The Rome to Sicily tour is over

Thank you for a wonderful tour! What a great group, people from the USA, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, England... all together creating always a very nice atmosphere. We hope to see you soon again on another Edelweiss tour, keep in touch!

Your guides,

Alan, Domenico and Florian

Day 9, Agrigento - Catania

The last riding day has finally arrived and unfortunately it's time to reach Catania and to give back the bikes! We left Agrigento in a sunny morning and could take a nice look over the Greek Temples before heading to Piazza Armerina, famous for its Roman Villa, built in the 4th century and containing the richest collection of Roman Mosaics in the world (around 3000 square metres!). After lunch we continued our itinerary towards Catania, the second biggest town of Sicily, located on the sea at the feet of Mount Etna, nice to see this giant volcano again!

Shira on her new scooter

Coffee Break in Sommantino

The Roman Mosaics in the Villa del Casale, incredibly beautiful!

When was bikini invented???

The historical centre of Piazza Armerina

Day 8, Cefalù - Agrigento

Today we crossed Sicily from North to South... but of course it was not a straight line! We went from the crowded coast near Palermo to the inland and incredibly after a few kilometers we were in a very rural area. We had a picnic in Godrano in a very nice wood and then, after a picture stop in Corleone, very famous (or infamous!) for being the birthplace of many mafia bosses, we headed to Agrigento, where we'll spend the night. This town is very well known for its "Valle dei Templi" (Valley of the Temples), an archeological area where there are some very well preserved ancient greek temples, all in doric style. Of course this area is listed in the Unesco World Heritage sites!

Dane

Picnic ready!

Kamila

Shira and Brian

view over Corleone

"indian fig"

The Brazilian Mafia

Great roads!

Picture stop

In the "Valle dei Templi" of Agrigento

Sunset from our hotel

Day 7, Taormina - Cefalù

One of the best riding days started leaving the Jonian coast and going towards the inland, Mount Etna on our left side and the Peloritani Mountains on the other! And, before reaching Cefalù, other two mountain ranges (the Nebrodi and Madonie mountains) made our itinerary a real dream for all bikers! We stopped in Sperlinga to see the famous Norman castle, carved into a giant rock formation and then, after lunch and of course after many many curves, we reached Cefalù, a wonderful little town on the northern coast with a charming historical centre and an impressive Cathedral whose construction begun in the 12th century!

Picture stop on an old lava flow

Paradise for motorcyclists!

Nancy in Sperlinga

Olives

Alberto

View from the castle of Sperlinga

Jochen

Gangi

Riding...

Day 6, ride on Mount Etna

Rest day in Taormina, but the most of us did not resist the charme of Mount Etna, the biggest volcano in Europe and as well one of the biggest and most active in the world! The ride on its slopes was really fantastic, the environment suddenly changed many times and we rode through pine forests and lava fields before finally reaching the "Etna South" basecamp. There the Edelweiss van was waiting for us and Florian had prepared a delicious picnic! The cable car for the excursion on the main crater was just a few steps away, so we also took the chance to reach the top (almost!) of this huge volcano, it was a very impressive visit... but what a strong wind!!!

Coffee break

Lava, trees and sky

Riding on the Etna

Picnic at Rifugio Sapienza (Etna South)

On the main crater, at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level

Doesn't it look like the moon?

Snow covered by ashes

The border of the crater that erupted in 1992

Jeff

Jochen... looking almost like an astronaut!

Day 5 Tropea - Taormina

Today we finally entered Sicily, the biggest island of the Mediterranean. Goethe, the famous german writer, said: "To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything".

After leaving the hotel we followed the coast until Scilla, a nice little town at the entrance (or at the exit!) of the strait of Messina, where we had lunch near the beach. Then we reached the ferry to cross the strait and, once in Sicily, some chose to do a longer route over the Peloritani mountains (a very nice curvy road!) and some to go straight to the hotel following the coast of the island direction south.

Dane & Stephanie

Adriana, Fabio, Roger, Hans, Magali and Alberto

Christopher and Jeff

Scilla

 Our bikes parked during lunch break

Johnn and Nancy on the ferry to Sicily

Roger, Hans and Domenico

Nancy and Shira

We are in Sicily!

Perfect ride on the Peloritani Mountain range

Coffee Break in Francavilla di Sicilia

Giada

The small canyon of the river Alcantara, just a "few" steps from the road!

Testing the boots, are they really waterproof? Well... Yes!!!

Day 4, Maratea - Tropea

Today we had a beautiful ride along the coast to reach our next destination, the beautiful old town of Tropea, built on stiff cliffs by the sea and nowadays a very well known tourist destination for its beautiful beaches and crystal clear water.

The coast of Calabria

Lunch stop in Amantea

Tropea

Day 3, rest day Maratea

Our first rest day! Today some of us chose to spend the day in Maratea, this very nice town on the coast is really worth a visit! The weather forecast was not very good, but a group of brave riders chose to take the ride inside the Pollino National Park, hundreds of curves (and not always a very good asphalt...) and, despite of some rain, we had a very nice day!

Our beautiful Hotel

The coast of Maratea

View over the little village of Papasidero in the Pollino National Park

Brian and Mr. Happy

Christopher and Kenneth

Walter

Coffee break in Mormanno

we felt a good smell coming from the service door... and we could not resist trying some very fresh pastry!

Riding day 2, Pompei - Maratea

We can not leave Pompei without first visiting the world famous archeological area. This town was completely buried by ash and pumice during the eruprion of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 and was forgotten for centuries! We could walk on old roman streets, enter the houses and the shops... and our local guide gave us an idea of what was life back in that times.

After that we took our bikes and headed to the Amalfi Coast, a wonderful stretch of coastline listed as UNESCO World Heritage site, where we also stopped for lunch. What a beautiful ride, mountains on one side and blue sea on the other one! Pity we had to go, but Maratea is waiting for us and the landscape there is not less beautiful!!!

The roman Amphiteatre of Pompeii

Brian

Porta Nolana, one of the old gates of the town

Mount Vesuvius surrounded by clouds, still impressive!

Walking through Pompeii

An ancient fast food

In the Forum, this was the main square of Pompeii

Florian, great photoreporter!

This was a thermal bath, so richly decorated!

view over Sorrento

Alberto, Jochen, Magali, Adriana and Fabio

Positano

Very colorful ceramic, one of the trademarks of this area

Very colorful plates as well! So tasty these "spaghetti con frutti di mare"!

Riding on the Amalfi Coast

Paestum, in this town there are some very well preserved greek temples!

Riding day 1, Rome - Pompei

The Rome to Sicily tour is starting! We will leave Rome and head south, to discover this part of the country that for many people is the real Italy!

On our first riding day we left the millenary city of Rome and rode to Pompei, a town near Naples that is very well known for its archeological area. Our first stop was in Castel Gandolfo, not far from Rome, the place where the Pope has his summer residence. After a nice coffee on the main square, we rode towards the mountains where some rain was waiting for us! Lunch stop was in Sperlonga, a nice resort town by the sea and then we continued to Pompei.

Daily briefing with Alan

Castel Gandolfo

The Pope's Palace

Rain...

Rain Gear on!

Dinner in Pompei