Our big surprise for the day was to be welcomed on board by Joern, the First Mate on the MSC Alessia when we were aboard. The chances of this are pretty slim, since NSB (the company operating the ship) has over 100 ships, and the officers can be assigned to any one of them. He had two months off over the winter, then decided to take a 2-month deployment so that he would have 4 or 5 months off in the summer to spend with his family. It was nice to see a familiar friendly face and hear a little bit about the MSC Alessia after our departure. Joern showed us how to use a sextant while aboard the last ship, so we’ll see if we can actually take a celestial fix or two while we’re crossing the Indian Ocean. Last time we were too slow – there’s only a short period where both the horizon and the stars are visible, so we clearly need more practice.

The Hanjin Brussels had originally been scheduled for Monday Feb 9, but was delayed by weather off Naples. We were first told Feb 10 for boarding, then on Feb 10 were told that a further delay to Feb 11 would ensue due to another ship (MSC Sarah) holding the berth our ship was to use. On the morning of Feb 10 we got another update from the agent that the ship would be berthing on the afternoon of Feb 10, and wondered what had happened this time. As we later found out from the Chief Mate, Hanjin Brussels had left Naples two hours after MSC Sarah, but pushed the engines to full power, and was able to pull ahead before La Spezia. This meant we got the berth originally allocated to MSC Sarah, and she had to wait for another berth to clear. It’s nice being aboard a fast ship! Amusingly enough, MSC Sarah spent less time in La Spezia and is berthed in-front of us in Barcelona .

We were very impressed by Umberto, the port agent for Hanjin in La Spezia. He knew exactly what was happening with our ship, spoke perfect English (better than the agents in Miami, Florida), and was happy to provide updates even on the weekend.

On this voyage there will be two other passengers. Peter, a Brit who has lived in Italy for 20 years, joined us in La Spezia. A second passenger will join us in Barcelona. So far, we have enjoyed being the “experts”, since this Peter’s first voyage on a container ship.

So far, the food on board has been excellent. We think it has been a step up from our last trip, which was also excellent. That being said, it is very different from Italian or Turkish food, we could just be enjoying the honeymoon period, where we are enjoying the change and familiarity of it all.

Last night we experienced our first bout of rough weather. It never got rough while we were on the MSC Alessia, so we had no idea what to expect. We had been warned that at about midnight things would get rough. We even enjoyed watching a storm in the distance while the sun was setting. However, when we went to the bridge after supper, the storm had passed and the skies were clear. At about midnight we experienced rough seas for 4-6 hours while we entered a patch of open sea with Force 10-11 winds (around 50-60 knot or 90-120 kph winds with 6-8 meter waves). It definitely did get rough, and we awoke to things getting tossed off of the table tops in the cabin. Foolishly, we did not clean up the room before going to sleep. So, eventually, Becky got up and did some clean up and moved the computer to a safe position on the floor. Then it got rougher again, and both of us got up to clear up anything that might fall down or break. After another 10 minutes of clinking glasses and crashes (projectile fruit that had been on the sitting room table), Becky remembered the glass bottles of water in the fridge. She placed some plastic bottles between the glass bottles and collected the apples and oranges from the floor and placed them in the fridge. She also added some toilet paper to the door clamp so that it would stop creaking. It is amazing all the noises in the night when the ship is rolling and pitching.

In the morning we awoke to a bright sunny day, with papers, water bottles, fruit, and other random things spread across the floor in our cabin (oops). We were both a little tired for not getting a great night’s sleep, but otherwise we were doing well – happy to have survived our first rough weather event. When going outside, we notice that all the hand railings are caked in salt and we can barely see through the windows. We guess that the high winds and waves sprayed water over the superstructure throughout the night.

While in Rome, we did the requisite visits of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Coliseum, and Castel Sant’Angelo. In addition, we saw many public sculptures, piazzas and fountains and visited many beautiful churches. The Roman Catholics (specifically those in Rome) have amazingly beautiful churches with impressive frescoed ceilings and domes.

Saint Peter’s Basilica was impressive, but did not feel overly spiritual. We suspect that the grand size and the large number of tourists takes away from the spiritual feeling of it all. Fortunately at least two naves were set aside for prayer, so tourists were prevented from entering and snapping pictures. The decoration was so spectacular that Scott forgot to look for Michaelangelo’s Pieta, the prize of the Saint Peter’s collection.

In the Vatican Museums, we both enjoyed the architecture and decoration of the rooms themselves more than most of the exhibits. The Raphael rooms were particularly fascinating, but the frescoed ceilings everywhere were spectacular.

The Sistine Chapel was rather busy but amazing to see. The crowds and associated noise definitely took away from the spiritual nature of the chapel – it felt like a museum exhibit rather than a place of prayer. The frescos were truly amazing, and it was interesting to eavesdrop on some of the school groups. It would have been fascinating to come to Rome as a history or art student, although we wonder how much we would have taken from it. Many of the students looked rather bored.

Things Scott learned from the Vatican Museum:
• A legend that there was once a giant pinecone atop the Pantheon, and when Christ was crucified, all the pagan statues in the Pantheon began whirling with such vigor that the top blew off the Pantheon, leaving the oculus as seen today, and sending the pinecone flying off into the distance, to be lost until the 15th century when it was brought to the Vatican and installed as part of a staircase by Michelangelo. (From a schoolteacher in the courtyard of the pinecone).
• Many of the Vatican treasures were carried off to Paris by Napoleon, and to compensate the Pope at the time sent out a request for ancient treasures held in various villas. The response was so overwhelming that new wings had to be constructed to house everything.
• Pope Julius II spent more time at war on back of a horse than in anything vaguely religious, as he tried to restore the Church’s secular power.
• An important cardinal criticized Michelangelo for all his naked saints in “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, saying it was “more suited to a tavern than a papal chapel”. In response, Michelangelo painted the face of the cardinal on a devil in the underworld, with a serpent wrapping him and biting his groin. (According to Wikipedia, it was Biagio da Cesena, the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies, and the devil was Minos, judge of the underworld.)
• After Michaelangelo’s death, another painter was hired to cover the saints in the Last Judgement with loinclothes. He is now remembered almost entirely for this, and has the nickname “The underwear artist” (Wikipedia again – Daniele Ricciarelli, nickname “Il Braghettone”)

We were staying very close to the Pantheon, which is a fascinating building. The dome is the best remaining example of Roman use of concrete, and is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Pretty impressive for a 2000 year old building! It has been a church since 609, and is still used for worship services today. Since Rome was so wet while we were there, we can confirm that the story about the oculus in the roof not admitting rain is false. It definitely rains inside, and there is a dedicated drain in the middle of the floor to let the water escape.

The Coliseum was a must see, but was expensive (12 Euro each) and the audio guide (another 4 Euro) was verbose but did not say much. The architecture is very impressive, but there is little left of the original decoration or seating.

At the Coliseum there was a special museum exhibit about the importance of conservation and the world ownership of ancient art. Italy has passed laws that make all items found in the ground to be owned by the public (that is the government) regardless of who owns the property. The exhibit was neat because it gave the history of various pieces of art that were stolen and then reclaimed. This wasn’t a regular exhibit, just a temporary one for early 2009, so we were glad get the chance to see it. Scott wonders if the negotiations between Italy and museums and collectors around the world for return of Italian antiquities will cause Italy to return any of the antiquities it has acquired over the millennia from Egypt and the Middle East? We saw a lot of columns and tablets covered in hieroglyphics. We also saw busts from Palmyra in the Vatican museum.

Given the wet weather, we decided to skip the Roman Forum, since much of it would have been outside too – another time.

The Castel Sant’Angelo is impressive from the outside but not that exciting on the inside. Again, it was an overpriced attraction (11 Euro each). There were many museums inside, but they were rather random – one of the museums focused on brand names that were from Italy, another contained various pieces of armor and swords from the Papal Guards over the years. There was also a small exhibit of paintings of important church figures, but none were particularly fascinating. We were expecting some sort of a history of the castles use through the centuries, and perhaps of the Papal Guard.

