BUMOT
Registered user
My name is Asen and I am from Bulgaria. That is my first ride report here.
A few details of the trip:
Duration - 11 days
Mileage – 4100 km
Purpose of the trip – just to ride around
Visited historical sites - a few
Day One.
At 7.30 am I left Sofia. My purpose was to reach Igoumenitsa, where I had booked a ticket for the ferry to Bari.
Nothing interesting during this trip. I found that after Thessaloniki there are no petrol stations directly on the highway. To fill up the tank you should take off the highway and enter the village.
I was quite happy with the price €1.85 per litre.
Sometime after Thessaloniki.
The section before Igoumenitsa with many tunnels.
At 4.00 pm I arrived in Igumenitsa. The ferry would depart somewhere at midnight. I checked in and hang out in a bar with free internet, to which I was directed by a kind girl from Igoumenitsa.
The ferry was considerably late and at about 1:30 we finally sailed away.
At dawn, before Barry.
The Italian coast
Day Two.
At 10.00 pm I arrived in Bari.
At the port with a group of Greek riders whom I met on the ferry.
Today I had to get to Palermo. I had 700 km ahead. I said goodbye to my neighbours and started my motor bike. While exiting the centre of Bari, a man carelessly opened his car door and tried to take me off the bike. Luckily for me I get away without something like Tsukahara’s twist vault. Then on two occasions I took wrong turns and instead on the highway I found myself on a nice first-class road.
And so to Sibari where I got on the highway leading to Reggio di Calabria.
The highway was partially under construction but the views were very pleasant to be seen. However, there were no many straight sections on the highway.
Shortly before Reggio di Calabria.
From Messina to Palermo I had the feeling that the whole trip was in tunnels. The distance between the tunnels was not more than 10 meters. To make the things more interesting the petrol reserve light lit up long before Palermo, there were no petrol stations and there were not many cars on the highway, while the tunnels were 1-2 km long. It was just the perfect place to organize an adventure in the dark.
Somehow I made it to the first petrol station by riding economically at a speed of 90 km/h on the road sections of the last 30 km. The tank needed unprecedented amount of petrol to be filled up, which had not happened until then. I had had not more than a litre of petrol.
At 10.00 pm I finally found my hotel on top of a hill in Palermo.
Day Three.
Palermo at dawn.
I got ready and went down to the port. First I stood in a large queue to check in, then in another large queue for passport control and boarding the ferry.
The atmosphere suggested where I headed for.
Chao Sicily, hello Africa
The ferry was very nice. While walking through the corridors I should be careful not to step on the head of the resting passengers. It took me about three hours to get used to the smell of the exclusive selection of socks in the room where I had booked a seat.
As midnight I arrived in Tunisia. I had to find a hotel but the GPS map of Tunisia did not show the street names. There was no one to ask. I rode to the city lights and at a roundabout I saw two policemen. I stopped to ask them about the hotel but they were not sure exactly where it was located and they spoke French Italian and Arabic while I spoke a sort of English.
I was told that I should ride straight on for six kilometres and turn right then. Somehow this clarification did not appeal to me. I asked them whether a taxi driver would know the hotel address and they immediately stopped the first unoccupied taxi. I bargained with the driver and drove off to the hotel. This driver was probably a candidate for starring in the movie TAXI IN TUNISIA 5. Such a chase was it that I barely caught up with him. After 6-7 km race I was in the hotel.
A few pictures of night Tunisia from the hotel.
A few details of the trip:
Duration - 11 days
Mileage – 4100 km
Purpose of the trip – just to ride around
Visited historical sites - a few
Day One.
At 7.30 am I left Sofia. My purpose was to reach Igoumenitsa, where I had booked a ticket for the ferry to Bari.
Nothing interesting during this trip. I found that after Thessaloniki there are no petrol stations directly on the highway. To fill up the tank you should take off the highway and enter the village.
I was quite happy with the price €1.85 per litre.
Sometime after Thessaloniki.
The section before Igoumenitsa with many tunnels.
At 4.00 pm I arrived in Igumenitsa. The ferry would depart somewhere at midnight. I checked in and hang out in a bar with free internet, to which I was directed by a kind girl from Igoumenitsa.
The ferry was considerably late and at about 1:30 we finally sailed away.
At dawn, before Barry.
The Italian coast
Day Two.
At 10.00 pm I arrived in Bari.
At the port with a group of Greek riders whom I met on the ferry.
Today I had to get to Palermo. I had 700 km ahead. I said goodbye to my neighbours and started my motor bike. While exiting the centre of Bari, a man carelessly opened his car door and tried to take me off the bike. Luckily for me I get away without something like Tsukahara’s twist vault. Then on two occasions I took wrong turns and instead on the highway I found myself on a nice first-class road.
And so to Sibari where I got on the highway leading to Reggio di Calabria.
The highway was partially under construction but the views were very pleasant to be seen. However, there were no many straight sections on the highway.
Shortly before Reggio di Calabria.
From Messina to Palermo I had the feeling that the whole trip was in tunnels. The distance between the tunnels was not more than 10 meters. To make the things more interesting the petrol reserve light lit up long before Palermo, there were no petrol stations and there were not many cars on the highway, while the tunnels were 1-2 km long. It was just the perfect place to organize an adventure in the dark.
Somehow I made it to the first petrol station by riding economically at a speed of 90 km/h on the road sections of the last 30 km. The tank needed unprecedented amount of petrol to be filled up, which had not happened until then. I had had not more than a litre of petrol.
At 10.00 pm I finally found my hotel on top of a hill in Palermo.
Day Three.
Palermo at dawn.
I got ready and went down to the port. First I stood in a large queue to check in, then in another large queue for passport control and boarding the ferry.
The atmosphere suggested where I headed for.
Chao Sicily, hello Africa
The ferry was very nice. While walking through the corridors I should be careful not to step on the head of the resting passengers. It took me about three hours to get used to the smell of the exclusive selection of socks in the room where I had booked a seat.
As midnight I arrived in Tunisia. I had to find a hotel but the GPS map of Tunisia did not show the street names. There was no one to ask. I rode to the city lights and at a roundabout I saw two policemen. I stopped to ask them about the hotel but they were not sure exactly where it was located and they spoke French Italian and Arabic while I spoke a sort of English.
I was told that I should ride straight on for six kilometres and turn right then. Somehow this clarification did not appeal to me. I asked them whether a taxi driver would know the hotel address and they immediately stopped the first unoccupied taxi. I bargained with the driver and drove off to the hotel. This driver was probably a candidate for starring in the movie TAXI IN TUNISIA 5. Such a chase was it that I barely caught up with him. After 6-7 km race I was in the hotel.
A few pictures of night Tunisia from the hotel.
