End of the Monster Motorbike Tour

Back in the cool, cool North and enjoying a bit of rain to go with our
sunshine. This year's motorbike trip was our most ambitious so far and it
turned out to be the best. Steve's planning (rather than someone else)
ensured that we were able to stay exactly where we wanted (except for one
locational challenge!) and we were able to go to and stay in places never
seen on prefab motorbike tours. It was a lot more time intensive for him,
but a much better tour for us.

Total tour - 3500 miles. Highest temp - 109. Lowest temp - well, there was
snow! Best meal - the agritourismo on the 'instep' of the Italian boot.
Best location - Amalfi, on a balcony overlooking the Med Least favourite
region - Calabria. Favourite region - a toss up between Tuscany, Umbria and
Lake Como

Here are some of the 491 pics I took!

What a Difference a Thousand Miles Makes

A thousand miles and 6000 feet actually. Sicily, Italy, to St.
Moritz, Switzerland. It snowed 3 inches the day before yesterday
(please note, this is July!). Luckily it was gone when we arrived -
motorbikes and snow don't mix!

We left Genoa before the heat came on and headed for the Alps. The
day started out lovely and cool, and as we headed up into the
mountains stayed that way. We have a new appreciation for cool!

We came by Lake Como which is one of the most beautiful places in
Italy. Old towns scattered here and there around the lake, many with
tiny cobbled streets and restaurant lined squares. There was a great
deal of al fresco dining overlooking the lake along with beautiful
summer homes lining the shore. The lake is 25 miles or more, we want
to come back and see the whole thing.

After Lake Como, it was up into the mountains, over a pass and Into
St. Moritz. The town is 6000 feet up and Steve has named it 'The Most
Expensive Place in the World'. It's like someone took Knightsbridge
and stuck it on top of a mountain. But it is also gorgeous, with a
lake below and surrounded by jagged, snowtopped mountains. It's a
wonderful place even in the off peak summertime, but only for one night!

Since we were in Switzerland, traditonal Swiss food was in order -
chocolate and fondue. It was Sunday so most of the shops were closed,
except for the chocolate shops! And the chocolate was every bit as
good as you would expect locally made Swiss chocolate to be.

We walked around for a bit trying to find a restaurant open on an off
season Sunday and finally walked down the hill to La Margda which was
recommended by the very happy and very helpful Swiss man at our
hotel. His recommendation was spot on. We had the fondue in the tiny
downstairs restaurant matched with some local wine - lovely! When we
ordered, I was thinking Melting Pot with a cheese fondue followed by a
meat fondue. The waitress was adamant that that would be too much and
she was exactly right. The meat fondue consisted of at least two
pounds of meat accompanied by rosti's (potatoes), various pickles and
a variety of sauces. We made it a little more than half way before we
gave in, we were defeated by the volume of food. Swiss fondue in
Switzerland is very, very good

How Can an Entire Country Make Good Coffee?

We've been in Italy for 8 or 9 days now and have yet to have a bad cup
of coffee - posh restaurants, ferries, tiny town bars, cheap hotels,
made by a barrista or from a machine, the coffee is all great. How is
it possible for so many different people in so many different
establishments (no chains here) to turn out a consistently good product?

Italians are not big on breakfast, however. A sweet roll, an espresso
and go. The breakfasts have all been continental with crossaintes,
broche, musli, yogurt, fruit, toast, jam and nutella - all great for
Steve who prefers that stuff, but I want MEAT!

They are, however, very big on dinner! We have had wonderful meal
after wonderful meal at night - in some of the most unlikely places.

The ferry ride to Genoa was great, if a bit boisterous - force 7 winds
and waves so high our 9 story ferry ( think small cruise ship) was
rolling over the waves. It takes some pretty big waves to move a ship
that size. Lots of people were ill. We simply got up, found food and
went back to sleep. I think we had a total of 4 naps during the day!

Genoa was great, a lovely waterront city with lots of character left
in it. The architecture was ornate with many old buildings, churches,
and palazzos scattered about. We wandered the tiny streets until we
found an al fresco restaurant with a guitarist and parked ourselves
there for an evening of food and music.

Cruising the Med

Palermo to Genoa by sea! An overnight ferry and a day off, sort of!