Overall, the most interesting places we found were the free ones – churches, piazzas, fountains, and just random bits of history and architecture we discovered as we wandered. The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel was the one attraction well worth the 14 Euros per person.

Gabriele, Becky and Alessia

In our discussions about Rome, we learned that building subways for public transit is a real challenge. The city is so old, that anytime someone tries to dig a hole for the subway they run into archeological ruins that require investigation and often re-routing of the planned transit line. As a result, there are currently only two subways lines and we found they don’t really go anywhere useful for us. Surprisingly, they don’t go near the interesting historical sights!

We also learned that the Vatican and the popular opinion on issues don’t always agree (gay marriage, abortion, birth control, etc). Also we were told that only a small percentage of Italians are regular church-goers, so the Vatican doesn’t wield the same moral force it once did. However, the Vatican owns about 25% of the buildings in Italy and is a huge economic force. The government needs to balance the requests of the Vatican with public opinion. Right now there is a battle about the right to terminate life support. Eluana Englaro has been in a coma and on life support for 17 years, since a near-fatal car crash. Her father wants to stop the life support, in line with her wishes, but it currently is not legal to do so in Italy. The Vatican is trying to influence the creation of legislation that is specific to this girl that would prevent any removal of life support including not allowing her to be moved outside of Italy where it is possible to terminate the life support.

The Leaning Tower - yep, it's not just an optical illusion

We didn’t see much else in Pisa, since the weather was quite miserable. (We did buy two cheap umbrellas though – not much use on a bike, but great while we’re touristing!)

Becky doing her part to keep the tower upright

The first train gave us a false sense of security. The train was departing from Trieste, so we had lots of time to find the appropriate car and load our bikes. We learned that the bike car is either the first or last car on the train (in this case the first), and it is just a car with a room set aside for cargo and bikes. It still involved lifting the bike up three steep steps then turning 90 degrees and maneuvering it through a narrow door into the special room. The bike racks were of the hanging fashion – that is, you hung your bike from the roof. It is clear they were not intended for loaded touring bikes, and definitely not intended for recumbents. That being said, the staff on the train were helpful, providing a bungee cord to hold one of the bikes in place, and upon departure, opening a side door so we did not need to move the bikes through the twists and turns necessary to exit through the main doors.

The second train was much more challenging. First we had to get our bikes from one platform to the other – are stairs the only option? Fortunately at Venezia Mestre there are also paths across the tracks at each end of the platform, perhaps for wheelchairs. We used them – ignoring the “use stairs, do not cross the tracks” signs. Fortunately we had lots of time to get ready for our next train. Unfortunately, the train was late and it was a short station stop. The train turned out to be very long, and the bike car was at the back. To add to the confusion, the platforms were very busy. We had positioned ourselves in the middle of the track, so we could move to whichever side was necessary when the train arrived. Once we discovered which way we needed to go, we made a dash for the car (which was a challenge with all the people in the way). Scott got to the car first and started to load his bike on his own – which also proved to be an issue, as he couldn’t quite get it up all the steps. Becky, leaned her bike against a bench and went to help Scott. As we were just finishing up with the first bike, the train doors started to close. Scott held the doors open and tried to tell them to wait. Becky then grabbed the doors, while Scott jumped out to grab Becky’s bike. A passerby then helped hold the doors open while we loaded the second bike. The entire time, they kept trying to get the doors closed. Clearly the person who was supposed to be watching for people loading and unloading were not looking at the final car! With the help of a stranger, we managed to get everything on the car for the longest single ride of our trip (3-hours).

The third train was easy, but was almost a complete failure. We got off the train in Bologna in a rush as we were advised by the train attendant that the train would not be there for long. It turned out the train stopped there and we could have taken our time to disembark. Scott looked up the track for our next train on the paper schedule – track 3 – so we hopped over to that track, again using the pathways. Becky went in search of a beverage and bathroom, and fortunately checked the schedule again. She noticed that the track listed on the large schedule was 3w, not 3. She soon realized that there were several track threes (central, east – est, and west – ovest). (Why the abbreviation for ovest is “w”, we don’t know). We asked a train attendant who confirmed that we were at 3 central and needed to be at 3 west. Fortunately, there are large freight elevators at Bologna, so we called one. The elevator arrived with an escort – which was good for us. She took us through the bowels of the station, and up another elevator. Unfortunately that one jammed trying to open the doors, so baack down we go, and try a third elevator. Our escort ensured that we found the correct track (yay), and we still had lots of time. Boarding the third train was painless, as we had developed a system and this was the first stop, so we had plenty of time.

Travelling through the mountains to La Spezia, we were very glad we were on a train and not on our bikes. In several places there was 30-40 cm of snow, which would have been a challenge to get through.

Upon arrival in La Spezia, we were met by Mirco, our CouchSurfing host. Having the extra set of hands made disembarkation much easier. We also learned that our bikes are the right height to lean against the train. Leaning one on the train while dealing with the other ensures that the train staff can see that the train is not clear for departure! If only we had figured that out before our second train.

Unfortunately, La Spezia station only has stairs between the platforms, no pathways. Fortunately, Mirco helped us get the bikes out of the station, and in the pouring rain (do you sense a trend here?), he guided us to his apartment. Lucky for him, he stayed dry in his car while we rode our bikes. Lucky for us, it was less than a 2 km ride. After a quick dish of pasta and a warm cup of tea, we were all ready for bed.

The next morning (Tuesday), rather than jump up on too little sleep and immediately go someplace, we decided to spend an extra day in La Spezia. Micro graciously allowed us to spend the day in his apartment while he headed off to work. With fast Internet access, and a warm dry place, we were set for the day!

After work, Mirco returned home, and drove us around to see some of the sights around La Spezia. We discovered just how large the navy base in La Spezia is. It takes up almost the entire waterfront. So, there is very little public beach space in La Spezia (about 200 m), the rest is either military or commercial. Fortunately there are other beaches and waterfronts further up the coast, toward the Cinque Terre park. We walked around the beautiful old town Porto Venere, and saw the cave where Lord Byron sat as he wrote during his time here. It continues to amaze us just how much history there is, even in the smallest places. We’re glad we weren’t here in the summer though, since this is a very popular tourist destination, and the waterfront would have been packed!

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Becky enjoying the heavenly taste of a prosciutto-wrapped apple

When we disembarked, our second priority after securing a place to sleep, was to find some Prosciutto. Becky has been craving ham and pork products since we entered Turkey, especially Italian Prosciutto Crudo. Everyone talks about alcohol restrictions in Muslim countries, but we had no trouble with alcohol in Turkey, Syria or Jordan. We did have trouble finding pork products though. Fortunately for Scott’s sanity, we were quickly able to find some Prosciutto, and Becky was happy again.

Since the weather was rather wet, we spent the afternoon in her home. She cooked us up a yummy pasta with zucchini for lunch and we inflicted a whole pile of our photos on her (at least a thousand – scary, but she said she enjoyed the experience!). Later, we went out for a nice pizza dinner and Elena dropped us off at home – too tired to spend the night at the local pub with her. Apparently we didn’t sleep as well aboard ship as we normally do, and Scott has come down with a nasty cold, which is sapping his energy.

Elena, Becky and Scott

We arrived at the boat without any difficulty – looking into the harbor in Cesme, they are pretty hard to miss. We entered the Ulusoy office and the staff there processed our tickets. While we waited, we asked if anyone wanted to try out the bikes. One of the guys from the office was brave enough to give it a try, much to the amusement of everyone else in the office and the customs police too.

Several of the customs police in Cesme remembered us from our arrival in Turkey back in November. We guess our funny looking bikes provide a pretty good memory aid!

After clearing customs, we were escorted onto our ship, the Ulusoy 10. The ship had not started loading yet, so boarding was easy. One of the crew helped carry our gear up to the crew lounge while our cabin was being prepared. Originally they were going to give us two cabins, as the bed is only a single bed. Upon seeing the cabin (the 3rd mates cabin), which had a sitting room with a couch and a separate bedroom, we decided that we did not need a second cabin – there is plenty of room in this one for the two of us.

