually the desire to be on the move again forces us away.

Only a short hop this time though. At 1423 we board Circumvesuviana train no. 46 to the next station back up the line which is Torre Annunziata - Oplonti where we arrive just three minutes later at 1426 on Thursday afternoon.

Source: as above

Good find, the Circumvesuviana timetables. Google Maps no help nor even DB. Unusual as they have pretty much everything else. Looks like a fairly normal standard railway line to me, aby reason why it's not listed on DB?

 

[Springs Branch]

One bit of trivia I've learned today is that the Circumvesuviana Railway does exactly what it promises and goes all the way around Vesuvius.

We take train no. 443 departing at 1501 to Poggiomarino, arriving at 1522 Thursday afternoon.

Source: www.eavsrl.it/web/en/content/timetables-rates

 

[Bodie]

Yes, and there can't be many railways that circumnavigate volcanos!

We continue that circumnavigating by next getting Circumvesuviana train no. 648 at 1603 and travelling to the station of the same name as the volcano - Vesuvio De Meis arriving 1639 on Thursday afternoon.

Source: http://www.eavsrl.it/web/en/content/timetables-rates

 

[Springs Branch]

We transfer to the lower level platform and take Circumvesuviano train 548 (from San Giorgio), departing at 1653 to Napoli Garibaldi arriving at 1707 Thursday afternoon.

Source: www.eavsrl.it/web/en/content/timetables-rates

 

[Bodie]

We return to the Metro and jump one stop to Universita'. We depart at 1722 and arrive at our destination at 1725 on Thursday.

Source: Google Maps
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[Springs Branch]

Naples has three interlinked tram routes and there is a stop quite close to where we are. Apart from the suggestion that trams run every 15 mins, I can't find any firm data on departures or journey times for the trams in trip planners or Google Maps (trips all seem to default to one of Naples' local bus routes in preference to trams). I suppose any visit to southern Italy is not complete without some obligatory exasperation. So we shrug our shoulders, throw up our hands and ....

We walk 700m / 9 minutes to the Alibus terminus at piazzale Stazione Marittima, where we catch the 1754 departure to Naples Capodichino Airport arriving at 1824 Thursday evening.

Source: napoliunplugged.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/alibus_porto_municipio_1.pdf

 

[DasLunatic]

I feel it's time for a trip to the States or Japan...

We wait in the concourse for a while before boarding Speedbird 2611 to London Gatwick, departing Italy at 1925 and landing on home soil at 2110 Thursday night.

Google Flights

 

[Bodie]

There are no direct flights to either the USA or Japan, I would have boarded one.

So peering up at the departure board for the last dozen or so flights out from Gatwick this evening we spot a chance to visit a rare country and an even rarer airport.

So at 2200 we excitedly board Iraqi Airways (Operated by AirExplore) 240 and fly through the night to land at Sulaimaniyah International airport in Iraqi Kurdistan. The local time is 0530 on Friday morning.

AirExplore operate this flight as unsurprisingly Iraqi Airways are banned from flying in the EU.

 

[Springs Branch]

The choice of attractive onward connections from ISU is adequate, but not great.
We continue on Iraqi Airways IA103, leaving at 0900, arriving in Cairo at 1030 Friday morning.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[Bodie]

This connects nicely with the 1130 flight aboard Egyptair 689 to King Khaled International airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia arriving 1500 on Friday afternoon.

Source: flightstats.com (also the source for my last post. Post no. 947)

We make sure before we leave Egypt to sow our Bible into the lining of our bag. The West's largest oil provider, sorry ally isn't too keen on that particular book.

 

[Springs Branch]

Unsurprisingly for a country whose prosperity is based on petroleum production, there doesn't seem much in the way of rail transport on offer in this part of the world, so we continue to a location likely to offer some long-haul opportunities.

We depart at 1600 on Etihad Airways EY318 to Abu Dhabi arriving at 1850 Friday evening.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[Bodie]

I am surprised neither of those two airports had any railway connections. Well there isn't much long haul possibilities to be had. That is without waiting close, if not past the maximum three hours allowed. There's too much to pass up. So we continue our Middle Eastern odyssey with the aptly named...

Middle Eastern Airlines flight number 419 which departs at 2045 and lands in Beirut, Rafic Hariri International at 2300 on Friday night.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[DasLunatic]

We then decide to ditch the Middle East and travel to the Motherland. We do this by boarding Aeroflot 511 (departing 0110) and travelling to Moscow Sheremetyevo, arriving at 0455 Saturday morning.

Google Flights

 

[Bodie]

Phew, Naples to Moscow via Gatwick, Kurdistan, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Beirut!
Electing to keep our feet on the ground for the time being and pleased to find an airport with available public transport we head into Moscow.

This is done by getting the Aeroexpress service at 0600 which takes us to Moscow Belorussky arriving 0635 on Saturday morning.

Source: Google Maps

 

[DasLunatic]

It's now time for some long-distance Russian railway rambling. We board the 0650 departure (Train 741...?) and travel to its terminus of Smolensk Central (Смоленск Центральный), arriving at 1100 Saturday morning.

Google Maps

 

[Bodie]

Really struggling with this one. Appears to me to be a real drop off in traffic at weekends.
There is nothing till mid afternoon, so we get some lunch and tour the town.
When we return, we have a choice - Minsk or Moscow.
Whilst it is unoriginal decision, we leave a little earlier on the Moscow service and it gives us the best chance for some mega long Russian train journeys. Or explore Moscow.

Thus we join train 132b At 1445 and find ourselves once again at Moscow Belorussky station. The time now being 1953 on Saturday evening.

Source: Google Maps

PS: hard to work out if this is run by Russian or Belorussian railways.

 

[DasLunatic]

We then decide to set up camp at the end of a platform and log some Russian trains for about two and a half hours. Tired, we board Train 147Ч at 2238 and wake up in Lithuania - more specifically Vilnius railway station at 1252 on Sunday afternoon.

Google Maps

 

[Bodie]

With the airport being only three miles away and the only rail linked Baltic airport, we can't resist a look.

At 1330 we take Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos Geležinkeliai) train 955TJ for the short ride to Vilnius Oro Uostas (Airport station) arriving 1337 on Sunday afternoon.

This is aboard a 2008 PESA built railcar.

Sources: https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de and litrail.lt

 

[me123]

We take to the skies with Nordic Regional Airlines, operating Finnair 122 to Helsinki. The plane leaves at 14:25, touching down at 15:40 local time on Sunday afternoon.

Source: Google Flights

 

[Bodie]

To the Ring Railway we go.

At the Airport Railway Station (Lentoasema Flygplatsen Airport) the first train to depart is a 'P' line service.
This leaves at 1618 and our VR operated train arrives in Helsinki Central at 1646 on Sunday afternoon.

Source: Google Maps

 

[me123]

At 17:06 we transfer to Intercity train 177 for travel to Tampere, arriving at 18:52 Sunday evening.

Source: vr.fi