Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | Domenico Schiano Moriello | Europe
Last riding day of this beautiful tour: today we left the busy and crowded area of Naples... and reached the even more busy and crowded area of Rome! But inbetween we could enjoy a very good ride, especially in the afternoon after a well deserved lunch break in the nice village of Sperlonga by the coast.
Thank you Dagmar, Manfred, Denise, Bob, Michael, Hana, Allan, Mary, Roger and Peter for your positivity. See you around the world, keep riding safe!
What a beautiful morning today, perfect weather and the Amalfi Coast waiting for us... but the perfect weather was maybe also our "problem" today, because many other people got the same idea and the area was quite crowded! Pity, so we decided to stop in Ravello for lunch instead than in Amalfi, and we had also a lot of time to see the wonderful Villa Rufolo gardens before going back to the hotel. But the day was not over, the most beautiful city and the best pizza in the universe (I know, I always exagerate when I speak about my hometown Naples!) were waiting for us!
Leaving the hotel, we started riding in the area of the Cilento national park before reaching Paestum, famous for its ancient Greek temples but famous also for the buffalo mozzarella, the typical fresh cheese of this region. What could be better than a nice picnic to taste it? After that, the highway took us quickly to Pompei, where we could enjoy a guided tour through the famous ruins of the old roman town completely buried by mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and found again after many many centuries!
Continuing on our way north, a quite challenging ride was waiting for us today! The La Sila mountains in Calabria offer riding at its best and so many curves that we needed to use the highway two times to make it in time! And in Altomonte what a nice lunch, just local hand made products! Today we reached Maratea, a great streatch of coastline that would be the dream of any motorcycle rider.
Good bye Sicily! Today we left this beautiful island with a lot of great memories, but before crossing the strait of Messina a wonderful ride through the Peloritani mountains was the right way to say goodbye! A nice lunch in Scilla by the beach and then we finally reached Tropea, one of the nicest villages of southern Italy, for a good ice cream before checking-in at our hotel.
Mount Etna, the highest active (very active!) volcano in Europe at 3,340 meters, called "the mountain of the mountains" by the locals, is also a great playground for motorcycles. Beautiful curvy roads surrounded by woods and lava fields, the environment changes so quickly that one can feel like inside a videogame! After coming back to the hotel, some relax and then we took the shuttle bus to the old town of Taormina for a very good pizza... the best until we will reach Napoli!
Leaving Cefalù, we started to explore the Madonie mountain range in the north-eastern part of Sicily. Very little traffic, beautiful landscapes and curvy roads, what else could we ask? Well, the asphalt could be a little better! A first break in Castelbuono, then lunch in Sperlinga by the castle, then passing through Cesarò we reached the coast again near Taormina. What a beautiful day, and tomorrow the huge Mount Etna is awaiting us!
Crossing the whole island from the south to the north was quite an experience. From the crowded coast of Agrigento we started riding northward and soon we landed into the middle of nowhere. A very rural area where time stopped, and older people are sitting in front of their houses, talking to each other or playing cards. Really authentic! And well, we passed also through the famous villages of Prizzi and Corleone, where many important Mafia familes came from! Who would ever imagine that, just passing through this area?
We wanted to take it easy on our first riding day, but the rain and the wet roads challenged us! After a visit to the famous Roman Villa with its beautiful mosaics, we headed to the Valley of the Temples to feel like in ancient greece. Definitely a day dedicated to archeology!
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