We have since learned that the Ulusoy 5 is better outfitted to take passengers, as it has extra cabin space for 10 additional people. The Ulusoy 10 only has 1 passenger cabin with 3 bunks. Given the economic downturn the ship is running with a skeleton crew of 19. Her normal crew compliment is 30. As a result, there is no 3rd mate, which is why we were given the spacious 3rd mate’s cabin rather than the smaller passenger cabin.

The ship did not start loading until after dinner. At 2 am, while we were fast asleep, it left the port of Cesme – so we missed a ceremonious departure from Turkey.

When we awoke, the ship was loaded and under way, with semi trailers filling about half of the main deck and fire trucks in the covered deck aft keeping our bikes company. The lower deck and the bilge deck are apparently full, but we haven’t been down to check.

By the afternoon of our first full day at sea (Thursday) the waves picked up. We passed through a few storms (wind, rain, hail) early in the afternoon and the waves continued on into the wee hours of the night. Both of us spent most of the afternoon reading and relaxing. We do wonder if we would have noticed the waves as much if we were still on the MSC Alessia – it is 300m long compared to the 200m of the Ulusoy-10. It reminded us of how lucky we had been on our Atlantic crossing with such beautiful weather. We can only hope our trip from Italy to Singapore will be so calm!

One of the biggest joys with being on the freighter is the ability to take a long hot shower. It may sound trivial, but after staying in so many budget hotels where the water may be solar heated or the heat only turned on for selected hours during the day, hot water is nice. Also, the shower head is not clogged or damaged and is affixed to the wall at a height that allows each of us to stand up straight and enjoy the hot water pouring over us. It is quite a luxury. There is no shower curtain, but we have become so accustomed to this that it isn’t a big issue. We just lift the toilet seat so it stays dry, and sweep the water off the floor into the shower basin when finished.

Like the MSC Alessia (and virtually all other large ocean-going vessels), waste heat from the main engine is used to run an evaporator, creating fresh water from sea water. It typically isn’t used for drinking, but provides virtually unlimited (18 tonnes per day) hot and cold fresh water for personal use. Large volumes of fresh water are use for cleaning, especially when pressure-washing the decks and other exposed surfaces.

On Friday with some calmer weather, we explored a little more. We were quickly invited onto the bridge and subjected to Turkish hospitality – coffee, tea, and interesting conversation. In the afternoon, the steward knocked on our door to let us know that cake was being served. Unsure where to go (the message involved the words Captain and cake), we went to the bridge where the steward brought us tea and some delicious banana, nut, carrot cake – yummy!

We also got a chance to see the campaign brochure from the AK Party candidate for mayor of Cesme. One of the crew had brought it on board, and it was quite interesting. The AK Party is the Islamic party in Turkey, and currently holds both the presidency and a majority of parliament. Municipal elections are coming up, and they are pushing hard to win in many places where they are not yet in power, especially in the coastal areas like Izmir and Cesme. The mayoral candidate for Cesme is a wealthy local architect, and has produced a 40 page glossy brochure with his vision for Cesme in 2015. It is filled with fanciful high rise buildings, glorious monuments and floating holiday islands – like Dubai on steroids, all up and running 6 years from now! We had a good laugh about this with the crew, but later Scott wondered how a candidate for a mainstream party could produce something so off-the-wall, and whether it would help or hurt his chances of election.

On Saturday, we arrived at 1330, but did not clear customs and immigration until 1500. This did not mean much, as our bikes were blocked by the fire trucks being shipped to Italy, so they needed to be unloaded before we could depart. By 1730 boat time (1630 local time) the upper deck was clear and we could proceed into Trieste. With darkness soon approaching and no Internet in sight , we found an inexpensive 2 star hotel for the night – it was quite the luxury to have heat, two sheets, unlimited hot water, and an enclosed shower stall all in the same hotel room! We were surprised at the comforts that we had become accustomed to doing without over the past several months.

After hearing about the loss of our mascot, Maurizio gave us a Canadian Moose. He figured it was time that the moose returned home. We have adopted the new mascot and named him Moe (Moe the Moose).

Purchasing the ferry tickets was pretty painless. We went to one of the many travel agents in town that advertise the Greece ferries. It was not open when we first arrived at 3:25 pm, but by 3:40 siesta time was over and the agent returned. We considered getting a cabin, but the 110 Euro premium was a fair bit more than we were willing to pay. After the ship departed, we asked about cabins and were given a 4-birth cabin for a grand total of 26 Euro! A much better deal than reserving the cabin in advance. We are certain that would not have been an option during the busy summer months, but at the moment, the ship has mostly truck drivers and a few backpackers.

Becky reflects on the events of yesterday:

When I think of my stolen bag, I think of the waste. The person who took it likely just grabbed the wallet and camera and threw the rest of the stuff away. It is that “rest of the stuff” that I want back the most. I am sad thinking of Puffie all alone in a dark alley somewhere. Replacing the bag itself will be a challenge, as it was one of a two piece set. A replacement is guaranteed not to match – which breaks the symmetry of the bike. It won’t actually affect the way the bike rides, it is more a visual thing than anything else. Again, it is most annoying because the person who took it has most likely just thrown it away.

In Italy, everyone lives behind a fence. The fences are more about claiming your space then they are about security. In many cases, people leave the gates open all day, but the gates are always there. In many cases, the fences are solid walls. Add to this, that garbage is often strewn everywhere. There does not seem to be an organization that cleans the streets and people do not usually clean the areas outside of their fences. Land that is commercial is often much more cluttered than residential land. It seems that no one cares enough to clean the mess. A bag could easily be thrown over a fence into a pile of garbage, never to noticed again. A part of me hopes a good Samaritan will find the bag and think to return it somewhere, but from what I have seen of Southern Italy I do not have any faith of that actually occurring. People just don’t appear to care enough about others such that the concept of returning a lost item would not even be considered.

In the end, I am very glad I had removed much of the stuff that was normally in the bag in anticipation of the ferry trip. I am also glad that we are finally leaving Italy – two and a half weeks has been enough. I have found that in general the people of Italy have been reserved to the point of unfriendliness. People often stare at us while riding our bikes, but would not return a smile. There are always exceptions, and it is the exceptions that have made riding in Italy pleasant – that and the friendly drivers. At least once an hour, someone would honk, wave or give us a thumbs-up from a passing car. In reflection, we note that the reaction is opposite that of what we found in North America, where people on foot always shared a smile but people in cars were often reserved. We have met some friendly people in our time in Italy, but we did not find the culture in Italy welcoming. We are looking forward to some famous Middle Eastern hospitality.

A Puffie Memoir

Eve having fun on Becky's bike

In hindsight, it was foolish to leave the bags unattended, but with no-one around except staff and the two big dogs, we figured they would be safe for 30 minutes. Maurizio, Eve and Dannii were very interested in our bikes, so we set them up for test rides, then Scott sat down to do some bike maintenance while Becky did some more work on the computer. It wasn’t until an hour later that she discovered one of her bags was missing.

All five of us looked everywhere in the hostel, but found no sign of the bag (one of Becky’s bright yellow front panniers). After an hour of searching, we resigned ourselves to the fact that the bag had been stolen.

The bad news was that this bag contained Becky’s wallet (including driver’s license, health card, credit and bank cards), camera and most traumatically our mascot Puffie (Becky is most traumatized by where Puffie might be and the loss of the pannier itself). On the bright side, it only contained a small amount of cash as we had not successfully gone to a bank machine in several days. In packing for the ferry, Becky had removed some key maps (Greece and Turkey) and her passport, so those thankfully were not in the bag. We lost maps of Italy and Syria, a couple of books, and some small clothing items (touque, gloves), which will likely be hard to replace. We are sure as the days go by we will discover a few other items that were in the bag.