We left the south coast of Sicily and Agrigento, beginning the trip
back up north. One more crossing of the hot middle bit keeping to the
coast for as long as possible until we had to cut across for Palermo.
Steve booked the car ferry which departs at 9:00 so we organized our
backpack so we could strip off the leathers as quickly as possible
once we got off the bike - which we were able to do after a scenic
tour of Palermo when we missed the sign for the Porto.

We were much too early for the ferry, but found a shady cafe where we
had a two and a half hour lunch, and then a shadier park which was
perfect for keeping cool and having a next steps planning discussion
(red booking). Then once it cooled down a bit, we headed for the
Porto to pick up our tickets and find the queue for the ferry. Steve
expected this to be 'a bit of a faff' so we left plenty of time, but
quite the reverse, it went swimmingly well and we were ready to get on
our 9:00 ferry at 6:15! So we found some shade, people watched and
had a nice chat with an American and his Irish wife, Bill and Miriam.

A German guy pulled up next to us in line and we chatted with him
too. He had a temperature guage on his bike and at 7:00 in the
evening by the water it was still 38 degrees - well into the 90's. He
said that he had parked it in a sun / shady area a couple days ago and
the temp was 46!

Italy is chaotic, particularly the traffic, but once you understand
that the rule is that there are no rules it becomes doable (if not
understandable). We now squeeze ourselves into traffic with the best
of them and I've even heard Steve beeping his horn a few times!

Sicilian Summer

The weather here is gorgeous and,when you're not wearing 30 pounds of
black leathers in the sunshine, quite comfortable. By the sea there
is a breeze and the temp is a bit cooler. The humidity is far lower
than Florida.

We left Calabria yesterday and took a ferry over to Sicily, a nice
cool ferry! Headed down the coast and turned inland to ride by Mt.
Etna, a smoking volcano. Nice houses this way with many restoration
opportunities, but somehow the lava in the front yards made them seem
less appealing.

Inland was hot, dry, rocky, brown fields, and cactus. Did I say hot?
Steve caught some comment about record breaking temps and 41c which
would be 106 in faren, but we'll have to validate that data, but we
know it was 35 the day before. The next time we get the urge to go
motorbiking in the summer, we're going to Norway, Sweden or the Artic
Circle!

Actually, heat aside, it's been a great trip and exactly what we
wanted, to see Italy in the summer when it's at its driest and worst
visually and see if we still like it. And the answer is a resounding
yes, in parts. We're much clearer about the parts of Italy we like
now (there's a reason why everybody moves to Tuscany and the hundreds
of thousands who have bought holiday homes there are not wrong).

Italy is big, much bigger than we thought it was. We've done over
2000 miles getting to Sicily and it could be a country all by itself.
We rode all day to get from Messina to Agrigento (of course part of
that was heading in the wrong direction) and will ride 2-3 hours to
get from here to Palermo - where we pick up an overnight ferry and
head to Genoa and cooler climes.

Wet T-Shirt Contest

35 degrees celcius yesterday and we're applying all sorts of
techniques to deal with the heat - mostly by trying to keep things wet
which then keep us cool when the bike is moving. Today we're going
beyond wetting the neckerchiefs to a full on wet t-shirt contest!

Yesterday was our last day in Calabria. We've come as far as Reggio
Calabria and spent three days exploring the region. Steve says that
was two days too long. The mountains and the roads through the
mountains are spectacular and being on the edge of a cliff looking
straight down to the sea was amazing. The mountainous part of the
coastline is lovely and would be great to sail to.

Lunch in outlying areas is tricky to find so we've been warding off
starvation with gelato and cornettos!

Boil in the Bag People

Italy is the Ape' center of the world, according to Steve. Apes look like a truck (see picture), but are actually a scooter wearing a truck costume. Tonka builds bigger trucks. Top speed uphill is 3 miles per hour, downhill is 60. They are either driven completely empty or with more stuff than a three ton transit could carry. They are only designed to carry one person, but often carry many more. Steve desperately wants one.

Southern Italy in July is hot. Southern Italy in July in motorbike leathers is REALLY hot! All the Italians are zipping by on their motorbikes and scoots in shorts and tshirts and we're in 30 pounds of hot leathers. It's like being boiled in a bag!

We're 1800 miles into this trip and all the way down almost to the bottom of Italy in the Calabria region. We've gone from pouring rain in Belgium / Germany to total sunshine once we got south of the Alps. This trip has been almost exclusively non-motorway roads so it hasn't been a fast blast down the highway, bit rather a slow wind up and and through the hills, mountains and valleys all the way.

