POMPEII & AMALFI
... we are back to the Mediterranean side of Italy!
28th - 30th March | 2022
On Monday morning it was time to leave our little apartment; back into the mountains and then Pompeii. Unfortunately, the weather was not too good, but it didn´t rain (yet). First, it was along the coast to Vasto and then it turned inland towards the mountains of Matese. We drove the SP106 up to Campitello Matese, which took us up to 1450m of altitude and snow again. We decided to have our picnic lunch at the entrance of a deserted hotel, in 2C cold! The beer definitely didn´t get warm ;-) After lunch, it was supposed to be still the SP106, but it stopped after 500m, meaning they didn´t clear the snow! Great, no warning at the bottom of the entrance or before you go up into the mountains! So we had to ride all back down again. As that was not enough, a sudden thick fog came in too, so we hardly could see each other when we were trying to find the right road.
Whilst driving down the SP106 we decided to go straight towards the coast of Pompeii and Amalfi as it is not worth finding a camping spot, as the weather forecast is not improving. We also wanted to do Pompeii and Amalfi without luggage. To make things easier 2-up on the BMW, we looked for a hotel in the triangle between inland Pompeii and Amalfi, which we found in the area of Mercato de San Severino.
Finally settled in the room with some internet Steffi bought the tickets for Pompeii for the next morning online. And then it was time for finishing another blog so you readers know what we are up to ;-) so another late night!
After breakfast, in the sunshine, we went 2-up to Pompeii. Steffi was so glad that James drove as the traffic was a bit crazy, even without the MSDs! And again, 20km took us 70mins!! Closer to Pompeii you always had a view of Vesuvio Vulcano, very impressive! In Pompeii we found a good parking spot really close to the entrance, unfortunately, we had to pay, but they promised to watch our bike. Let´s hope so, as we got things tied with locks to it ...
What an impressive, huge area! It was really interesting to see, especially the roads they had there already in the olden days! You still could see craved in the tracks of the carts that passed there daily! After 2.5 hours we had the feeling "enough is enough" and it is time to find some lunch.
Geared up, back on Schimmelchen, we drove towards the coast. At the entrance of Sorrento, we found a little place for our lunch. Steffi was soo hungry that she ordered a pizza, and in the end, James had to help her ;-) refreshed we carried on the coastal narrow coastal road through all the little villages until Amalfi. Again the 25km took us good 2 hours; OK with some picture stops, of course. However, the traffic was already enough for Steffi as a pillion, and that is not even summer yet, and a weekday! But unstoppable James managed it all very relaxed, and with his sense of humour!
The coastal road is a very beautiful road! You are always seeing the sea! And the villages are really built into the mountains. Unfortunately, the sun was already very low, so we arrived in Amalfi when it was "in the shade"; but still light enough for a drink on the main square ;-).
In order to get back to our hotel, we had to continue that lovely coastal road until Salerno - and as everybody obviously was home for dinner, we had the road nearly on ourselves! This part is also very stunning. We couldn´t really decide if this coastal road around Amalfi or the one at Côte d'Azur is more stunning; at least we had more luck with the weather here!
The next morning was packing up, in the rain, buuhuuu. The owner of the hotel gave us some tips for our trip to Calabria and Sicily, which was really nice of Sergio of the Hotel Villa del Carmelo. We went back, around Salerno to catch again the coastal road taking us south. This time all appeared full of rubbish and not well looked after. Really different to what we saw before in Italy!
In Paestum, we passed a long thick stone wall which made us a bit wondering what that is. Coming around a bend, the answer was a massive archaeological area. The temple of Poseidon was very well preserved, and it was easy to take a picture from the outside...
Around lunchtime, the GPS took us up into the mountains on the road SP269 (A and later C). We can really recommend that one, as it really takes you up into the mountains, up to 800m altitudes through olive groves.
The road was narrow and full of bends and twists; not ideally in rain though, but the view even with low clouds and in rain was great.
As the weather is not getting better for wild camping, we had booked a cheap hotel room close to Scario. Looking later at the weather forecast and the map, we most probably are going to change our travel plans within Calabria a bit. Instead of following the "west" side along the coast, we are going to change over to the "east" side and then do the coast along towards Sicily. Actually, we have a track like TET that someone gave us, that we are going to test partially too. The reason is the rain coming in from the "west" side, but the mountains give it a natural barrier!
We also started to look into ferries from Palermo to Tunisia and the travel restrictions due to Covid19. What we do not really understand, is the hotel voucher. As we are doing a round tour, how can I present a hotel voucher? Does our tent count?!? Any recent, updated information is more than welcome!
Ah yes, guess what?!? Steffi received an email from her bike insurance. So "our friend" with the Golf is claiming the damage! So let the insurance deal with it, after I have sent my statement in!
Let's see in the next blog if we will go along the "westerly" or the "eastern" side of Calabria towards Sicily. Maybe by then, we will also have news on the insurance case or entrance of Tunisia ...
Places | Cities:
Vasto, Isernia, Campitello matese, Benevento, Mercato San Severino, Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Salerno, Paestum, Catona, Scario.
Driven km | Trip:
From home: 5585 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
Both a bit sniffling all-day riding along in the rain; let´s hope nothing will follow to that!
Special thanks to:
booking.com to find great deals for us (genius status!)
Ms Sunshine to lighten our day in Pompeii and Amalfi coast.