Category: Europe Trip of 2018 (Page 3 of 6)

Coooffeeee

Friday, I had to ride all the way to the Airbnb in Pompeii by around noon. So I started early and had a great need for coffee.  Luckily the Airbnb had just the right thing for me!!

After coffee and a light breakfast, including home-made jam, I was off.

Breakfast!

It was a little tricky to find the next Airbnb, but I managed eventually. I didn’t have much time as I was picking up Manja at the airport. One slight problem: Road works were happening on the side-street in front of the Airbnb, so there was no access.  There was a truck literally parked where the gate was, so I didn’t even see it initially.  I attempted to phone the host, but didn’t get a response over Airbnb, SMS or phonecalls.  They probably couldn’t hear the phone for all the noise of the street crew. Meanwhile I kept being in the way to the construction, but one of the construction workers was nice enough to stop for a chat.  He has a brother who works farms in Queensland, so he spoke a little English and was fascinated by my story.  He also asked the truck to move for me so I could get in.  The Host was apologetic, but I managed to quickly drop the bags and race off to the airport just in time.  Napoli city, especially near the airport, was the worst traffic yet.  But at least it was slow moving!! Very much like what you see in videos of India.  Adding to this, I attempted to get into a carpark which only said “No motorbikes” at the gate.  Luckily the driveway wasn’t sloped, so I could wheel the bike back.  I went straight down the next ramp toward a carpark, which luckily accepted motorbikes.  I attempted to get a ticket, only to read the display saying “Nessun biglietto senza veicolo”.  I knew bigleietto was a ticket, and figured sense veicolo is probably “Sans-Vehicle” or “without vehicle”.  Cursing I moved the bike diagonally across the sensor and pressed the button once more; and HEY PRESTO! I got a parking ticket and access. I raced to the arrivals gate, only to see a “Motorbike park” sign about 2 meters away, with plenty of space.  NOT ENOUGH SIGNS ITALY.  NOT ENOUGH SIGNS!!!!

… errr, where was I?  Oh right.  Yes.  Arrivals gate.  I managed to get there around the same time Manja made it through security, and we spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to PAY for the parking ticket.  I like to think I’m not completely stupid, and I would hazard a guess that Manja isn’t either, so the signage was definitely poor. None the less we eventually paid and were off into the madness of Italian traffic.

When we arrived back at the Airbnb in Pompeii the truck had moved on and I could ride straight into the carpark, were I hoisted the bike onto the centre stand vowing not to move it for the next 3 days.  I’m a bit over motorbike travel already at this point, and Manja and I had agreed a small rental car would be better for us to explore the area.

This afternoon we headed to the archeological dig site of Pompeii.  It’s actually still an active dig site – something I didn’t know.  It’s really nicely done, and even though we spent about 4 hours walking around, we didn’t even see half of it.  This is a place I’d come back for, and I would totally recommend visiting for a full day or two.  This time there’s plenty of photos thanks to Manja bringing her awesome camera!

Roman Manja walking historic streets of Pompeii

Anyone able to translate?

Preserved painting

Pompeiian Cat. Gray but not dating back to the days of the roman empire

Other side of Forum

Colourful flowers!

Creative Manja-Shadow in 1000-year-old ruins

Street sign: You can get lost in this place

Busts

Restored temple

Wall painting. So well preserved!

A Simon attempting to read a map. Manja + Google worked better.

Cenaur in the centre of the parade grounds

Centaur!

Simon going back in time and reading a street sign

Lizard!

Grapes!

Flowers growing over ruins

A Forum

Pretty street

Some of the cladding visible over the bricks which make up the pillars

A classic roman house of pleasures

Going back in time

Another beak in the wall…

More flowers in ruins

View of Mt Vesuv through the streets of Pompeii

Pompeii Penis. Plenty of Penis worship in Pompeii, being a symbol of fertility!

Pompeii Lemon

Manja viewing Mt Vesuv, in the streets of Pompeii

Another posing lizard

Pompeii Flower

Roman Manja walking historic streets of Pompeii

Ravens flying over Mt Vesuv

Lizard posing

Overgrown temple

Excavation and restoration of the next part

One of the Pompeii people

Beautifully restored merchants office

Wheel maker?

Trees!

One of the Pompeii people

Mt Vesuv

Not sure what this is? A place to make wheels?

In the evening we tried a local restaurant recommended by our host, which had a really really nice atmosphere and pretty great food.

Charming Atmosphere

Bruschetta!

Pizza!

Super Delicious Desert!

We opted for an early night as Saturday was going to be packed!

Listening to…

Thursdays breakfast was a small buffet – the hosts here are really working at turning the place into a nice motel.

Puzzle book!

Today would take me from Tuscany to Ternie (a little town half way to Rome).  It was only about 250 km, and planned as a little bit of an easier ride, so I decided to hang about a bit and work through the puzzle book friends had given me before I left.

The ride would have been, except the temperatures were a sweltering average of 38 degrees and I was in the sun on the entire Autostrada.  Luckily the sun hit from behind, so I didn’t get sun burned, but it was very exhausting.  Todays stay is in a little farm, where they had, many years ago, updated the stable to be a little apartment which they now rent out on Airbnb.

Unfortunately, Google maps could not find the place, so the Son had to come and pick me up from the “white” road on the way.  White roads are basically dirt roads which are not on all maps, usually covered in gravel.  I have to admit, the white road was a bit of fun on the bike.  Definitely an advantage of a touring bike over a cruiser – on my cruiser I would have been worried about scratches, on this one I was happy to take the road with some speed 😀

Here’s a bit of video of me going over the road at some point… Sorry about the angle, but you get the gist 🙂

The farm was great.  I took some pictures of the view and of the cool stables I had to myself.  They also have a super cute old dog!

I went to the only local restaurant for dinner (other side of the white road), which was unfortunately really disappointing.  But the night at the farm was great, and I got to see an awesome sunset on the ride back to the Airbnb – crossing the white road a third time today :D.

Dinner

View from dinner table

As I returned I had a chat to the host… though I should point out that we didn’t have a single common language, though she spoke Italian, French and even some Arabic.  But we managed to communicate anyhow; sure, a little slower and with more hand waving than normal, but she told me about growing up in Napoli and the farm she is living on now and the seasonal produce (Jams, Olives) she makes. Unfortunately I wasn’t there at the right time for the produce – besides it wouldn’t have fit on the bike!

I have to say that while the accommodations were all nice and relaxing the riding is making this trip rather stressful.   I would definitely not suggest Italy by bike, and probably not by car either.

Listening to…

Simple Airbnb breakfast

After a light breakfast at the Airbnb, Wednesday was another battle on the roads for me. I have to say though that after experiencing city traffic I really began to appreciate the Autostrada. I had to get from Trento to Tuscany, which was about 320km for the day.  I quickly realised that I would end up traveling more slowly on Italian roads, and ended up taking around 4.5 hours.  It’s just a by-product of more stress, and thus more stops.

Lunchtime view

The stops weren’t bad though – at least I wasn’t as exhausted.  I figured out that there’s a few really nice restaurants along the way and stopped at one which was built across the Autostrada to give a view of both lanes.

Todays Airbnb today was an old mansion which was being converted into a small hotel.  Super old on the outside, and still lots of building going on, but also super modern on the inside, including aircon and a new bathroom.  Pretty great!

Outside View

Inside View

View from window

The town was nearby, so I went to grab some pizza at a place which had really good reviews.

Fresh mushroom pizza

When I got there I realised it was some sort of little grocery store which also made pizza.  Attempting to order the pizza, the older Italian lady made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in speaking anything but Italian and didn’t seem interested in serving me unless I figured out exactly what to say.  THAT was a first for me – usually I can get by with hand waving and switching through various languages.  Ah well, not everyone is tourist friendly I guess, so I took my business down the road to another little pizza shop.  There I had an excellent fresh wood-fired mushroom pizza…  For 5 EU, as opposed to the 15 at the first place.  The little shop reminded me of Mondo Pizza back in Adelaide, except for when it first started.   The son, about 15, helped dad run the shop and setup a table for me to have the pizza there.  I loved the place, though it really wasn’t anything special other than a complete contrast to the first place: We didn’t

Ice-cream!

share a word in the same language but managed to have a full conversation.  The dad bought the pizza place last year, and his wife goes to the market every morning for fresh ingredients.  The secret to Italian pizza?  Fresh ingredients and made with love.  I was pretty happy with my dinner and headed back, picking up an ice-cream on the way.