Once we were certain that the bag was not misplaced, we cancelled the two credit cards. Fortunately, the joint credit card has different numbers for Scott and Becky, so Scott’s card still works. We then headed out for a visit to the local police station. We were first directed to the Carabinieri – which are the national police similar to the RCMP in Canada. They sent us to the Polizia Statale which are the local police. They are located in a Questura (police station). Once there, we found someone who spoke enough English to allow us to file our report. She felt it necessary to offer us a snack / coffee from the Bar. Reminded of advice from Friedel and Andrew , we took her up on the offer and we each enjoyed an Italian coffee before returning to the Hostel.

Since the wallet contained both Becky’s driver’s license and her passport photocopy, we are concerned about identity theft. In addition to cancelling all the cards, we will put a fraud alert on her credit reports. In Canada there doesn’t appear to be a way to do a “credit freeze” like in the U.S.

Instead, we need to file a “fraud alert” with the credit bureaus. All this means is a note is put in our credit report. It is up to the companies accessing the report what they do with it, so doesn’t seem very effective to us.

Annoyingly enough, the Lonely Planet guide did warn us about petty theft in Brindisi, we just did not expect it here. We are both very annoyed and frustrated, both with ourselves for being careless, and that someone would actually sneak into the hostel compound (which is fenced and gated) and steal a bag. It is common practice for staff to leave their laptops and cameras out – often forgetting where they last put them. We think if the hostel had been more populated, we definitely would have been more careful.

With passports in hand, we will continue with our journey to Greece on tomorrow’s ferry. We will likely plan to replace the pannier and some of its contents in Istanbul, as we know of a good bike shop there. We are again without a Mascot.

The no trumpets sign - common outside many small towns. People still quite happily use their horns though...

We did not sleep too badly last night, but were still somewhat restless. At 3 am, Becky woke up to sounds that sounded like someone walking around. She woke Scott up and we both listened intently for about 5 minutes to discover that it was just the tarp flapping. The wind had changed directly and was now coming directly into our shelter. It was warm enough out that this did not cause a problem, so we move a bag to hold the tarp down and prevent it from flapping. Scott had several dreams where a transit station or a warehouse was present in our abandoned building, with many people showing up before we packed up and left.

We were up early – Becky was awake by 5 am – something to do with going to sleep at 8 pm. Becky made Scott get up by 5:45 am, so by 6:30 am, we were packed up and on the bikes. Unfortunately, fog had rolled in a few hours earlier, so everything was damp. Our normal practice while camping if this happens is to lay out sleeping bags and clothing and wait for the sun to dry them. Not an option today, since we needed to leave at sunrise before anyone arrived.

The S.S.7 to Brindisi had good shoulders, and trucks generally changed lanes to pass us, so our ride was pretty comfortable and fast. We tried to take the service roads a few times, but they tended to be much less direct when we were on them. When we were actually on the highway, the service road appeared to parallel us beautifully though!

While we knew where the youth hostel was (roughly), thanks to Google Maps, our South Italy map wasn’t detailed enough to help us get there. We hopped off the S.S.7 at the last exit, went north, and then headed down the SS 16, which we thought was the right direction. We ended up in front of a school at 1 pm when the chaos of lunch happened. We are starting to despise the moment when hoards of teenagers enter the streets at one time, causing all the traffic to become unpredictable. Add teenagers yelling comments at you about your bikes to the unpredictable traffic, and it becomes very difficult to maneuver.

We stopped just past the school to get our bearings. Becky noticed a youth hostel sign at the intersection we had just crossed, so she went to check it out while Scott was looking for the address in the Lonely Planet guide. Just then, Maurizio (owner of the hostel) pulled up beside Scott on his electric bike. We had indeed found the hostel.

We were both quite tired after a restless night and early morning, so we didn’t do much other than unpack, eat and sleep. Scott was in bed by 8 pm!

Download GPS Track in GPX format

There is lots more to see in Matera, but we are starting to feel time slipping by and worrying about weather in Turkey. Hearing about the first winter storm back home in Ottawa a few days ago reminded us that Turkey gets snow too.

Scott went out shortly after sunrise to get some more photographs of the Sassi, but heavy cloud meant none of the photos were great.

Our ride was not overly adventurous. We were a little late starting, as we tend to do when we have Internet access in the morning. Our goal was to head to someplace between Matera and Brindisi, since Brindisi was too far for a single day given our late start.

All the major roads join at Taranto, but we have no reason to go there, and took many minor roads trying to go around. We ended up riding through Massafra during rush hour, which wasn’t too much fun.

As sunset got close, we hadn’t found anyplace to stay, so decided to use our backup plan – wild camping. This meant eating dinner before we stopped for the night, and continuing on our ride after the sun set. Fortunately our lights and reflectors work well to warn cars of our presence. The Italian drivers continue to give us a wide berth, and mostly slow before passing, which is very nice.

For the night, we set ourselves up in an abandoned building. It seems to be a new building, that looks like they started building it and then ran out of money – not atypical here. They build as much of a house as they can afford, and then wait until they have more money to finish the building. Sometimes they will move into buildings that are not yet finished – which is feasible because the climate is so mild. This particular building was at the end of a road that did not have any signs we could see or a gate, so whoever owns it doesn’t appear to be too concerned about security. We’ll see how well we sleep, and whether anyone comes to check on us!

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Scott walking down into the Sassi

We spent today alternating between walks around the Sassi and hanging out in our room making full use of the free Wireless Internet. As part of our wanderings we entered a old cave house that is now a museum. The house was occupied until 1958. Because of the 50% infant mortality rate and a malaria epidemic, starting in 1952 the government began relocating the cave dwellers into modern apartments on the outer edges of Matera. Many of the cave homes, including the one we saw, did not have any plumbing. The cave house had four main rooms, one was a living room/kitchen, a workshop, a stable, and a wine cellar. Starting in 1986, many of the caves have been renovated, and are now being used as tourist attractions (museums, restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfasts).

Vertigo! Don't look down too fast

Walking through the old town feels like you have been transported 2000 years into the past, but there are definitely some modern influences. On the roofs of cave dwellings, you see mini satellite dishes. Scott noticed that there are now sewer grates embedded into the stone roadways. Some of the stairways are old and worn from use; others have are a more recent construction made to look worn. On the older, poorer side of town (Sasso Caveoso) many of the caves have iron gates blocking them. They look like prison cells. As we wandered further away from the center, some of them were open. When you took a peek in, you could smell mould and human waste. It certainly would not be a pleasant place to live or even camp for the night!

The Sassi

Matera is the second UNESCO World Heritage site we have visited – the other being Battle Harbour in Labrador. We have enjoyed visiting both of the sites, and now are thinking we may do some further investigation into the other UNESCO World Heritage sites that we are going to be near. There are currently 878 sites, so we should be able to find a few of them.

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Our campsite at Camping Internationale

Riding today was challenging. It was another beautiful sunny day in Italy, albeit fairly windy (15-20 knots). The ride itself was not that difficult, rather we did not have appropriate fuel. We started out the day at the campground eating the remnants of our food for breakfast – we each had an egg, and shared a banana and a bun. After we packed up and checked our email (the campground office had a computer we could use to check Internet), we headed out in search of coffee. We found a coffee bar pretty quickly, but it was out of croissants. It was a holiday today, All Saints Day, so very little was open.

Our ride from Metaponto Libo (Metaponto Beach) to Matera involved a 400 m climb, which was to loom over us the whole day and not appear on our path until the last 10 km. The wind was pretty strong, and for the most part ahead of us or to the side.

We stopped for lunch at a service station at about 12:30. It was the first place that we crossed on the ride, and we were shocked it was actually open. It was on a part of the highway that was closed due to construction with local traffic only. The only reason we were there is that our detour through farming territory led us back to the under construction highway. When we noted that it was open, Becky insisted that we stop. She was starving. We are very glad we did stop, there was no other place until we climbed into Matera!