We had a lovely breakfast on the patio overlooking Amalfi and the Med yesterday morning, after a slowish get up and then headed further south. Made it from Campania down to Calabria last night and guess where our Italian dinner waiters have worked? At their uncle's restaurant in ... Preston! Very small world. And they miss it very much!

Today continued the journey through Calabria and tonight's stop is at the 'instep' of the Italian boot, close to as far south as you can get. Calabria has been very interesting, the geography is great, loads of mountains, tons of seaside, but unfortunately the 'ugly architects' had a field day down here! Ugly architects are what Steve and I call the designers of cheap, cinderblock, boring, square buildings with no features of any architectural interest at all. There is mile after mile of tenament apartments. Only once in a great while do you glimpse an old stone Italian building. It's been very interesting and a worthwhile exploration, but cheap house prices aside, Calabria is not for us.

However, I think agritourismos are! Tonight's stop is a working farm which has been converted into a B&B / restaurant. Old stone building, high ceiling'd rooms and (after today's heat) a very welcome pool!

Under the Tuscan, Umbrian and Neapolitan Sun

Big, big, big day today - from Siena all the way down to Amalfi. All
interesting country, except for the flat bits and the area around
Naples. Part of this trip is to scope out the different regions and
start to narrow down the areas we like and the ones we don't.

Areas currently in the running are Tuscany and Umbria, and of course
the Amalfi coast. Selection criteria, something in the mountains, as
far south as it is reasonable to go, without it turning into a third
world country (i.e. some parts of Calabria). Can be a house in a
town, hilltop towns are particularly appealing, must have shade and a
view (shady terrace) and room to grow stuff ideally.

The run over the mountains to Amalfi was gorgeous, terrifying and
rather tiring for poor Steve. The road heads up into the mountains
climbing higher and higher over the city of Naples until you are are
so high your heart is in your mouth every time you look over the
edge. Traffic is interesting with mopeds and scoots passing on
hairpin bends. Finally you reach the top and get to do it all over
again but going down. The view is even more incredible on the Amalfi
side with the Meditteranean spread out before you and lemon groves
competing with the grape vines for space on the hillside terraces.

We stayed at Hotel Grand Excelsior, where Jess and I went a couple
years ago. It was still fabulous. Dinner on the patio at the Tato
restaurant was great, the band was fantastic (especially the sax
player), the singer we wanted to pitch over the balcony and down the
mountain into the sea. Steve wants to come back for a week.

Temporarily Uncertain of Our Present Position

We don't get lost, says Steve, we're just temporarily uncertain of our
present position. We had a dose of that yesterday while trying to
find our B&B in Sienna. Twisting stone streets winding through narrow
archways meandering around this hilltop town - and very few street
signs!

We're changed the navigation process this trip, instead of Steve
driving the bike and trying to read the map, I take the map when we
get into town to navigate from the back (and he promises not to shout
if we have to turn the big, heavy bike around if we go the wrong way
repeatedly (actually Steve never shouts, but he's not allowed to
grumble either!)). This works exceedingly well when there are signs
to navigate by, it works less well when there are none. After about
an hour and a half, we eventually found our place.

At dinner, I commented to Steve, "I wish we'd had more time so we
could see Sienna." "You've already seen it all," he replied.

In Italian, domami means tomorrow. We tried to buy two waters when we
got here, but had nothing smaller than a 50 in Steve's wallet. The
shopkeeper gave us the waters saying,"Domani", bring the money
tomorrow. Can't think of too many places where that happens.

Started out the day with a 25 mile run down the side of Lake Garda,
and we didn't even make it to the bottom. That would be a great place
to bring the tandem.

Then a short blast down the autostrada to get us through the flat part
of Italy. "This bit's boring", said Steve, "like Begium with sun".
Then off the highway at Modena, a dose of position uncertainty, and
after a restorative cappocino and a map check we headed off into the
Tuscan hills. At least we think they were Tuscan hills, they had the
great stone houses and pointy Tuscan trees! No matter where we were
it was beautiful!

Hopped on the motorway again to avoid the traffic around Florence and
had a great run through more Tuscan hills, vineyards and beautiful
houses to the hilltop town of Sienna. After the navigational
challenges, a restorative shower and beer / glass of wine were in
order. I felt bad about taking so long to find the B&B, Steve wasn't
bothered at all, he was just glad he didn't have to do it!

