RTS 1701 - Von Rom nach Sizilien
Italy is one of the most popular vacation countires in Europe because of its wonderful beaches and mountains. You can find a great variety of landscapes, history and people here. Of course motorcycle riders from all over Eruope know Italy as a perfect spot for riding! And so the bikes are waiting outside the hotel right in the heart of the Italian capital very close to Vatican City as well. Let the adventure begin!
We leave the 'Eternal City' going south to Pompei. On the way we will have some sights like Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence and vacation retreat for the pope, or Sperlonga, a beautiful seaside town that is located half way between Rome and Naples.
Our second day was a rest day meaning that we have plenty of different options how to spend the day. So we split up into two groups. One taking the train to Naples to find the best Pizza and the other taking the bikes along the Amalfi coast line to find the best roads. We had a really great time!
On day three of our trip we continued to go south along the coast line. We stopped at Paestum for a bit of sightseeing. The ruins there offer 3 different and well preserved temples of 3 different doric order styles the Greek used during their time. Paestum is a huge excavation area and 2500 years old. It's magnificent to walk through a whole town from a different era. Almost as impressive as Pompei the day before. For lunch Alan prepared a tasty picnic right next to a mozzarella cheese farm.
The ride today featured a nice and easy section along the coast in the morning where we visited a huge Christ statue. Then we turned towards the mountains before lunch. It's called the La Sila mountain range and it offered us incredibly twisty roads, hair pin turns, stunning views and all that without any traffic.
On this it was time for the last stretch along the coast line and then to take the ferry over to the beautiful island of Sicily. Before we reached Villa San Giovanni where the ferry leaves we had a relaxing lunch stop in Scilla. And in the afternoon we took a detour to get some extra miles in the amazing mountains north of Mount Etna.
Our first full day on Sicily and it was a restday meaning we had plenty of options what to do. Jim went to ride by himself down to Catania and the beautiful beaches. The rest of the group came with Michael and Alan for a ride up to Mount Etna. It's the highest mountain on Sicily and also the biggest Volcano in Europe (if you don't count Iceland into it). We took the cable car up to go closer to the active craters and see the steam and smoke rising daily. Of course the roads up and down the mountain are amazing as well and offer quite a view all the way down to the coast.
After a relaxing restday and a beautiful ride around mount Etna it is time to leave for another amazing day of twisty roads thorugh the countryside of Sicily. We'll see wide mountain ranges with lots of roads going up and down and they're almost empty - perfect for us!
Today will be a very long day because there is lots of things to see. So instead of having a long lunch in a restaurant Michael will prepare a picnic in the forest of Godrano for us to save some time. Then we will have a look at Corleone, the famous Mafia town, and Prizzi. And of course we will have plenty of amazing roads for our motorcycles!
Unfortunately it's our last riding day today. Once again we'll enjoy the Sicilian countryside with its picturesque little villages all over and its amazing roads for us motorcycle riders. We will arrive to Catania soon and have our last dinner together!