Endless dry brown fields

At first approach, Matera looked like any other Southern Italian city with a mix of new and old apartment buildings (mostly new), but we soon discovered it is not. We had approached from the south, and the interesting old town is on the north side of the hill. As we approached “centro”, Becky saw a tourist office that actually had a person in it. We stepped inside and the gentleman helped us find a place to stay for the night. It turned out that the office was not actually open and that he was a tour guide rather than a tourist office person, so finding us a hotel was a little out of his normal duties. We were grateful that he was willing to make a few calls for us and even negotiate a price for us. It had slipped our minds that we were entering a large city on a holiday Saturday. Once we saw the old city, with all the narrow cobble stone ups and downs, we realized just how lucky we were to have been directed to a nice clean Albergo where are bikes could happily rest.

We are staying just outside of the Sassi – the old town. Most of the old houses are caves that were dug into the rocks. The roads are on the roofs of the houses. The Sassi was inhabited by over 60,000 people until the 1950s, when the Italian government moved over 50,000 people to the modern suburbs. At that time, the area was known for its poverty, as many of the homes were originally built as stables, and did not have running water or a sewage system. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and has seen a resurgence in tourism. A lot of the nicer caves have been converted to restaurants and hotels. There are still around 9,000 people living in the Sassi. The area was made famous by the film “The Passion of Christ”, and is now the most popular foreign tourist destination in southern Italy.

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The extra rest day left Becky feeling better and we were ready to get on the train and on our bikes for the 50km to Matera. Our plan was to take the 9:25 am train from Cariati to Metaponto; however, when we arrived at the train station in Cariati, we were informed that said train only ran on weekends. Since today is Friday, our next option for a train that took bicycles was 17:05. Rather than hanging around Cariati for another day, we decided to hop on our bikes and ride to Sibari. There were more trains between Sibari and Metaponto, so we would have more options.

One of the many completely dry river beds.

We arrived in Sibari after riding about 65 km at 12:40 pm. We discovered that there was a train departing at 12:45. Scott bought tickets and we watched the train leave! It was a few tracks over, so there was no way we could to figure out how to get ourselves and our bikes over to the appropriate track in the little time we had. The next train that allows bicycles was not until 17:58 (this would be the same train that was to leave Cariati at 17:05).

Since it was lunch time, we decided to find ourselves a nice meal. By the time we left the train station, it was 1 pm, so all the stores in town were closing. We watched as the grocery store closed, so there was no chance of picking up something for lunch there. We rode around town in search of a place to get a reasonable meal. There were several “Bars”, but they typically only have fast food. Eventually, Scott led us to a pizzeria/restaurant. At the time we arrived, we were the only patrons. They don’t serve pizza at lunch time, the ovens need to warm up, so pizza is not available until after 8 pm. We had a wonderful mixed salad, bowl of penne with pomodoro sauce, and a piece of chicken. The entire meal cost us 20 Euro, which seemed a bit pricy, but we both left feeling quite full and satisfied.

Rather than hanging around Sibari – which did not look particularly interesting, we hopped back on our bikes and rode further along. At 4:15 pm, we decided to stop at Roseto Capo Spulico. The train allowing bicycles didn’t arrive here until 18:21, but sunset was coming soon. Looking at our odometer, we had ridden over 100km today – our first century in over a month.

A castle restaurant - too bad it was closed.

Since we were here early, and could see a castle not far away, we decided to check it out. We discovered that the castle was a restaurant – a closed restaurant at that. It was neat to see that not all castles are museums, but disappointing that it was not open, so we could not go in and see it.

We also stopped for Gelato as a post-ride snack. Unfortunately there was no home-made Gelato, just pre-packaged bars, but it still hit the spot. Two people stopped to talk with us, and were fascinated with our bikes. Scott was quite impressed that we were able to carry on a 30 minute conversation about our bikes, our travel plans and our experiences so far, all in Italian. Lots of rephrasing, miming and referring to the 100-word dictionary in our guidebook was necessary, but having an actual conversation was a welcome change.

At 18:21 the single car train arrived; however, it did not have the bicycle symbol. In an instant, Scott decided we were going anyways, so we lifted Becky’s bike up onto the train through the back set of doors. There was not enough room for both bikes, so Scott put his bike in the front set of doors. We had bought tickets in Sibari, but did not validate them, since the train left before we got organized. We could not find a ticket validation machine anywhere in the station at Roseto Capo Spulico. So, we were on a train with bikes that did not specify bikes without validated tickets. Fortunately, no one seemed to care. Our train ride was less than an hour and by 19:07 we were safely off the train in Metoponto.

Our next task was to find the campground. We are now in the land of our Lonely Planet guide, so we had directions on where to find a campground that had a chance of being open. It was only about 2 km from the train station, and we quickly discovered there was a bike path adjacent to the road from the train station into Metoponto Lido (beach), where the campsite was located. We were able to follow the signs and successfully find the campsite. It appeared to be open but there was no one at reception. A gentleman did come by, but he did not appear to be an employee. He did say we could set up our tent, so we went in search of the tent sites. Camping villages in Italy have several sites for RVs and tents, but also have a lot of rental bungalows. This place is mostly bungalows with about 15 sites. We discovered a Swiss RV and set up our tent in a nicely shelter corner across from the RV.

The restaurant at the campsite was closed. Fortunately, we had enough left over ingredients from last night’s dinner that Becky was able to hack together a nice pasta supper (fresh pasta, ricotta cheese, yellow pepper, and pesto). We even had half a box of cheap wine (1.39 Euro per Litre). After supper, while Scott was doing the dishes, a person from the campground approached him and gave him beach pass. If we wish, we can now access the beach from the campsite. We are not certain yet how much the campsite will cost (guessing between 10 and 15 Euro) or when or how we will pay. We will figure that out in the morning.

So, at 10 pm, after a cold shower (the shower with hot water was locked), we were both ready for bed!

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Since we had found a comfortable spot at Ristorante Camping di Mario, and Becky wasn’t feeling 100% (she felt a cold coming on), we decided to stay here for another night. In order to do that, we needed to do a quick trip into town to get food for the day. We also wanted to check email, and get more information about trains from Cariati to points north.

Thomas, Sebastian, and Becky

We rode across most of Cariati before we found an Internet Point. To our surprise, there were a couple of other touring cyclists there. These are the first touring cyclists we have seen in Europe. After we all finished with the Internet (when it closed at 1 pm), we bought the cyclists lunch and talked for a couple of hours. It was nice to meet a couple of fluent English speakers where we could have a real conversation. Sebastian and Tomas, from Sweden, were on the return leg of a six month tour. They had ridden from home to Morocco (via Spain), and taken a ferry from Tunisia to Genoa and then Palermo, Sicily. If you read Swedish (or use an online translator), you can learn more about their journey from their website . They are preparing to go to university next fall and are travelling on a very tight budget. They are spending most of their nights stealth camping and in some cases that means sleeping very little. Their experiences in Morocco were very positive, and they found many of the poorest people in Morocco were the most generous. As we shared our experiences, we found that we had all observed that people always warn us about the next province or the next country. “Oh, the drivers there are terrible!” “Be very careful, there are many thieves there!” We agreed that the vast majority of people are good, friendly and helpful. It’s too bad everyone can’t travel like this and learn that “the other” is actually a lot like “us”.

After our long lunch, we stopped by the train station. Scott went around back to examine the schedule. The station itself was closed, so we could not gather too much additional information. While Scott was examining the schedule, Becky got inundated by a group of children. They wanted to know about the bikes and where we were from. None of them spoke English beyond “Hello, Goodbye, What is your name?”. They had to try out the “what is your name?” question many times, perhaps because they didn’t recognize “Becky” as being a real name. They tried asking questions in Italian as well. Becky was entertained for about 5 minutes, but then found herself wishing Scott would return. Scott returned as the kids were asking if they could try the bikes. She tried to explain that they needed to be taller. Scott re-answered a few of the questions, and then we hopped on our bikes and made our escape.

We discovered that there is a 9 am train to Metaponto that has the bicycle symbol. The timing is right and it puts us within 50 km of Matera, so we will try to that out tomorrow morning.