Dinner was delicious and fun. We went to L'Osteria on Via del Rossi
where they serve great steak and pour red wine into your carafe from
two gallon jugs. We shared a table and stories with a younger couple
from Canada. They had been on all kinds of adventures and told us all
about visiting Peru and Manchu Pechu (sp?).

We managed not to get lost getting back to our room, mostly because it
was just steps away from the restaurant. We watched the people out
for the evening, young and old, chatting and having a stroll. Might
be one of our favourite things about Italy, the nightly promanade, the
mingle of people of all ages every evening, the cool teenage boy
helping his grandmother, no one particular age 'owns' the street and
all enjoy it together. Tthe streets are almost like a front porch
where people catch up at the end of the day, where they see, talk to
and know their neighbors, how nice.

Sailing in Italy

A week sailing off the coast of Italy! Jess and Matt joined us as we explored the Aeolian islands located 35 miles off the toe of the Italian boot (very close to Sicily).

We chartered a boat out of Tropea, a great little Italian town overlooking the sea and a new marina. The town itself is perched upon a cliff with sandy beaches down below.

After a night at a local hotel, dinner in the old town and provisioning the boat, we were ready to go. This was our first trip out of sight of land, although we were only going to be a little ways off the coast. The GPS went out half way across, but the trusty Blackberry came to the rescue with its GPS telling us we were on the right track. Our first stop was the island of Stromboli.

Stromboli is known for its volcano and its black sand beaches. The volcano was fantastic and the beaches were...HOT! Lovely sitting on the boat or swimming off the stern. Beautiful as the sun went down.

We visited several of the Aeolian islands in addition to Stromboli including Filicudi, Salina, and Vulcano. The crew was well fed, although it took me until the last day before I came up with a salad that they weren't able to devour in one meal. We did a lot of swimming. Jess did a lot of snorkeling. And because there wasn't a lot of wind, we did a lot of motoring - didn't matter though because the weather was beautiful and it was so easy to get from island to island.

Highpoints included dinners on deck, the pizza place on Vulcano, anchoring in a secluded cove on Vulcano, deck showers, a very nice restaurant on Stromboli and toasting the sunset every single night.

Even returning to Tropea was great. Dolphins joined us for a swim off our bow for a good 20 minutes as we were heading back and then we anchored for the afternoon off the beach in Tropea having lunch, swimming and snorkeling on our last afternoon.

Our last day consisted of shopping and a lovely dinner up on the cliff overlooking the marina and the Med.

Here's a few of the pictures:

Amalfi

For Girl's Weekend this year Jess and I headed out to Amalfi, Italy. This is our annual weekend away (although this year it was a 5-day weekend!) where we go and explore some place new while doing lots of shopping and reading in the sunshine.

We flew into Naples and were met by the driver at the airport. It was just about dark when we arrived so I was very glad we didn't have to mess around with a rental car and finding our way out of Naples in the dark. Actually, once I saw the roads (and the cliffs) I was very glad we weren't driving at all! We left Naples and headed up, up, up these winding switchback roads. The view of the city and the Naples Bay was very pretty with all of lights.

We went over the top and started heading down - slowly, slowly around switchback after switchback. It didn't seem too high because it was dark (it was very different the next morning!). Finally made it to the hotel. It was a bit late so dinner was done, but we were able to get cocktails and sandwiches in the bar - much needed after the trip! There was a singer and pianist. There was lots of singing and dancing. The best part was when they sang 'Volare' and everyone sang - very Italian!

The next morning (and every morning thereafter) we had breakfast on the patio overlooking the pool, Amalfi and the Mediterranian. After breakfast we walked down the hill (with many, many, many steps) to Amalfi for a little exploration, shopping and lunch. Amalfi is a wonderful little seaside Italian town with great shops, huge lemons (soccer ball size 'cedros'), and delicious restaurants.

We did two things while in Amalfi - relaxed reading books by the pool (on a terrace overlooking the Med) or had a wander around Amalfi town. One day we took a bus tour up the coast. And every night we took the bus down to the town to have a lovely outdoor dinner.

We loved the hotel where the view and the service (Michela, maitre'd, was wonderful). Would go back there and to Amalfi again in a minute!

A little 'snapshot' of our trip:

Italy Motorbike Tour

Annual motorbike tour across Europe and down into Italy! Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Alps, the Dolomites, Pisa, Assissi, the Adriatic Coast and Venice!

The photos from the trip: