The last tour in Italy for this year - Sicily - Rome is about to start. 3 bikes only - it is like being on holiday with friends.  Nevertheless a quite international group -  2 Brasilians, 1 American, 1 Estonian, 1 German tourguide, 1 Italian tourguide - so 6 people, 5 nationalities - let`s go....

I had a perfect flight into Catania

1. Riding Day: Catania - Agrigento

view from the breakfast room in Villa Paradiso del Etna to the vulcano. Most of the time it is in clouds, but for us it shows up clearly in the morning sun.

Toomas from Estland and Alan

Alan is cleaning my helmet - very good

Luggage is loaded and after the morning briefing off we go

The guys are preparing their bikes

Toomas from Tallinn is installing the Estonian flag

Toomas has been on a lot of Edelweiss trips and actually we know each other from the Israel Scouting tour 2008. Nice to have you on a tour again

here the Brasilian one

Roberta from Sao Paulo

Gerson and Roberta - the Brasilians

Dave from Idaho

Coffee stop in Raddusa - they getting in touch with the"frutta vendolo"

Villa Romana del Casale - our first highlight today. 2500 year old mosaic covering 3.500 sq in the old Roman Villa. 700 years preserved under mud, discovered 1950, restoration completed in 2012 - a real treasure

the Corridor of Hunt

the Bikini girls

Lunch in "La Trinakria"

Agrigento - yes it is not Athens it is Sicily

the temple of Zeus

2. Riding Day  Agrigento - Cefalu

Selfi....

on the way up into the Mafia area a short stop Cianciano

Prizzi

And last not least Corleone

After Corleone we had a nice picnic in Godrano

After lunch coma

On the way to Roccapalumba

On the way to Caccamo

Good luck that they realized afterwards that it was going down 5 m behind them

Flying Toomas

the castle of Caccamo

After arriving in Hotel Alberi del Paradiso we went with the group downtown Cefalu. Here the famous Norman Dome

3. Riding Day  Cefalu - Taormina

we left beautiful Cefalu in the morning sun riding along the coast - sunny and warm - and then up into Madonie Mountains towards Castelbuono

Gangi - clinching to the hill - you can buy a house there for 1 € - would be a perfect winter location

We climbed up the castle of Sperlinga

Prodotti tipici - and an portugese speaking owner. Gerson loved it

the lava fields round Randazzo

Mr. Herkules

4 . Riding Day Restday in Taormina - Mount Etna

First coffe stop in Refugio Bruneck - it started to get a little bit colder

Mount Etna in snow

Lava, lava all around

Snow on the street, 4 degrees, brrr

before we went to the hotel a short loop to Forza d`Agro - the filmset for "godfather" - what a spectacular view

and the street up there is like in the alps

5. Riding Day - Taormina - Tropea

the swimmingpool of Baja Taormina hotel - and who is in there???

Toomas.... is taking a morning swim

view from the hotel terrace

come on Toomas - briefing time

we are crossing the Messina Strait today, going to the Italian main land

The group was going again on the long route - inland  into the mountains direction Francavilla di Sicilia

lots of curves, nice views - awesome

Francavilla di Sicilia - a quick coffee before we embarked on Caronte ferries to the main land of Italy

bye bye Sicily - what a great time what a good riding!!

this is not an Edelweiss Picnic - a wedding is going on in Hotel Tirreno in Tropea

Maybe there are some leftovers for our dinner

Tropea is well known for its red onions

6. Riding Day Tropea - Acquafredda

riding north along the Calabrian coast

First coffee stop in Falerina Marina

in the afternoon we reached the Basilikata.

Il Redentore high above the port of Maratea

Toomas in the GS Estonia Club T-shirt - elegant riders these Estonians

Ohhh.... Dave has something to celebrate

Happy birthday Dave

And of course there is a surprise

58 - Marco Simoncellis number - it happend nearly exactly 3 years ago...

we hope you like the t-shirt! Have fun Dave - a toast on an exciting new year

7. Riding Day - Restday Acquafredda

we are going into the Monte Pollino National Park - lots of hills, lots of curves. Trecchina, Nemoli, Laganegro and back to Sapri

Beautiful Villa Cheta Elite in Acquafredda - a perfect view to the dramatic cost of the Thyrennian coast of Basilikata

The Redeemer - where we have been yesterday

You get the feeling it is wedding season in Italy. Even on a Monday morning it doesn`t stop

As the Estonians are good singers - so Toomas went into the church and sung a little bit

The weeding car - an old Volkswagen Beatle

Lagronegro is the city where  Mona Lisa died.

after another 1000 curves we arrived in Villa Cheta - Alan has prepared a very tasty picnic for us

 8. Riding Day  Acquafredda - Pompej

Along beautiful Amalfi Coast - we visitedthe Dome of Amalfi - sorry I can`t turn the picture so turn your head

a desatrous eruption of the Vesuv 79 AC buried Pompej under tons of ashes (not lava). All inhabitants died. It preserved a whole Roman city for hundred of years. Pompej was discovered incidentally by construction workers in the 17th.

Pompej by night....

Dinner in the Forum Hotel

the cathedral of Pompej

the Vesuv vulcano

9. Riding Day - Pompej - Rome

morning briefing - how to enter Rome without getting lost - you better pay attention

a little excitement on the last riding day - Dave had a flat tyre. At the end we fixed it with the help from friendly Italians. Next to the mechanic was a wonderful lunchplace where all the locals go

Everybody ended up well in the ESH Hotel in Rome.

The tour is over  -  we had a lot of new experiences and new empressions. We tried to show you as much as we could from this beautiful country. But believe me - there is much more to see. Perfect weather, good food and not even a single tip over made the trip very memorable. Thank to all of you for a good time. Stay in touch - Ursula und Alan