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The Beach at Camping di Mario

As fate would have it, we didn’t spend the night in our tent. Becky was happily asleep by 9:30 pm, when the winds began to howl. Scott was still awake reading, and watching the tent blow. Becky awoke, and we thought we were in for a rowdy night. Over the next hour the winds picked up so much that the couple in the RV next to us had to move their truck (which was our wind break) to protect the vestibule on their RV trailer. Not two minutes later, the pegs for our vestibule released and our tent was flapping even more loudly in the wind. We were concerned that even if the tent held, we would be unable to sleep with the noise, so we went in search of a sheltered place to move it. Scott checked out a half built washroom behind the camping area, but it was dirty and all the floor space was full of hoses and piping. We contemplated moving into the handicapped washroom (since no one uses it), but it would have been a tight squeeze. We also thought about setting up in one of the washrooms, but then we would be woken up every time someone came in and turned the light on. Fortunately, Mario came to the rescue. He drove up just as we were contemplating our next move and asked if we wanted to move into a bungalow. Becky said yes immediately! By 11 pm, we had all our gear sprawled throughout the bungalow and we were resting comfortably on a queen size bed.

When we got up in the morning, we were both tired. Since we have been riding for five days, we figured this was a good time to take a rest day. The bungalow is costing us 30 Euro per night, which is much cheaper than any of the hotels we have stayed at, and at least twice the size. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a nook that has a fridge. Too bad most of the camping villages are closed, or we would be seeking out bungalows like this one throughout our time in Italy.

In the afternoon, we decided that since we are on the Ionian Sea (in the Mediterranean) that we must go for a swim. It was 28 degrees outside and sunny – and the wind calmed a little over lunch. Shortly after 2:00 pm, we headed down to the sea for a swim. This ocean is right in front of the restaurant, so I’m sure that some of the lunch time patrons were thinking we were mad! It did not take long for us to get into the water – it was beautiful. Becky thinks it was warmer than the swimming pool on the ship. Becky floats much better than Scott in the salt water, so she enjoyed floating over the swells with her feet sticking out of the water. We bobbed about for around 20 minutes and then the wind began to pick up again – causing the waves to be more random. After a swallow or two of salt water, it was time to head in for some serious afternoon R&R.

Since the camping village is under construction, we had a chance to look closely at the construction methods used here. Buildings are made mostly out of concrete and brick, with wood only being used as trim and sometimes for ceilings. Ceilings are often 10 or 12 feet high. Floors are usually cement, tile, or marble and never carpet. There is very little drywall used. With all the hard surfaces and high ceilings, the buildings do not retain the smell of cigarette smoke. Typically, hotels and such do not have non-smoking rooms; however, we have found that even in the cheapest of places, the rooms do not smell of smoke at all. It has been nice to not have to worry about it.

Italian construction methods

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Our Tent

We began yet another beautiful sunny day in Italy doing yoga on the beach (our hotel room was just too small). It did not take long before we were on the road with what began as a slight tail wind. After about 15 minutes, the wind at our backs was stronger (maybe 20 km/hr) and the roads were flat, so we were making terrific speed.

As we left Crotone the scenery was not spectacular – it was industrial. We were on a nice side road with very little traffic, and we were moving along at 27 – 30 km/hr, so we were enjoying it. Eventually the scenery changed from industrial to farm land. It was a different kind of agriculture than we have been observing so far. Gone were the olive and fruit trees, replaced with lettuce, fennel, and other ground crops.

After 18.5 km, we had somehow missed a turn and our road ended. Up until today, the signage for the roads in Italy has been amazing. At every intersection, even on the minor roads, there were signs indicting which town or highway was to be found at the end of the road – but not today. Our nice little side road had no sign. Scott stopped to ask directions and unfortunately the person thought we were trying to go to Crotone. He guided us back to the main road to Crotone, from where we had just come! He stopped again, and we were able to explain better the second time. He confirmed that the turn we had seen (in both directions) was the correct one, and we were able to get back on track. Our detour was only about 4 km.

From there, we were back on the main highway. It had a nice shoulder and was still rather flat, so we made good time.

At about 3:15 pm, we stopped in Cariati for a nice sweet snack. The wind was still strong, but now it was occasionally gusty. The road had turned slightly west, such that the wind was at our sides rather than at our back. Becky was wondering if we should just stay in Cariati as there were at least a couple of 2-star hotels. Scott still wanted to try and find a spot to wild camp, so we did a preliminary washing off at the café and then hopped back on our bikes seeking a place to camp. About 15 minutes later, we came across a campground. We figured we’d give it a try. We were amazed to discover that it was open! The restaurant associated with it is closed on Tuesdays, so we did not have an option to eat out. That was OK with us, as we had planned to make our own dinner tonight anyways – we both were looking forward to a meal with more vegetables. So we aren’t quite wild camping, but at least we’re in our tent for the night – far cheaper, and quite cozy.

When we pulled into the campground, the owners – Mario and Madeline – offered us a coffee. That made Becky finally clue in to how hospitality in Italy is often demonstrated by the offering of coffee. On several other occasions, people have offered us coffee, but Becky never clued in that it was a demonstration of hospitality.

As we were setting up our tent, one of the German tourists camping offered us a beer. I think that is how German’s demonstrate hospitality . We were happy to see some fellow tourists and had a brief chat with them. It’s a new campground, and has three retired couples staying here for the winter – two German and one Swiss. It was nice to be able to converse a little in English, but confusing to switch between Italian and German. We are having enough difficulty with Italian, but we are getting better, and more comfortable with the limited vocabulary we do have.

Shortly after dinner, it began to rain. So, just like in Canada, we are tenting in the rain. It feels like home!

Becky drying laundry the Italian way

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Castle Aragonese Main Tower

On our way to the castle, we discovered many more hotels in town.  In hindsight, we should have come a little further down the road before stopping for the night. 

The castle turned out to be rather interesting. It was built sometime in the 1200s as a refuge for Aragonese soldiers.  At the time, Turkish vessels regularly attacked the shores of Italy.  (All this information is from a pamphlet describing the site).

We were impressed with how well they have restored the castle. We spent almost an hour tromping around checking out every nook and cranny that we were permitted to see. We needed to make the most of the 3 Euro entrance fee!

Becky is finding it hard to consider the idea that people inhabited castles in this region in the 1200s. Coming from North America, where European civilization is not that ancient, it is both interesting and difficult to fathom the age of the castles, towers, and even the streets. As we ride through the various towns, we can see the remnants of city walls that are easily greater than 500 years old. Today, houses are built right into them.

We thought about making a real lunch today, but did not stop until 3:15 pm. Then, we were not at an appropriate place to setup the stove, so we ended up continuing our ride to  Crotone. In the end, we ended up not stopping for lunch, and going out to a nice restaurant for supper. The food was very good except the secondi “Frittura Mista”, which turned out to be a selection of deep fried fish. One of the challenges when you have no idea what you are ordering, is that sometimes your choices are not the greatest! The Antipasti Caprese (fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella), Linguini  Alla Scolgio (linguini with shellfish in a wine sauce) and Garganelli Mediterranean (pasta with eggplant, roasted tomatoes in a tomato sauce) were all delicious though, so three out of four isn’t bad.
We are again in a hotel for the night.  Crotone is the capital of the province of Crotone within the region of Calabria, and is the largest city we’ve visited in Italy.  Unfortunately, with cities of this size, hotels are more expensive. We rode into town shortly after four o’clock, passing by many beach villages, camping villages and Agritourismi (farms which take guests and serve very good food).  Unfortunately, all were closed for the season.  We found several expensive hotels, but finally settled on the Hotel Tortelli. It was 70 Euros, and this for a very small room (albeit with a Queen bed) with a view of the adjacent apartment building.  At least it was close to the Lungomare, so we went for a nice walk along the beach.

Town of La Castella from the fortress

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We can now say we have successfully crossed Italy – from the Tynhenian Sea to the Ionian Sea. We did cross at the narrowest point, but we will cross Italy again from the Ionian Sea to the Adriatic when we cross from Taranto to Brindisi.

