Marmore Falls

 Marmore Falls

Marmore Falls (trickle before release)

We have a day of travel up to Terni and Spoleto, Italy from Caserta which takes us from a very arid climate in Caserta into some high alpine regions close to Avezzano very near the tree line. The wind from the start of the day off the Bay of Napoli is very strong and traffic up to Capua is dreadfully slow. As we get further from Caserta traffic diminishes to a point where riding our bike is more fun even though road maintenance isn't that great.

Explanation

Once we are on the road to Reiti from Avezzano the roads improve dramatically. As we weave over a back road near Marmore I get a first glimpse of the release of water over the Falls on Tuesday afternoon. There is a lot of info regarding the water release, when it's scheduled and why, some tourism based now, but much of it dates back into BC times. On Wednesday we take the tour of the Falls and visit a museum that is utterly fantastic. We weren't supposed to get entrance with our ticket but the Italian lady took pity on us and we were so impressed by the engineering information provided.

We wish Kaden, our grandson could have been there as well.

Just before the 11am release the waterfall looks like the above photo.

As they gradually release the water from the dam it builds to this.

It was great to see Europe's tallest waterfall and learn all about the engineering over centuries to deal with different issues associated to the water.

 As we find out later the area around Spoleto with these falls, Assisi and now the Tibetan bridge at Sellano we have again missed a must see destination. 

Sellano

Hidden in the mountain range to the NE of Spoleto, only 34 twisty kms away, is this Tibetan foot bridge which connects Sellano to Montesanto Castle. A 50 min. walk 175 meters above the gorge, this is the tallest 'bridge' in Europe. People who walk it are provided with a helmet, and harness. It looks like we missed a great attraction. Not sure I could have crossed it, but it would have been nice to see. And Spoleto and our Agritourismo Rosa would have been the perfect location for another day trip. 

You can see a youtube video on it here. https://youtu.be/KzQNhZ99Tlg?si=mIHtD3F0iYvXi65e

The Tyrrhenian Sea Gulf of Maratea and Policastro

 The Tyrrhenian Sea Gulf of Maratea and Policastro

Our stay in Amantea grew by a day and we had wanted 1 more to cover the weekend but unfortunately we couldn't make it happen. So we got one final day of beach only weather and then on Saturday Sept.2nd we headed north to Maratea.

Cristo Redentore

Now Maratea's claim to fame as we reported in our Hidden Italy segment in 2014 is the 5th largest statue of Christ the Redeemer and since we wanted to take our time heading back up the coast we wanted to see it again. The drive up was super busy with tons of line ups of vehicles on the roads so the going was a bit slower. But our quest felt great to arrive and exchange photo taking with an Italian couple. We are always blown away with the video drone footage and music out to it. You can watch Bartolo's drone video here. Enjoy!

Later that afternoon we arrived in Policastro and found the last room for the night in the small village, right across the road from the Old town walls and Cathedral.

  When visiting the cathedral we were really amazed at the detail in the artwork on the ceiling made of wood from the mid 1600's.

We are really glad we were able to make this happen!

 

The South West Med Coast of Italy

 The South West Med Coast of Italy

Tropea

Our two day stay in Caserta was good but now we are pushing south. Given the high winds and rainy weather that's been off & on I look at the 4-5 day forecast and decide to outrun the weather by heading to the south end of our travels and then work back, rather than have the weather follow us down.

Out of Caserta we head down towards Salerno and the Reggio-Calabria Autostrada that  would take us all the way to the ferry to Sicily. Our destination is Amantea, a Mediterranean coastal town about 150 kms off the southern tip. We've been here before on our 2014 trip and enjoyed the weather, accommodation and people we met. 

What we missed is taking in Tropea, a Banff like tourist town, so we decided we'd stay in Amantea at the same hotel we stayed in before, and do a day ride down to Tropea.

The ride down was as expected interspersed a bit with a few sprinkles of rain, but as we headed south and climbed the weather got really quite cool, reminiscent of the Columbia Ice Fields. At one point we stopped put our jacket liners in and at a rest area/ gas stop had a nice chat with two riders from Malta doing the same thing trying to outrun the weather and head home from their Swiss Alps adventure. 

As we exited the autostrada at Cosenza toward Paola we finally saw the weather start to break in our favor and we arrived in Amantea about 45 mins later sweating from now being overdressed. A funny but weird thing happened. We had stayed at the La Tonnara in 2014, and had booked it again for this trip. On arrival we walked in only to see the front desk empty and in a few minutes someone came over and asked if they could help. We advised we were checking in and they said we're full, maybe you booked with La Tonnara Grande Hotel, next door. So we walked over and sure enough we had. The mistake was in our favor over the extended time we decided to stay as the place was definitely an improvement to the other hotel, which appeared a bit tired now. We were treated so well and the place was just so classy with a pool that I've never seen so clean. It was really well decorated and Sandra wanted me to take a photo of a divider in the breakfast room with the chairs and table set-up to illustrate what we were experiencing.

