Elif&Bora's Discovery to the heart of art and history;ITALY

[BoRaBoRa]

It was a very nice experience for us,
to have new friends ,
to visit the heart of art and history,
to ride in the heaven of motorcycles.
It was a single moto tour with my wife Elif, between 21.08 and 01.09 on our GS.
This is the main route :3.300km. in 12 days

DAY 1
We started to catch the ferry from Cesme(TR) to Chios(GR) afterwards the ferry from Chios(GR) to Pireaus(GR)
waiting at a tea garden just accross the port

and time up,we are ready to board on

an hour later we are at Chios and relaxing a little..

and the delicious Greek Kitchen

Aneks' garage with many 2wheels

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY2
Riding between Pireas and Patras to catch our Superfast to Ancona,Corinth,beyond..

Quite good ferry with many oportunities, casino,internet,bars,restarants etc.

The next morning our Italy adventure will begin!

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 3
Ancona-Venice
Very happy, throttling in Italy

We dont have time to lose, we want to reach Venice before sunset
a poor discovery (i guess) burning,i hope nobody injured

After a quick stop, going on...to our day3 target,Venice...

Happily reached to Venice, found a secure park and took one of the boats to see around

our garage neighbours..

We will drop at San Marco and walk the area

Famous Murano Objects,
"we have no space to carry honey"
i love riding

Time to eat

After a while we leave Venice and search for an affordable hotel,which found at the district

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 4
Venice-Verona-Modena-La Spezia (Cinque Terre)

Because of the heavy hail on last night it wasnt possible for my thsirts to get dried, so what?
my wife weared my 2 tshirt on her jacket, at the first stop they were completely dry

Meal at Verona, nice omlette

Modena

and again on Autostrade..

gas and liquid stop

on the way to La Spezia through A2, weather changed.

Nice weather at La Spezia for a drink, of course birra

we explored Cinque Terre but very crowded and no accomodation for that night,
so stayed at La Spezia.

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 5

La Spezia-Pisa-visiting Tage-Firenze

Pisa

this friend guided us to the Pisa Tower

Pisa Tower

Our destination is Calci to visit our friend who helped me for my route planing and gave advices for Italy,
Tage&Sissel

we are very glad to see you, hope to meet again,always welcome..

Next: Firenze...

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 6
Firenze
Cathedrals, Piazzas,Duomos,Museums.. all are charming...

Piazzale Michelangelo-Firenze scene

Michelangelo

Palazzo Pitti

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio and Arno River

Piazza Della Signoria-most attractive one

Perseus-1554-Benvenuto Cellini

Neptune Fountain-1575

After Firenze our destination is Roma, but we will change our minds to give a stop at Siena even a stay maybe.

Hotels Garden

GS,resting...

Depart after breakfast and day7 Roma

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 7
Roma
we are now more excited..

Piazza Di Spagna

Hotel Villa Florence-Nomentana-Roma
Balcony

Garden

some views from Forums and Collesseo

We now want to find the fountain of love ,
(we know this fountain as fountain of love in Turkey)
after having refreshment at a bar oppiste of this nice hotel

Fountain Trevi-
Papa Nicolas restored in 1400s,
pool built by Alberti, in 18cc,
Nicola Salvi studied the niches and sculptures,
excellent!

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 8
Roma-Vatican City
we planned to ride on to Naples after visiting the Vatican,
havent decided yet whether to stay in Naples, or in Salerno...it depends...

Parked the bike so close to Vatican

Piazza San Pietro

After being checked by the security, we are now in, but told to wear our jackets,its forbidden to go inside with sleeveless, so we respected.

We went up to cupola but i stopped and waited at the point before 302 narrow and dark steps

Views from cupola

this is where i waited..smoking and having coke

Next: Vatican Museum, Raphaels Stanze and Sistne Chapel

Its a good idea to rent an audio guide, to learn and understand, we did so.

Excellent job on the ceilings, we had neck ache while watching.

Its a little heavy for me to have so many history and art visit in a few days, enough,lets go to summer places..

as i saw the dainese shop, i suddenly stopped for a quick look

it was already dark when we got to Naples, had a nice meal at the shore, rode around a few kms,then decided to go to Salerno,
Our Hotel-Salerno

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 9
Pompei, Amalfi

Coffee break in Pompei town then to the ruins...

Amalfi Coast, hard curves, nice scenery

hard curves, nice sceneray

tonights plan, dining out, early to bed, for the last ride in Italy tomorrow, to catch the ferry from Brindisi to Cesme (TR)

 

[BoRaBoRa]

DAY 10
Retrun has begun
Salerno-Bari-Brindisi

Check in job, new rider friends, time flows..

we are so happy to get to the ferry with no problems and quite excited to hug our kids.

DAY 11-12
on the ferry

at our berth

Riders in the ferry

Ferry Cafe, smoking and beer available,nice journey

Philip from Manchester-R1150GS ADV also UKGSER Member

Turkish friend Murat, riding ZZR1400 and Vera,

arriving at Cesme, we quickly started to ride on to home,370km,with one short stop and hugged our sugars.

Thank you for reading and for your patience.

F I N I T O

 

[BoRaBoRa]

Some Tips for Italy

(all are my own observations, may be right or wrong, just to give you some ideas)


*If you have plenty of time choose other roads then Autostrade,it is sometimes boring

*Central points,around duomos,piazzales (cafe,bar,buffets,rests) are a bit expensive

*Learn some Italian, simple phrases and words for daily life. i did so, it worked many times.

*Join a group with a guide while your visitings, to learn more, you can't learn and understand that much on your own, our timing never matched a guided group.

*Theft: we were warned about thefts before starting, but we never saw anything wrong, no theft, no fight, no drunks.
just be a little bit careful as you do where ever you go,its enough

*GPS is excellent to save time, if you have limited time take one

*Never think that you have enough gas, sometimes for 40-50kms you dont see any gas station on Autostrades, we would be out of gas 2 times, found the sation in the last few kms by chance

*I'm not interested in camping, so have no idea, sorry

*At the city centres Traffic flow is too fast, sometimes scooters and mopeds can annoy you,many passing by your right or left,be careful

*Speed controls on many points by hidden cameras, obey the speed limits (I didnt )

*Never stopped by a policeman

Overall, we liked Italy.

Arrivederci

(next: BMW Biker Meeting 2009)

 

[harry]

Thank you, nice report and photos

 

[NeilF]

Brilliant! Many thanks for taking time to share these with us.

I look forward to your next reports!


Cheers,

Neil.

 

[Dave56]

You must be a right pair of "culture vultures", certainly saw the sights on this trip.
Really enjoyed sharing your experiences, thanks for that

 

[BoRaBoRa]

if you liked? thats my pleasure thank you

 

[Mr K]

Thanks for the write-up!

Must explore Italy (and Turkey) one day....

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Nice write-up, and good pictures.

 

[THE DOCTOR]

Looks like you had a good time.
Thanks for sharing the photos & tips.

 

[Ash]

cracking pictures

 

[boboneleg]

Hey Bora,

really enjoyed your report and great photos

Brought back a lot of memories for me as my wife is Italian and we have visited many of the places you went to.

Really loved seeing the photo of the chuch in Pompeii as my son has a special link with that church

Where do you live in Turkey, I have only been there once but it is a beautiful country