Welcome to Rome

Welcome to Rome, the eternal city. Our start hotel is close to the Vatican. Vincent arrived already. We will be on the Guided City Tour tomorrow. Tony will bring the bikes tonight,  the rest of the guests will arrive tomorrow. Quite an international group, most of them "old" Edelweissers.

Perfect temperature 20 C, blue sky! Stay tuned....

9.Riding Day: Agrigento - Catania 

our last riding day - everybody is a bit sad. We are heading to Catania back to the Etna.  

the Gang

first coffee stop in Sommatino - all the old men sitting round and chatting.  What a cosy atmosphere

Villa Romana - the Bikini Girls

3.500 qm of mosaics

La Trinakria in Villa Romana. After visiting the Roman Villa we had another delicious lunch

with the right sunglasses I can apply for the job of the operation manager

Days later the sunglasses have found its destination - happy birthday Stephan

everybody back in the Villa Paradiso dell`Etna - everybody in one piece, no damages - well done

8. Riding Day: Cefalu - Agrigento

It's time to say goodbye to the north coast and head south.Our first stop is in the wonderful town of Caccamo, home of one of the largest and best maintained Norman castles in Italy. Situated on top of a rocky outcrop, the castle boasts a commanding view of the sorrounding valleys.

Our next stop is one of the highlghts of this trip, a classic Edelweiss picnic prepared by our tour guide Ursula. We feast on local specialities while listening to the song of the local birds and the sound of the wind in the trees.

After lunch we head into deep into history as we follow the road to the town of Corleone, made famous in the classic movie series "The Godfather". After the obligatory picture stop at the town entrance we carry on into the mountains and hills of central Sicily for some of the best riding of the trip. Narrow roads, sweeping turns and breathtaking views are all we need to put a massive grin on or faces. Our final stop is in the town of Agricento, where we park our bikes and immediately head out to the hotel terrace and an amazing view of the Valley of the Temples.

the castle of Caccamo

Picknick in Godrano

Fennel - maybe Tom Ritt knows for whom it was

the Mafia town of Corleone

Valle dei Templi in Agrigento

7.  Riding Day: Taormina - Cefalu

It is hard to leave this beautiful hotel Baia Taormina. But a great riding day is waiting for us. We crossing the Island of Sicily over the Madonie and Nebrodi mountain ranges - 1000 of curves are waiting for us - let go!!!

view from the terrace of Baia Taormina - but we have to leave today Thanks to all the staff for 2 wonderful days

lava is very fertile. Pistachio trees and gorse is blooming at the bottom of Mount Etna - beautiful

wild fennel - they making  Finochello (not Limoncello) out of it

Andre got some good pictures - as always

Canolli time at the coffee stop in Cesaro

but Federico chose an icecream

the castle of Sperlinga - since a rock broke off the castle is closed but Nino the owner of the Bar di Castello opened the castle for us only...

and we climbed up

all carved into the stone - amazing

what a great spot high above the village

and these crazy guys even climbed higher

our motorcycles in front of the bar

Nelson and Beatriz - in the background Gangi

Gangi - you could buy a house there for 1,00 € - you have to renovate it inbetween the next 3 years - what a great idea to bring new people into the village

curves, curves, curves

we skipped the afternoon coffee break so that the group had a little bit time for Cefalu

the Norman cathedral

the harbour

upppps - whats that? You will see tomorrow

6. Riding Day: Restday Taormina - Mount Etna

we started out for our Mount Etna adventure with a perfect clear and sunny day

Coffe at Refugio Bruneck - Michele

Vincent

and Andre in the lava fields

lava sand is slippery - but we found clean roads. What a ride and what a view!!!

quite impressive

and at the evening we went to lovely Taormina. Some impressions....

The Etna from Piazza IV Aprile, next to Kaffee Wunderbar

No... we don`t go for a pizza - we go for "Slow Food" - Tischi Toschi is the place. A hidden treasure, hard to find, but worth looking for it

Slow Food  is a movement which started in the Piemont region. It means: organic, seasonal, fresh, local. Osterie d`Italia - that is the "bible" you need if you want exceptional good food in Italy

vine from the Etna

stuffed artichoks

homemade pasta!!!

Just perfect to finish a great day!!