Tropea

As we were heading out the next morning for our day trip down to Tropea and family came running over to us and asked if we really were from Canada. They were from Hamilton, saw the Cdn flag stickers on the bike and wanted to inquire. We chatted for a few minutes as they were waiting to be driven to the airport to fly home. Their children were a bit younger than Shannon and Blair were when we had taken them in '91 but we remarked about how it impacted their development and they said they hoped for the same impact.

As I said at the outset Tropea

is a Banff like setting only in a south Med coastal environment. The weather and scenery were equally spectacular and we spent a few hours checking out a Cathedral devoted to Santa Maria from Romania, and the monastery run by the Benedictine monks who brought education to the masses of children. 

We ended our day their in the early afternoon, drove back to Amantea and enjoyed a very relaxing
afternoon at the pool.

Spectacular - Etruscan Civilization of 900-500 BC

 Neat = Spectacular

Our second day in Caserta and Sandra's research has hit another homerun!

Santa Maria Capua Vetere,Caserta (Campanian amphitheatre)

Alot of people, us included, have heard of the Roman Colosseum, and many of us have been there. Matter of fact we are fortunate enough to have been to many such World Heritage Sites (WHS).

Well the Colosseum in Rome is apparently a nickname for the Flavian Amphitheatre. Now we all know. So this amphitheater predates the Roman one by centuries and is attributed to the Etruscan civilization of 900-500 BC. It is thought by many to be the model for Rome's amphitheater.

Our weather forecasting skills allow us to see it early enough in the day to avoid some of the thundershowers that are rolling through western Italy right now. The big difference between this and the one in Rome, is that it is in Hidden Italy and away from alot of tourism. But the artifacts and access are as Sandra said, "Neat" which I suggest is spectacular. Regardless, our tour of the site today was amazing.

There may have been another 15-20 people on site at the time of our visit and they all were Italian. The site is more 'natural' in its state, meaning you are seeing it not reconstructed in the manner of the famed Colosseum, but rather with almost worn out seating due to the age and exposure to the elements. 

Here in a series of photos is the story of what we saw.

Campanian amphitheatre (Click on any pic to enlarge)

Inside the main seating area

Amazing walk through the staging area
for the beast fights

The Cages for the animals
below ground

The Main corridor leading to steps
 that would have the combatant
animals or people enter the arena.

Artifacts in natural patina

Old and New - Perspectives

 Old and New      -   Perspectives

Mount Vesuvius - Tale of 2 Cities? (Click any picture for a larger view)

Our ride south from Ostia via Roma started with a blustery morning in Ostia and an observation re: human trafficking that'll have to be explained offline.

We left the B&B at 10:30am having checked weather forecasts and knowing we'd have to adapt to what came next. We already felt the winds which were bringing in the weather systems we'll experience over the next couple of days. The 220 kms is covered in less than 2 hrs. and we had decided to use the Autostrada to allow us to move through the weather quicker., try to outrun, or take cover at a rest area. We had a brief shower catch us for a few minutes but because of the hot conditions we dried up within a couple of minutes. No harm no foul!

For those not familiar with Italy, in 2014 we had titled that area south of Rome as Hidden Italy. It's still true today. As we arrive in the Caserta area it's still much more a day to day city than a tourist centre even though it has some interesting sites to see.

For one, it's on the north side of Mt. Vesuvius where Pompei was on the south side. Different perspective, different outcomes. With the rain squalls coming off the Bay of Naples it was visible and invisible in a matter of minutes. We walked to a Mercato close by, got some fruit, buns, and a bottle of Montepulciano Abruzzo and made lunch after checking into our Novotel hotel. Our sightseeing today was decided by timing between the rain. This saw us both have a nap (still getting over J/lag) to awake to nicer conditions and we made our way around 5:30 pm to Casertavecchia, the old town, which is actually high up on another mountain looking toward Vesuvius.

We were glad for the cooler conditions and fresher air as we wound our way to the mountain top and walked the old town. Parking was at a premium and again the bike found a premium spot with a view of a slightly obscured Mt. V.

Royal Palace far below (center)

Another spectacular view overlooking Caserta itself revealed the Palace and it's grounds. The old town itself has a cathedral from the 8th century with brick work reminiscent of the orthodox churches we saw in Bulgaria from that same time period.

