Easy Riders: September 2013

Friday, 27 September 2013

Italy - Pompei

Pompei

We had a smooth crossing to reach Bari, Italy. It was Sunday when we arrived and of course everything was closed. Mike bought a map at a garage and we were off across to the other side of the country, firstly along the coast then inland among the vineyards and olive groves. The weather was definitely cooler for which we were grateful. Signs everywhere pointing to historic churches, but we cannot visit them all, we were headed to Pompei. We came to a small village in a rural setting and were surprised to see wind turbines, hundreds of them, in a valley, they usually sit up on the hillside and there was no wind, all was calm. Next morning we knew why the wind turbines were there, the wind swept through the valley at great speed. We could only manage twenty eight kilometres and stopped for the day, sheltering at an old homestead. At 6pm the wind just stopped, like someone had turned off a switch. The next day was calmer as we headed into the hills, climbing up and down for the next few days passing through small villages until we reached Pompei. Along the way we met a man whose parents were Italian but he was born in England. He bought a holiday house in Italy which they used frequently and then his children refused to go home and have settled here so now he does too. He spoke of the frustration of trying to get business done, he uses the internet whenever possible. We sympathized, we wanted to post some postcards and after much searching found “la posta”. The man weighed each card, looked up individually the cost and attached the stamp. What could have been a two minute transaction took ten.

Every garage has a bar – a coffee bar. Every town has a pizzeria or two or three. We have eaten a lot of pizza but not succumbed to the short black yet. Pastry for breakfast, pizza for lunch, spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, Mike will put that weight he has lost back on in no time.

Mike had his second puncture for the trip, the last one was in Vietnam. That makes two each, all of them from wire off retreads along the road.

The last thirty kilometres into Pompei was a traffic bottleneck and it was late when we arrived. Unfortunately Mike has a mild return of vertigo, but medication which we had brought with us and a few days rest did the trick and we were able to visit the Pompei ruins, go to the crater of Mt. Vesuvius and take a trip along the Amalfi coast to Sorrento.

Pompei is an ancient city buried by a volvano eruption on 24^th August, 79 AD and has been excavated to reveal a whole city. As we walked down the street, we could see where cart wheels has worn down the stones through constant use, the remains of bakeries and wine shops and everyday houses and shops. There were also religious sites for worshipping Gods and Godesses, Christianity had not made it here. There is a large theatre and a smaller one, an odium, and an amphitheatre. It is a skeleton of a city which stands as it was built with walls and fountains frozen in time. The area is large, forty four acres, and it took us all day to get around it all.

The next day we went to Mt Vesuvius. The crater which caused all the damage to Pompei is dormant and can be seen surrounded by lava, now solidified. There is another crater, still active, which we were able to peer into. Steam can be seen rising from the cracks in the walls. From the crater the view is extensive across to Naples, the ocean and the Isle of Capri.

We caught a bus along the Amalfi coast to Sorrento. This area is impressive with houses perched on cliffs and vineyards on terraces as we wound along a narrow, busy road of hairpin bends. The townships of Amalfi and Sorrento were crowded so we could only imagine what it would be like in the busy tourist season.

We have been in Pompei for a week, The weather has been glorious, about twentyfive degrees every day, and we have met some interesting people at the camping ground. A number of Australians and Kiwis and the always friendly Germans who speak perfect English. Byron from Tasmania who is touring with a mobile home gave us a flag with a kangaroo on it and it now adorns Heather's pannier, just to let people know where we are from. Byron carries spare flags just to give away. It is time be on the bikes again and we will be heading to Naples, then Rome.

Amalfi coast road

Vesuvius

Pompei

On the road to Pompei

Saturday, 21 September 2013

Big hills sometimes means pushing as well as pedalling

Athens to Patra to catch the ferry to Italy

We managed the ride out of the city of Athens with little difficulty and rode to the port of Pereas where we caught a local ferry across the bay to another peninsula. The local ferries are frequent and inexpensive, 1.10 Euro, about $1.50 for the crossing. This peninsula reminded us of the Mornington Peninsula, just out of the city with seaside living but suburban shopping. We had a ten kilometre ride to the other side and caught another ferry for a ten minute ride to the next peninsula. We have caught a number of ferries, we enjoy the change of pace and a rest from the bikes. Headed for Corinthos we followed a coastal road which offered great views of the Argean sea, a beautiful blue. Twelve kilometres from Corinthos we crossed a bridge over a canal which had been forged through the ismyth in 1898, a great engineering feat for that time. Modern ships are too big to pass through the canal and it is used mainly for tourism now. We had a long chat about the canal with a garage proprietor, who, when he saw us coming rushed out with bottles of cold water. His son was involved in erecting a monument there to acknowledge the assistance given by the Hungarians during the excavation of the canal.

When we go sightseeing we usually leave the bikes and walk or catch local transport. A big mistake in Greece, the buses run when they want to and not to a schedule. We thought we must have missed the bus stop so asked at the local travel agent who luckily for us was an Australian who had Greek parents and she was now living in Greece for the lifestyle. She gave us directions but we waited and waited, then a work colleague of the Australian woman pulled up in her car and told us to get in, she took us the Corinthos ruins telling us we could be waiting all day, if the bus is not full it may not even run. We were most appreciative as the museum closes at 3pm. I suppose we were lucky it did not close at 2.pm like everything else.

The old city of Corinthos is the remains of a city, mostly known as the place where St Paul wrote the Letter to the Romans, he wrote the Letter to the Corinthians after leaving here. The place where he preached, in front of the shops can be seen still. There is part of a temple used for worshipping Greek Godesses still standing, roads, shops, fountains and a museum which houses statues and tiles recovered from the site. There were not many people visiting so we wandered around at our leisure seeking shade under trees from the hot sun.

The next day was cooler, even a little rain, and people scrambled to bring in their deck furniture as this was the first rain for over three months, and the first time we had been rained on since China. It did not last long and we dried out very quickly because we had a stiff wind against us. We reached Patra, a large port city and bought out tickets for the overnight ferry ride to Italy.