We did not go into Catanzaro mainly because it sits at 302 meters above sea level and we started out the day at only 59 meters. We saw no need for the extra climbing and instead rode through Catanzaro Lido (Catanzaro beach).

We discovered today that a pub is a great place to get lunch. Prior to today, our lunches have been pizza or sandwiches. We found a pub today that was open and discovered they made a wonderful salad dish and also had some great fruit juices on hand. After not getting any vegetables yesterday (and it being Sunday so nothing is open), we were happy to find a healthy lunch.

At about 3:30 pm the threatening clouds decided to dump some rain on us. At first we put on our wind jackets, but it did not take long to realize they would not be enough to keep us dry. We stopped under closed gas pumps to put on some wet weather gear. Right after we stopped a couple of guys on motorcycles also pulled in. It appeared that they were making a phone call and hanging out until the rain stopped. One of them offered us a snack – some nice chocolate covered peanuts. Unfortunately, they spoke no English, so the conversation we pretty short. Once we had our rain gear on, we headed out only to discover that the rain had stopped – somewhat inevitable!

Tonight we are at the Albergo Il Corsaro in La Castella, near Isola di Capo Rizzuto. We checked out a couple of the camp sites here, but they were both closed. We also passed many Tourist Villages – also closed. Even though the weather is ideal for cycling, a lot of things here are closed for the off-season. Le Castella appears to have at least 4 hotels that are open. The Albergo is much nicer than the Albergo we stayed at in Rosarno, and a reasonable price (by Italian standards) of 60 Euro – which was the going rate for at least one of the other hotels in town. We probably could have negotiated a better rate, but our Italian just isn’t up for it, and we don’t feel comfortable enough to figure out how to ask for a better price. We’ll need to get over this sooner or later, or we’ll continue to overpay for everything.

Sunday night appears to be a night for family celebrations and eating out. We ate in the hotel and there were at least three large groups having dinner together.

We haven’t figured out how to “wild camp” in Italy yet. With sunset at 5 pm and restaurants open at 8 pm, the timing for dinner and camp setup doesn’t work. We are thinking about making dinner on our camp stove, but even then we’ll be cooking in the dark. If we can manage it, it will help to cut down our expenses, and allow us to use the camping gear we’ve been lugging around unused since Catherine’s backyard in Fredericton.

Becky is thinking she’d like to do a “best-of” post. That is, a post where we answer “what was your best …” or “what was your worst …”, but she doesn’t have any great ideas on what things to include. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. So far, Scott and Becky disagree about our best pasta in Italy. Scott really enjoyed the fresh pasta with pomodoro (tomato sauce) we had last night (it was definitely our best value), and Becky enjoyed the linguini she had in Rosarno with a local seafood that looked like little worms (if you looked closely, you could see the eyes!).

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The view from our B&B.

Our ride began with a climb into Pizzo. The ride through Pizzo was quite spectacular. It is a old town, and the road goes right through the middle. Twice we passed through a castle gate. The houses that lined the narrow streets where clearly hundreds of years old. It was like stepping back in time and felt uniquely European.

After Pizzo, the rest of the days riding was mostly unspectacular. Some of the navigation was challenging though, since the main road we’re following doesn’t permit bicycles. It also doesn’t permit pedestrians, horses, scooters under 150cc or motorcycles under 250cc, but we aren’t too concerned about that. Andrea told us the service road alongside is called the Complanare, which was a big help. After we turned off the S.S. 18, Scott worked up the courage to ask for directions to the Complanare, and we actually found it. Unfortunately, it seemed to appear and disappear at different times, or sometimes there were two – one on the North and the other on the South of the main highway. Finally, it disappeared just as the main highway was crossing the river. We decided to jump on an alternate route (19 Dir) which was steeper, but quite pretty and had very few other vehicles.

At one point on a side road we passed a herd of sheep. The only thing we saw watching the sheep were two sheep dogs. They appeared to be doing a good job of keeping all the sheep together, as there were no strays in the flock. All the sheep here wear bells. We found the music made by the sheep to be very peaceful. Here is a sample.

So far we have found the drivers to be very good. Becky thinks this is partly because the cars here are so much smaller than those at home. Smaller cars certainly make it easier for them to pass at a safe distance. Scott thinks that having a funny bike with a large orange sign and large bags causes people to be confused, and not know what to make of us, so they slow down until they can figure out what we are. This ensures they pass at a safe distance and speed. We have had a couple people ask to take photos while we ride, and a couple have pulled over to talk to us. Unfortunately, the conversation is usually very short and involves a lot of miming.

Both of us have travelled in Europe before, so the street signs are familiar, even though many are quite different from the ones back home. One thing we have noticed is that all the road signs are different, except the stop sign. The stop sign actually says STOP, which we found strange – we’re used to bilingual stop signs in Ontario and Quebec. We asked Andrea about it, and he said that about 20 years ago all the Alt signs were replaced with stop signs. There are a few we aren’t familiar with – one that looks like a speed bump and appears to indicate the top of a hill. We have also seen the inverse which indicated the bottom the hill. These are usually in conjunction with windy road signs (which look more like lightning bolts than windy roads). Anyways, we recommend that any North American thinking of riding in Europe do a little bit of research into what the road signs mean. There are a number of signs which are quite different – no parking signs, dead-end signs among others. Becky was reminded of the time she drove her rental car onto the Fusgangerzone (the pedestrian zone) in Germany because she didn’t realize the parent holding child’s hand sign meant pedestrian area!

The scenery is quite pretty, but often marred by trash at the side of the road, or piled up beside the on-street garbage bins. We have seen a small amount of roadside garbage in North America, but here the garbage is much more obvious. Almost all pull-outs have piles of junk scattered around. There does not seem to be any organization that takes on the responsibility to clean up the roadside.

Trash by the roadside

We have almost crossed over the toe to the bottom of the foot. For the next few days we will be following the coast along the arch. (Becky thinks it’s really cool to be able to describe geographic location using anatomy – only in Italy!)

At 4 pm, conveniently as Becky was getting hungry, a café appeared. We decided to make a short stop for a snack. One thing we are finding challenging is that the cafés and bars (which are just snack places) do not carry any juice. Our drink choices are usually coffee or coke! Becky was feeling a little chilly after the climb, so decided to ask for a hot chocolate. She watched as the waitress mixed up coco powder and milk and used the steam outlet on the cappuccino machine. The hot chocolate turned out to be a delicious cup of a think chocolate sauce that was easier to eat with a spoon than the cup.

Shortly before dark, as we were contemplating places to camp, a hotel appeared. This was only the second hotel we had seen since turning towards Catenzaro, so we figured we might as well go check it out. The cost turned out to be reasonable (50 Euro), and we appear to be among the only guests tonight. It’s a two-star hotel, but clean and quiet – probably quite busy during the week, since a number of industries are nearby, including a Telecom Italia administration centre next door.

The hotel also provides us with yet a different type of accommodation. So far in Italy we have stayed in Residenti, Albergo, couch surfing, Bed and Breakfast, and now a Hotel. Too bad we aren’t playing Italian Accommodation Bingo.

We went downstairs in the hotel and negotiated a good rate for dinner. Primo and Frutte for 10 Euro for both of us. Primo was a nice fresh pasta with a simple tomato sauce. The fruit for dessert appeared to have been picked from someone’s garden (apples, oranges, and a tropical fruit we don’t know the name of). Dinner also included a bottle of local house wine (from Palmi) and a bottle of water. Not a bad deal! During dinner we were entertained by an Italian game show on the TV. It was a little surreal, watching Italian TV as the only customers in the restaurant.

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We are beginning to establish a morning routine. Becky gets up and going hunting for a cup of coffee and some form of sustenance. She has figured out how to order coffee the way she likes it “Caffé Americano con latte”. This morning she noted that in the coffee shop there were only men. It seems that women do not go out for morning coffee (or siesta time coffee either) only men do. She may have interrupted some ribald conversation at the coffee shop, since the men were laughing and shouting loudly, but the proprietor “shushed” them when he saw Becky arrive.