But it was the relic art work inside that revealed just how old this church really is.

As we walked the old town streets we are struck by the beauty/luxury of being able to step back in time. One interesting conversation occurred as we returned to our bike, where a gaggle of Italian visitors were using the viewpoint to take pictures. They had seen the Cdn.flag stickers on the bike before we returned and on our approach noticed our riding jackets bare the same ones stitched on. With a hand motion of applause one woman replies "Complimenti!" and they ask where we are from in Canada. 

In Hidden Italy, away from the demands of tourism, you encounter some inconveniences as well. We were heading back into modern day Caserta on a Monday, to discover many of the Trattoria's near our hotel were closed. The Palace is closed Tuesdays. 

I'm reluctant to head to a fast-food restaurant  but we start walking in that direction only to find a great little pizzeria/gelateria that was doing 'land-office' business selling pizza's out the door faster than you could shake a stick. We lined up got a couple of huge pieces of pizza boxed for E3 and headed back across the street to our room with a view to enjoy some of that wine, and great pizza - Napolean style.

What a beautiful end to an ever changing day!

Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido

 Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido

After a nice hot humid afternoon getting repacked after recovering our riding gear from panniers etc. we enjoyed a nice pizza at our B&B suite hotel. They run an extremely successful B&B, pizzeria near Ostia Antica, which was the birthplace of Rome before Rome. We had been here passing through in 2006 and stayed in 2014 while visiting the ruins of Ostia Antica itself. Our neighbor Jeff who has a degree in Archeology remarked about how impressed he was with OA and it is impressive. Our 2014 Ostia experience is here. 

This morning, Sunday, we reset and were just going to go for a walk when I suggested we head close to the Lido and then take our walk there. It was a good plan.

Neptune and Friend to the left

The Lido was busy when we got there around 10:30 am as it was super sunny, 33C humid and real beach weather. As we walked the Lido we got to see Neptune with a guy fishing beside him, and jam packed beaches.

Beaches crowded

The architecture there is very clearly 17th-19th century and beautiful with many restorations in place and ongoing.

After a nice 1 1/2 hr walk in the heat we found a gelato place and had our 1st gelato. The owner a woman came out when I was getting mine and offered a taste of an almond gelato she had just made. It was excellent and added to my cone with the cheesecake gelato I had ordered.

As we sat out front in the shade a bus sounded it's horn to get cars to move that were double parked because of the busy beaches.

Double parking common on streets

Glad we have our bike!

We later found a mercato and bought buns, mortadella, and beer for a quick bite lunch back at the hotel. Nice way to spend a day resting up for our next destination Caserta. 

Psst.. don't tell Customs it wasn't til Monday.

Supper under the Stars

Ok, so have you ever gone to a restaurant where you were "stunned' by a meal?" I was in 2014 with Al Bajniero in Ostia Antica about a 2 block walk from our B&B. In an earlier year 2006 we had a similar experience at a ristorante just off Christof Columbo.

One of the risks of such a memorable experience is creating a legacy memory of a meal that raises expectations beyond a reasonable level. That's what we feared here. The ristorante is still there and this evening we went there wondering what it would be like. Well it exceeded the high expectations we had because it exceeded in every category, taste, prep, value, setting. Sandra ordered a spinach stuffed Ravioli with a Bruschetta starter and the red house wine. I a fish stuffed ravioli with 5 large shrimp. It was superb with a 1/2L of house red wine. You just can't get high quality food delivered in such a special setting for more than twice the price of here in Canada.

There's a reason Sandra is smiling and the place is special for family special meals.

Amazing Food and Company

Special celebration this evening

Hope for the Best, plan for the worst!

 Hope for the Best, plan for the worst!

Ready to Ship

This year we re-committed ourselves to travelling back through parts of Europe on our bike. Westjet's BikeAir program was not well founded at the beginning but in June seemed to have found it's feet. We found reasonably priced premium Economy seats, chose Rome as the destination as Barcelona/Spain doesn't honour the EU temporary permit for moto's for leisure purposes. We wanted to avoid as much of the high tourist season and high heat temperatures. 

Plan for the Worst

We knew that Westjet would fly the bike from Vancouver as well as Calgary with a small surcharge but since we had family to visit we decided to truck the bike to Calgary and visit family in advance. That worked great and a benefit was my son-in-law came to the cargo drop-off and I got a picture with the bike after the customs clearance was given for it.