5. Riding Day: Tropea - Taormina/Sicily

we left Tropea and went along the Calabrian cost. We entering the Sicilian Island today - have a look

Javier and Clara

Calaria - 780 km of coastline, dramatic, awesome...

the girls....

and the boys

Federico - the Iron Man - I would like to understand his jokes

best ride there is.....

the monster of Scilla!!!   There is an English idiom "between Scilla and Charybdis" - means between a rock and a hard place - further explanation you got at the briefing

the castle of Scilla

down there we had lunch in Grotta Azzurra - the best lunch on tour - despite not everybody agreed - specially not the principessa - but ask the others

Mr. and Mrs. "Apple" waiting for the ferry to Sicily

Beatriz and Federico

Sicily we are coming

High above the sea in Forza d`Agro - filmset of "Godfather" - what a picture!!!! and not photoshoped at all

right down there is our hotel "Baia Taormina" for the next 2 days

the church in Forza d`Agro - you maybe know it from the movie

4. Riding Day: Acquafredda - Tropea

cloudy and rainy in the morning so we had to skip the Pollino National Park. Despite it was a good rinding day

we had to say good bye to lovely Villa Cheta and it was a pity that we couldn`t use the brand new pool in the back of the Villa - it was just to cold. Not even Federico jumped in

No it is not Rio de Janeiro.... it is Maratea, high above on Mount Biagio

Andre - Jesus Christ Superstar

the coast line of the Basilicata - undiscovered and beautiful

3. Riding Day: Pompej - Acquafredda

the highlight of today was definitely Paestum, founded by the Greek 700 BC!!! originally known as Poseidonia, 120 hectares, 3 major temples

our daily morning briefing in the lovely garden of Hotel Forum  - you see, everbody is concentrated

the temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea, is the biggest and best preserved.

on september 9th, 1943, Paestum was the location of the landing of the US 36th infantry division during the allied invasion in Italy.German froces resisted the landings from the outset, causing heavy fighting within and around the town.

Campania is famous for bufalo mozzarella and "Caseificio Barlotti" is the place to be. 

What do you expect from a video on a blog of a motorcycling tour?? Open it

the bufalos

the young ones....

Vincent is delivering the bufalo milk

we ended up in the romantic hotel "Villa Cheta"

2. Riding Day - Restday Pompej

It happened 79 AD - the Vesuvio erupted and buried the wealthy Roman Pompei under ash and mud. The vast ruins provide a fascinating insight into how the ancient Romans lived. But before we had a guided tour through the excavations with lovely Antonella, we went for a restday ride...

some impressions of Pompej

that`s for Vicky - a new hotel is going to get ready

the garden of our Hotel Forum, opposite of the entrance to the ruins - we are in the very center but all is quite and relaxed there

on the restday ride we went to the Amalfi Coast - world famous, stunning....

the Dome of Amalfi

in case a local Amalfitano dies and gets in paradise, it is just a normal day for him - means they have been there life long in paradise

organic, cheep, effective - try!!!

After the restday ride we had a guided tour in Pompej - what an amazing place. Here the Forum

Pompej with the Vesuvio vulcano in the background, which caused the destruction of the city

and to make a big day even bigger - we had special meeting in Naples - not the DGA meeting of course but the NET - Naples - Exclusive - Tourguide meeting

Domenico met us at the harbour and we started our walk through beautiful Naples - one of the most beautiful cities on this planet

Galeria Umberto - under construction of course - but once it is done it will be awesome

Gambrinus - the famous coffee shop, exclusive. Angela Merkel had a coffee here as well as the Pope and maybe Maradona.

It could be a Kaffeehaus in Vienna

Piazza del Plebiscito - looks like the Pantheon in Rome

Domenico ordered a Brass Band for us

VIP`s of Naples - Toto - Higuain - Maradona

the Pizza was invented here - Brandi is the name

"100 years the ago Pizza Margherita was born here"

typical streets in Naples

an Vincent found maybe his ancestors - unbelieveable!!!

for building the houses they digged out the Tuff from the underground - all Naples is like a Swiss cheese. In the old days it was a water reservoir, in WWII it was a shelter, now it is a place for exhibitions and events - really amazing

the old electricity wires necessary for the shelters during WWII are all still there

Vincent was with Domenico and me on the Tuscany Tour, Fernando was with Domenico on the Magestic Alps - Edelweiss family!

Cheers on a fantastic day

what would Naples be without a delicious pizza

of course we had to try an icecream and specialty of Naples - Baba!!

Thanks Dome for a fantastic evening

1. Riding Day - Rome - Pompej

our destination for today is Pompej, a city preserved under ashes from the Vesuvian eruption 76 A.C.

But before we arrive there we have a lot of things to enjoy....

chaotic traffic on the G.R.A. - the tangenziale around Rome - but than we got the first pictures stop on Castel Gandolfo - the summeresidence of the Pope - and all the chaos was forgotten

the Brasilian ladies

Coffee stop in Rocca Massima - after all this curves a break was necessary

Ich bin ein bisschen beunruhigt.... ich fang diese RT an zu mögen 

Sperlonga at the Tirrenian Sea

and Leo at the "Tropic" restaurant made us a perfect lunch, despite a broken down Pizza oven.

Alan - best regards to you from all the staff - they said you might be too old for giocca calcio

maybe you should think about that....

all our hotels are handpicked, also the "Hotel Forum" in Pompej. It has a beautiful garden with a lot of lemon trees and a perfect menu as well