teerex51
The Italian Scallion
The best laid plans and all that
. We were planning to arrive Sicily from Northern Italy after a 21-hour crossing by car-ferry, do a tour of the island from/to Palermo (1,000 kilometers give or take) and hit the boat heading North a week later, have a few beers and enjoy the cruise-like atmosphere.This sounded entirely reasonable before the bad weather came in.
On our way South we had gale-force winds and heavy seas rocking a 50,000-Ton ship like an ultra-light aircraft. This did not go well with our lasagna dinner, nor with everyone else's on board :blink:
The best part is, it seemed the bad weather system was going to hover over Southern Italy for a week and there was no escaping that.
We decided we'd try and stay ahead of the fronts as they coursed over the island and the smart move was to circle Sicily clockwise.
We stayed 2 days in Palermo enjoying a brief lull in the weather. Above is the beachfront at Mondello, that is Palermo's own beach resort.
Below you see one of the old city gates of the Sicilian capital. The wind was blowing stronger all the time so we figured it was time to head East.
Man, those clouds moved fast...
They caught us on the North Coast halfway to Messina and drenched us. That's cool, we thought, we're dressed for it anyway. So we pressed on and rounded the island's easternmost tip and turned SW to Taormina.
Taormina is a great old town perched on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. So why's everything so dark? And why's everybody dressed in ski clothes?
A bottle of red wine later we figured it'd be sunnier further south in Siracusa, so the next day we rode on down the highway and we arrived there in bright sunshine, taking in the sights and enjoying the local food.
Did I already say those clouds were pretty fast? Well, they were... We fired up our FJRs and headed further South. Sicily being an island, you can only ride so far before you hit the surf. That place is called Capo Passero and an old shuttered-down hotel marks the spot. That's as far as Italy goes.
The road took us in a north-westerly direction to the old town of Noto, famous for its baroque architecture. The old town is pedestrians only but we figured: who's going to notice 2 motorbikes during siesta-time?
We were just done taking pictures when this Sicilian guy warned us the Carabinieri would be around in minutes and they'd not be amused.
So, goodbye Noto and hello Ragusa, another very old town. The rain had us beat. It was already there by the time we rode into town.
There's an old part of town called Ibla that's straight out of a movie set. In fact, it is often used for shooting movies and TV shows where a definite Sicilian ambience is required.
A walking tour of Ibla was worth the drenching we got. Nothing that a bottle of Nero d'Avola can't cure anyway.
Next day, bright and early we pressed on for Agrigento and the famous Valley of Temples. Can't beat those ancient Greeks who colonized Sicily at one time. Modern day Agrigento, just a couple of miles away from those wonderful temples, is a bleak and dreary place.
Our next destination now was Cape San Vito, the westernmost tip of Sicily. Believe it or not, it was already clouding up when we got there.
We had to make a few decisions here.
Weather was getting worse real fast and the ferry services to Northern Italy had just been suspended. In fact, we were fresh out of options: we simply had to take the overland route along the Italian "boot"'s western shore. That's another 2,000 kms or so from where we stood in San Vito. That's just 1,300 miles in your world but the highways in Southern Italy are bad and the weather was going to suck at least for one third of the way. Well, as I already pointed out, we had run out of alternatives, so we put our gear on and navigated our way East through the weather.
Once on the mainland we headed North into the wind and sleet until we reached the city of Salerno (Operation Avalanche, Sep 1943, ring a bell?).
Suddenly the sky was blue and the sun was shining again. So we decided we'd detour to the Amalfi Coast and on to Sorrento.
This above is the village of Atrani. Below, you see the more famous town of Positano.
Heck, Sorrento is not a bad-looking place, either, and we got there on a crisp Saturday afternoon. The locals were complaining about the unseasonable temperatures, but we were actually happy to be dry for a change. Nothing that a bottle of red can't cure etc.
Above, there's Mount Vesuvius in Naples as seen from a safe distance in Sorrento (50 road kms). The next day we breezed through Rome and raced North along the coast. The weather was now so perfect, we had to take another detour. Some 140kms North of Rome there lies Mount Argentario, a small peninsula jutting out into the Med. We just had to spend a few hours there.
Well, we were getting dangerously close to home (only 400 kms to go). The Tour of Sicily had meanwhile become a Tour of Italy and was quickly coming to a close, too. So we rode on and called it a day. A total of 3,260 kilometers, lots of rainwater, a fair amount of wine and 8 days on the move.
I can sure think of worse ways to spend my time. Like working, for one.
Stef
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