Chris's space

Cagliari to Sassari isn’t very far so I stopped at a few places along the way to take pictures. First the Nuraghe di Barumini, next Arutas Beach, white sand, small and crowded, next Santa Caterina di Pittinuri a small seaside town with a rocky beach, next Bosa another seaside town and finally Alghero, you guessed it, a bigger seaside town. The ride was through the mountains with endless curves, motorcycling paradise.

Sassari – one of the nicest places I have been to in Italy. The old town is well preserved with many small piazzas, cafes and restaurants, great place to wander around.

On the way from Agrigento to Trapani I stopped at the Valley of the Temples, the most impressive structure was the Temple of Concordia, the rest was a jumbled ruin. The best way to see the place is to park at the bottom of the hill and take a shared taxi to the top cost 3 euro and walk down, its a straight road about 2 km, then try and find your way out back to the car park, there are no signs hahaha.

Next stop was the Stair of the Turks, a natural wonder.

Trapani – lots of beaches and tourists here.

From Syracuse I rode to Noto, a small picturesque town in the hills with some very steep, slippery, cobblestone streets. I wandered around took some pictures and left, a nice old town but I have seen so many of these now they fail to make an impression. One of the hazards of travelling for too long. My riding camera Olympus Tough TG3 decided to be not so tough, with what looks like a damaged on/off button so no riding pictures until I get another camera 😦

Next stop Caltagirone, great ride on B and C roads through the Sicilian hills and at 38c like riding in a clothes dryer hahaha. This town is famous for its ceramics and a 142 step staircase which has a different set of tiles on each step called the Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte and I climbed to the top of it and back down again, very slowly.

After that I rode to Agrigento, famous for the Valley of Temples and the Stairs of the Turks though I am only going to visit them on my way out. Serendipitously it so happened to be the Festival of Saint Calogero, the patron saint of these parts, lots of excitement.

Messina to Syracuse was a series of tunnels along the coast.

I stopped at Taormina located on a mountain with great views, very pretty and packed with tourists.

Next I planned to ride as far up Mount Etna as I could get thinking I would be the only one up there. Surprise hahaha there were about a million other people there, along with hotels, restaurants and a well developed tourist industry.

Syracuse, founded 2,700 years ago and the birthplace of Archimedes.

Sannicola to Messina – longest ride so far 520 km in 6.5 hrs and it included a ferry crossing from the mainland to Sicily (land of the Godfather). A large part along the coastline which is hard to escape in the boot of Italy considering its long and narrow shape. Mostly 4 lane roads with about 40% on the Autostrada but no tolls, in fact since I left Napoli there have been no tolls at all. There is a ferry every 40 min and it takes about 30 min to cross. You cannot buy tickets online, follow the signs and buy your ticket before you get to the port or there is a Ticket booth as you queue up to get on the ferry last chance to buy a ticket, very simple process cost 13 euro for me and motorcycle and you can pay with a credit card as you can for just about anything in Italy. I was waiting in the queue with the cars and a guy came up to me and told me to ride around them directly onto the ferry.

Messina – looks like it was once a rich city with some impressive buildings, parks and monuments but now they are all going to wrack and ruin, no maintenance and rubbish on the streets everywhere.

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All set to go from Matera and my battery was dead, anyway I got a push start and carried on. Did not have any further problems with the battery so figured that I must have turned the ignition key one notch too far into “Park” which leaves some lights on thus flattening the battery. B roads all day mostly in poor condition.

I went via Alberobello to see the stone roofed houses called Trulli, tourists and tour groups everywhere.

From the Trulli I rode to a small farm near Sannicola which I used as my base to explore the area. Gallipoli has a very densely packed old town.

Leuca is the southernmost point of Italy’s boot heel. This coast has many beaches and is a popular place with the locals.

The ride from Naples to Matera was very nice. Once I turned off the coast road traffic disappeared, winding roads through hills and rolling countryside with farmland, perfect if a little warm 35c hahaha but I was only wearing a long sleeved shirt so I did not cook.

Matera, also known as the “the Subterranean City”. The old city or the “Sassi” is a UNESCO world heritage site, a very interesting place. It is also a registered Knee killer :-).

The 2nd of July is the Festa Della Bruna in Matera and all the streets are lit up at night.