Next day, was flight day, our premium economy seats came with priority boarding passes and we were through Calgary security in record time and seated at the gate. There on the tarmac was our bike,

On the tarmac

now strapped to a handling platform and we actually saw it being loaded. Every other time we've shipped that all happened in the background. Wish I could have seen in in 2011 go through the Panama canal.

loading into the Hold

Boarding was efficient and we sat down to be greeted by Heather who offered us a wine spritzer. After last year with Air Canada we thought we must be sitting in Business class. The remaining service for the flight duration continued to be a business class experience.  and an on time arrival. Yeah! Westjet.

Part of planning means to consider the range of outcomes that could happen versus the best case scenario. We felt we needed to address Italian inefficiency by planning for something going sideways. That meant we wanted to address Jetlag, and customs clearance or damage to the bike in some capacity. Our own customs clearance was the fastest yet and we had changed our 1st night hotel to be closer and serviced by a shuttle just in case something happened. Everything went to plan and we checked in were in our room and received our verification call from World Flight Services (WFS) that the bike was now at Cargo City ready for pick up. Now AMC had cautioned it could take 4-6 hrs. to be ready for customs clearance. Expecting a chance of late arrival and a 6 hr window would have put it at customs closing of 6 pm on Friday. Now I wanted to make sure Customs for cargo was open Saturday and both WFS and the ADM (Customs website said it was open Saturday 8 am to 1pm.. So I confirmed with WFS that I would be in at 9 am Saturday. He said "Perfect", and I thought I can't believe this working out as best case. Because of the variables we had purchased our motorcycle insurance to start on the Saturday so even if we could have got there Friday Customs wouldn't have cleared the bike without an insurance policy in force.

Saturday the worst not first of August

Knowing our experience with jetlag we expected to be up early and ready for breakfast and to catch the 8:20 am shuttle back to the airport. Instead we woke up at 7:55 am got sort of ready, ran down, changed the shuttle until 9:00 am, had a quick breakfast and headed off. Fortunately an Australian/Sardinian lady sat beside me as I showed the driver the address I needed to go to. He told her he would show me where to catch that shuttle but he couldn't go there. When I disembarked his shuttle he saw the airport shuttle that travelled to Cargo City, some 5kms from the terminals, and stopped it and told the driver where I needed to go. I was there in record time. I thought well, the sleep in and early rush wasn't a problem as I'm on track. Boy was I wrong.

Cargo Customs security was helpful and the WFS info got them pointing me in the right direction, unfortunately WFS while giving me Ingresso 4 Room 25, for the paper work failed in their email info to mention they were on the 2nd flr. In the EU, grd floors are 0 our 1, our 2nd floor is their 1, and our 3rd is their 2nd.  I knew that and since the grd floor didn't have rooms it had cargo bay #'s I thought perhaps that what he meant. In any event I did get directed to the 1st floor where a helpful fellow told me they were in Rm 25 down the hall called BCUBE. I went down there and no one was in as most of the offices were closed being a Saturday. I found him again, and in the interim he found out that the AWB # reflected WFS instead of BCUBE and he walked me to the 2nd floor Rm 25 where WFS was located. Quickly I got my paperwork stamped, paid and they directed me to go the ADM for the Customs clearance done and then return to Xpress to get the crate brought out with the bike.

When I got to ADM 2nd floor I walked down until an office dr was open but the agent there was on the phone and he motioned me to the 2nd office door open. I went in there and in broken English after looking at papers he happened back saying 'not possible' Monday return. I questioned this and he said "Feesh (fish) fresh vebgitables'  and waved the Italian 'fini; hand sign. He motioned me off.

So back to WFS to question this and Yuri said he would come with me.

We went back to ADM and talked to the 1st guy who waved me off earlier. He gave the same answer, "Feesh. vegbtables". Now Yuri was clearly invested in not accepting this as they are familiar with ADM policy for Saturday mornings. So after a lot of back and forth and the agent saying he could do it if a supervisor was there to approve it , but one wasn't he said Monday. That's when I said "no transport" no hotel, must be in Caserta", he finally looked around the room and finally agreed. Since I knew from dealing with Stefan Knopf before to be prepared with document copies the moment he wanted something I had a copy for him and then fed him a copy of each document I knew was needed. Yuri said after that being prepared and making it simpler for him, was what stopped him from being lazy.

Anyway another 1/2 hr ensued in getting paper cleared by the Xpress Box and my bike was brought out. What should have been 1 to 1 1/4 hrs became over 3hrs. but I had the bike, started up and drove back to the hotel to load up and check out. Then put the GPS in place and apparently going though security at the airports it had reset all the GPS settings. I had to drive to our 2nd hotel which we preferred by memory and then finally got it working correctly. Whew what a day's work which just shouldn't have been that difficult. Now I know what Stefan says when he says "they think they are 2nd to God". referring to customs agents.

Anyway, it confirmed the need to anticipate what could go wrong and plan for it.