Mid September 2024, Storm Boris was brewing on the Adriatic Sea, making the best path south to Civitavechia and the ferry to Tunisia over the mountains via Bologna into Tuscany.
And it’s beautiful hilltop towns and cities.
One of the most spectacular of the hill top cities is San Gimignano
It’s popular to visit but not as busy as nearby Florence that I visited back in 2022.
In the city, it’s all walking and full of activity.
Across a little valley from San Gimignano there’s a campground in the little village of Santa Lucia
With a terrace where you can watch a balloon rise over San Gimignano.
As it was coming to the end of the season, so finding a place to camp at Principina a Mare right near the beach.
The beach at Principina has amazing beach shelters made from driftwood.
Out of Tuscany and into Lazio, there was time for a lunchtime time stop in Tarquinia.
The blog above and this are an attempt to catch up on telling tales of 2024’s adventure in Italy and Tunisia.
Padova is a beautiful university city. Not far from Venice, the city captures Venician elegance without the crowds.
The central plaza contains statues of thee great philosophers and is flanked by magnificent Cathedrals. The second oldest University in Europe and sumptuous Italian food.
Chioggia, is at the southern end of the Venice Lagoon. A commercial fishing port with canals and historic building and beautiful seafood.
D’Ababo is a Terme Centre to the west of Padova. People come from all over Italy to soaking the therapeutic waters and hot mud baths.
The town in named after Pietro D’Abano who commenced the medicinal use of the water and mud back in the 1200s.
The town is modern and lively especially in the Terme apart of town and a good market in the residential area.
From D’Adano it was across the mountains of Emilia-Romagna into Tuscany.
It’s been a while since I last wrote, and much has happened. The most momentus was the coming of a grand daughter. Quite a little distraction!!
Back to the last European Summer and some of its great ranges.
Rioja is one of Spain’s great wine regions and Horrow. The wines and food make it a beautiful gastronomic stop.
The Pyrenees.
It’s a short hop into the Pyrenees and the beautiful city of Torla.
This little village sits just below the Spanish/France Frontier and is an the border of the Ordesay-Monte Perdido NP
Montserrat
The mountain trip across Spain ended at the amazing Montserrat.
Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso
Gran Paradiso rates amongst my favourite national parks in Europe. Once the King’s hunting ground, it was then gifted to the people after the unification of Italy. From a breeding program at Gran Paradiso, the Europen Ibix has been re established in the European Alps.
There are some beautiful views on the walks.
There is often a beautiful mountain and mountainous road in Europe, but these were lovely mountains indeed
Ferries have become an integral part of my travels in Europe. This year, I travelled on 5 ferry routes.
The route from Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries is a great route. Expensive compared to the Mediterranean routes, but wonderfully well organised and quite luxurious.
Also, Plymouth, with its amazing maritime history, is a great place to head to ‘The Continent’.
The queuing for the ferry is a great place to meet other touring bikers and check out their bikes.
After riding east from Santander along the Pirenoes, the next ferry route was Barcelona to Genova. This was on GNV.
The Italian ferry companies are a little less organised than Brittany Ferries. Also, Barcelona is a challenging port as it’s right in the centre of the city, which adds the additional challenge of managing city traffic to get to the terminal.
The overnight ferry left Barcelona late morning, arriving in Genova just after dawn. Perfect if the plan is to head to Torino and the Italian Alps
After a three week tour through Italy, the port at Civitavechia called as there awaited the Grimaldi lines ferry to Tunis.
The ferry terminal at Civitavechia, the port of Rome, is large and sprawling with a large number ferry and cruise ship terminals.
Civitavechia itself is a lovely seaside town.
The ferry to Tunisia was the smallish, oldish, MV Catania a bit quirky, but full of colour, and life.
It was a moment of total excitement arriving in Tunisia.
Thankfully, there was a motorcycle tour group from Italy to follow through the rigours of customs- visa, import bike, buy insurance and change money
After a couple or weeks touring Tunisia, it was time again to negotiate customs again and catch the MV Catania to Salerno.
Arriving just after dawn in Salerno was both beautiful and perfect for riding the Amalfi Coast road traffic free. (But that story is for another blog)
Having said goodbye to Tunisia it was soon time to say goodbye to Italy. Back at Civitavechia this time to board the Grimaldi Lines ferry to Barcellona. The MV Roma and MV Barcelona cross between the Italian and Spanish capitals 6 days are week. These are the largest most luxurious ferries on the Mediterranean. After over 12,000km of travel the 23 hour crossing is a luxury.
Unfortunately, the ferry arrives in Barcelona at 23.00 not handy really for anything but it saves over 1,400 km of riding.
It was late October as I queued with the other bikes I the cold and rain of Santander to catch the ferry back to Plymouth. The Bay of Biscay was a little rolley but it was warm and pleasant inside the ferry.
Santander is the only ferry port that has a duty free shop. Perfect for buying a beautiful Spanish Brandy.
Over the years of motorcycle travel in Europe I’ve come to learn how the careful integration of ferry travel the planning helps the traveller to spread their wings much further that otherwise possible.
It was late September, and with my adventure in the Balkans complete, I bordered the overnight ferry from Split to Ancona.
From Ancona, it was an easy ride across Italy to Civitavechia, the Port of Rome to catch the ferry to Barcelona.
A restful way to travel and 14,000 km touring.
The village of Civitavechia is a little way from the port, but it is a nice place for a bit of sightseeing while waiting for the ferry.
There is a certain chaos at Italian ferry ports. There are no electronic tickets, and the ticket office always seems to be placed a long way from the ferry dock with a myriad of one way unmarked lanes to be negotiated between the two.
But the Italian ferries are relatively inexpensive, and it was a restful 20 hour crossing from Rome to Barcelona.
From Barcelona, I took a route across the Pyrenees through Andorra. Agh the beautiful Pyrenees.
I stopped for the night at Ax les Termes in the Midi Pyrenees. A beautiful hot spring village. With public hot foot baths.
My next destination was to Cahors and its famous bridge. Travelling along the tree lined back roads, past the Midi Canal, rivers, and beautiful villages.
Cohors is a vibrant city. To complement the famous bridge.
My last stop in Europe for this trip was the port city of St Malo, with its old walled town right on the Atlantic Ocean
Of course I had to join in for a swim!!!
For lovers of the maritime world the port at St Malo is a treasure.
The overnight ferry had me soon back in England and my sister’s house in London.
Before boarding the flight back to Australia, I caught up with a mate for lunch in the Cottswalds. A beautiful part of England and reputedly an inspiration for the writing of ‘The Hobbit’ and the ‘Lord of the Rings’.
It’s February in Australia as I reminisce about last year. There are some adventures to be had here at home, but my mind keeps back to a sign at Civitavechia.
I’ve been to Spain (Spagna). Ive been to Greece (Grecia), Sardinia (Sargegna), and Sicily (Sicilia): but I haven’t been to Tunisia.