In the Motel I updated the blog a bit, because they had good wifi, before dropping into bed exhausted.

Listening to…  (I HIGHLY recommend her youtube channel!)

Tuesday was the day I’d leave Germany and arrive in Northern Italy.  Breakfast at the Motel was really quite nice, and probably better than the included continental breakfast in the hotel I got bumped from :D. Score!

The moment I crossed the border

Well fed I was off.  After a few hours of Alpine roads I arrived in Austria, where my first interaction was to pay the Toll for the Austrian highway I’d use to cross through the country for about 2-3 hours.  The border crossing to Italy wasn’t all that spectacular thanks to the EU, but you did notice the difference in road setup quite quickly. It’s hard to pin-point what it was, but the surroundings and driving style of other motorists changed significantly within an hour of the border.

Italian drivers appear to be….  Interesting.  As far as I can tell:

The left indicator is a flashing light which means “I’m overtaking RIGHT NOW” and the right indicator isn’t used.  I’m pretty sure Italians thought my motorbike was broken when I indicated right to change lanes.  Most cars happily drove ON the lines rater than in between them as you would elsewhere.  It’s convenient really, it means you can easily swerve into the left or right lane at a moments notice.  But don’t worry, this isn’t done unless you’re only a few centimetres away from hitting the car (OR BIKE) in front of you.  As soon as you’re done overtaking, you turn off the left indicator and place yourself back on the line. Ideally you don’t leave more than a few centimetres between yourself and the vehicle following. If they hit you from behind it’s their fault anyway, right?  Oh and while in most countries the number in a red circle is the maximum speed permitted, Italian drivers see it as a challenge: Travel below the speed limit and you’re going to slow and WILL be honked at.  This is also true for TRUCKS.   Don’t forget there’s massive fines for going over the speed limit though, so choose if you want to ride safe from fines or from other motorists.  It really is up to you….
Then there’s petrol stations.  Mostly it’s either self serve (read: Pay at the Italian-only machine at the front of the row of pumps) or serviced (Read: Don’t touch the pump! You must pay the guy who puts fuel into your vehicle who may or may not be working there).  Also, get used to the difference between Benzina and Gasolio… (The former is Petrol, the latter Diesel) and frantic hand-waving when the attendant wants to insist your motorbike takes diesel (which it doesn’t).  Oh and it’s about 50% more expensive than in Germany… Perhaps that’s how they pay the attendants.

Speaking of expensive, then there’s Maut (Road Toll) on the Autostrada; Italy’s main highway.  It’s a pretty cool system: you pull a ticket on arrival and pay whatever the cost of Maut is between the gate you entered and the gate you exited.  Just one slight thing: there’s no prices anywhere.  I had no idea how much I was going have to pay for the first 4 hours on the Autostrada.  Turns out it’s about 10EU per hour, traveling the max speed of 130km/h.  Using the Autostrada and other roads is about price-neutral, thanks to the high cost of petrol.  You just arrive much quicker by highway.

After you get off the highway, you get to see REAL Italian driving, and start to wish for the calm collected and safe driving on the Autostrada.  As far as I can tell all road “rules” are more like road “guidelines”.  Traffic lights are about the only thing which are respected…  most of the time.

But it’s not JUST the traffic that makes it difficult.  The roads are also really well laid out… For horses and chariots.  Especially those which lead into the mountains, which might have been made for donkeys.  I was glad to have a bike on some of the ones near my accomodations because you’d have about an inch of spare space either side of a standard car, a 40 degree incline going around a corner.  I rode REALLY slowly!

View from the Airbnb

As you can imagine I arrived at my accomodation in Trento, a little stressed.  The view from the Airbnb was fantastic though! I debated never leaving again but then realised I was hungry…  There was a little park juuuust down the hill, and I made myself get back on the bike and head down.  In the park I found a fantastic little cafe where I spent the afternoon updating my blog, and rather than attempting to move somewhere else in peak hour for dinner, I settled in for dinner as well.  It was really nice!  The cafe is at a lake, and my table was right at the edge of the pier watching the fish and ducks.

It also had a view of the hills, where the clouds created some awesome god-rays that night

I was much more relaxed when I headed back.  I recorded the awesome sunset for y’all before dropping into bed.

Listening to…