Versuvius…
The Sicilans will tell you they’re not Italian, they’re Sicilian, except when the football team plays, when they’re Italian. Well we are now with the Italians who are Italian all the time and we’re now venturing up from Salerno to Naples and beyond. After a couple of days regrouping in Salerno and persuading Linda to get back on the bike our first stop was Stabia, a less well know Pompei. It’s not far from Salerno and there are 3 routes to get there from Salerno. Round the Amalfi coast, which was a definite no no, with all the hills and sheer drops combined with...
Read MoreSicilian woes and farewell
Taormina Amphitheatre Taormina Cathedral Lazy lunch…. Taormina stairways.. Last Sicilian breakfast… Good Morning Salerno.. Taormina is another UNESCO town on top of a big steep hill. We played it sensibly and stayed at the bottom so we could get the cable car up. Naturally it was out of order that day and we had to taxi up instead, though some people were cycling up, but they looked more Giro D’Italia than flip flop tourers, so good choice I think! When you reach the top the site to see is the Greek / Roman theatre perched on the end of an outcrop with a back drop of...
Read MoreThere she blows!
Back row seats, Catania Amphitheatre Not as good as the real deal… Our Etna wheels… Always smoking… Crater hike.. Farewell Catania.. Etna foothills Stoker’s view!!! Coastal lunch stop Goodnight and Goodbye Etna. Catania is a UNESCO city, obviously not the rubbish filled ghettos, but the gorgeous majestic city centre. The buildings are magnificent and the place is filled with monasteries and tourists and there’s a Dutch chippy! We did the tourist trail taking in the Cathedral, two Roman Amphitheatres, one of which had been converted to housing then reclaimed, the...
Read MoreThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly…
Our first Etna view As far as the eye can see.. Enjoying the coastal cycle path Getting closer.. View from our B&B ???? The usual roadside accompanymemt… ???? Backstreet Catania… Normal parking! Parking like the locals! Central Catania Wow, we left Syracuse on a beautiful coastal cycle path and got our first glimpse of Etna as we rounded our first corner. It’s enormous and slightly smoking at the top….or is that the cloud? The cycle path led us straight into our road through the largest chemical works in Italy handily placed next to the most active volcano in...
Read MoreAvoiding the madness…
Marzamemi Original Roman mosaic insitu Noto Town Hall Noto theatre Ancient caves where stone for Amphitheatres mined, Syracuse Syracuse Greek Amphitheatre Syracuse Cathedral Aperitivo… ???? From Pozzallo we headed to the south east corner of Sicily and had some of the nicest cycling we’ve had, lots of quiet roads interspersed with the usual poop you pants moments, but all in all very nice. Our northward leg from here took in the Roman Villa Tellari with some wonderful mosaic floors where we had our picnic lunch – cheddar cheese (from Malta) rolls! One of these mosaics was...
Read MoreFruit, switches and the BBC
Farewell Malta.. Plenty of full greenhouses bursting at the seams… Lemons line the back roads everywhere… Countries often become associated with objects, so a beret or baguette and you think French, bowler hat – British, Bicycle and cheese – Dutch, enormous gun toting, pickup truck driving religious evangelical nutter and you think American… Well, I’m now going to associate Sicilians with light switches….. They just love them! In fact they love them so much that you can often turn the hall light off whilst sitting on the loo! In our apartment last...
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