Just as we were starting out, we found an open grocery store (super-marcado), so we stopped to pick up a few things. We now have the necessary ingredients to make supper, fruit for a snack, and cereal for breakfast. We are equipped well enough to camp if we can find such a place. Unfortunately it also means we need to carry all this through the hills today.

Becky enjoying her second caffe of the day

Today’s ride had us take the scenic road along the coast of the knuckle of Italy (that is, the part that sticks out just north of the toe). The ride started with a long up hill, and continued with ups and downs throughout the day.

We managed to find a small shop open in Coccorino that made excellent sandwiches (prosciutto and cheese). So, we are getting better at finding food for our mid-day meal. We stopped at 12:00 to eat, after having ridden only 18 km (all up hill). Becky was doubting if we would make it to Pizzo for tonight.

Shortly after our lunch break, the ride turned from uphill to downhill. We cruised for 12 km to Santa Dominica. We must have made a wrong turn at some point, as the road became much more minor and we had to climb a brutal hill to get out of Santa Dominica and back to the main road (oops). That definitely tired us out!

At 4:15 pm we finally gave up on Pizzo and headed into Vibo Marina for the night – Becky was exhausted. We fallowed the signs to the main hotel in town. Becky went in (we are taking turns, and today was Becky’s turn), and with her best Italian, discovered the cost to be much too high (134 Euro). She asked for an alternate, and the receptionist suggested a Bed and Breakfast that was on the road towards Pizzo. Given that we knew where the road was, we figured we should give it a try.

Before giving it a try, we had to stop for Gelato. There are many places that advertise Gelato, but not all of them seem to have it. We are out of season, so it is not too surprising. Fortunately, we do seem to find one or two places that do have it, so we were delighted to have Gelato break today.

The B&B turned out to be much closer than we expected – just up the street. We were delighted to find it. The lady at the B&B spoke enough English that Becky was able to determine the cost to be 70 Euro, which includes breakfast. It is still a little more than we would like to be spending, but by the time we got here, we were ready to stop. It’s difficult for us to bargain when we aren’t prepared to walk away! We have found a home for the night. As a bonus, the B&B has Internet. The lady allowed us to cook our dinner in her kitchen – so we did not need to eat out and could have dinner at a earlier time – yay!

Becky has noticed that words in Italian seem to have one more syllable that she expects. She was saying “grat-zee” for thank-you, but it is actually “grat-zee-e”. This is causing great confusion, as Becky is getting numbers confused .. she thought that when the lady at the B&B said 70, she was saying 78! .. Fortunately, a quick point at the guide book clarified things.

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Looking back at where we've come from

Today we met our couchsurfing host, Andrea. We are staying at his family’s summer “cottage” in Nicotera Marina, on the ocean. The family lives in the town of Nicotera, which is 5 km up the hill.

This afternoon, Andreas gave us a tour of Nicotera . We learned that the town is older than Rome, originally established around 600 BC. The town originally was much larger, covering the area between Nicotera and Rosarno (where we stayed last night). The castle in town was built by the Normans around 1200 AD. As well as giving us a place to stay, Andrea took us on an interesting tour of Nicotera. This included the church, with detached bell tower. The restoration of the church was one of Andrea’s father’s last projects before he died.

The town is built on a large hill that overlooks the surrounding valley. From the town, we could see the gantries in Gioia Tauro. Unfortunately, it has been foggy, such that we could not see far. Andreas tells us that on a clear day you can see Sicily and Stromboli, and on a really clear day you can
see Etna (the active volcano in Sicily, which is the tallest mountain in Europe?).

Andrea has done a lot of travelling in his time – he says he has been to 55 countries, which is pretty impressive. He’s currently working for the Fire Brigade – 24 hours on, 3 days off, which gives him time to plan his next adventure – a trip from north to south in Africa.

This afternoon we enjoyed our first taste of Gelato (homemade Italian ice cream). It was wonderful. It appears that we can get Gelato at around 3 or 4 pm at a variety of different “bars” or “Gelaterias”. We now know what to look for when we need an afternoon energy boost.

We also learned that we can expect “corner stores” to open at about 5 pm. Pizzerias that serve fresh pizza for dinner (rather than the fast food by-the-slice places) also do not start serving until 8 pm. Apparently, if you arrive earlier, the ovens are not yet warm. So, we now know to plan to eat supper at 8 pm, unless we are self-catering.

We are now getting eager to start biking. We have been in Italy for 3 days, and since we can still see the gantries for the container ship port, it feels like we’ve been going in circles. We need to start riding to demonstrate to ourselves that we can make it at least part way across the country. We will ride north for a day or two and then start riding east until we hit the other coast, then north again until we are either tired or the roads are not good.

Andreas has warned us that Internet may be difficult to find in Calabria (the province we are in). We have been able to find it, but it hasn’t been easy. Searching out Internet connections has added a fair bit of effort to our already taxed brains. As a result, we will likely only try to send updates when we are in cities big enough to have a hotel with wifi or when an Internet connection presents itself – rather than us going out in search of it.

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Writing this post felt a little like a grade school report on “what I did on my summer vacation”. Sorry if you find it rather verbose, but everything is so new to us here it’s difficult to know what’s important and what isn’t.

At the Internet café last night, we discovered that Andrea (a couchsurfing host we hope to visit) is actually in Nicotera, which is north of Gioia Tauro, not south. So, we decided to head back towards Gioia Tauro and do some exploring. Our decision was also influenced by the desire to go down the wonderful 10 km hill that we climbed yesterday!

Looking at the map, we figured we would go check out San Ferdinando and possibly stay in Rosarno (which appears as a bigger town on our map). We are both still feeling lost. Becky was reminded of the English saying “just off the boat”, which does a good job describing how we are feeling, both figuratively and literally!

By 10 am, we were on our bikes heading up the hill towards downtown Palmi. We were heading up the way we had come down, which involved a rather steep hill. Just before getting to the steep hill, a lady stopped Becky. She explained to Becky (completely in Italian) that the hill we were going to was really steep, and that we could get to the same place by going around the hill. She said to go right (destra) until we got to the top. She was rather emphatic that we not go up the steep hill. Becky yelled for Scott (who was a bit further ahead) to turn around. The lady honked her horn to help get Scott’s attention. Eventually, Scott turned around and came back and we took the less direct and more bicycle friendly route up the hill to the center of Palmi.

Once we reach the center, we discovered a small open-air market. Scott stayed with the bikes while Becky did a quick survey. During her survey, she was stopped by a lady, who only spoke Italian. The lady asked many questions, and grabbed Becky by the arm in a friendly way, not letting her walk away. One of the questions was asking where Becky was from, which she said Canada and pointed to her socks (which had Canadian flags). The lady showed her a pamphlet which was clearly a Christian document. Once she agreed to take the pamphlet, she was allowed to leave an find her way back to Scott. Scott examined the pamphlet and confirmed that Becky had been greeted by her first Jehovah’s Witness in Italy!

One of the booths at the market had fruits and vegetables, so Becky picked up a couple of bananas and apples for the road. Once that was completed, we were on our way again. Our plan was to stop at the grocery store we had seen yesterday and pick up a few more food items, ensuring that we would have a snack available if necessary.

The grocery store was a little bit busy, and they only had one cashier, so Scott ended up waiting patiently outside while Becky picked up a few items: juice, prosciutto, olives, and some hard dried bagels.

The downhill ride into Gioia Tauro was glorious. The road was windy, and the slope was not too steep, such that we could get some reasonable speed and enjoy the ride. It took us 10 minutes to go down what took us 90 minutes to climb the day before!

Once we arrived in Gioia Tauro, we discovered that we had missed the main shopping district in town – it was along the S.S. 18 highway. We saw many more stores and business than we had yesterday. Most were closed as it was noon. Siesta time was soon approaching! We saw a Pizzeria, so we stopped for lunch – fast food pizza.

Once our stomachs were happy, we headed out again for an afternoon of exploring. San Ferdinando is just north of the Gioia Tauro container ship port. It appears to be a nice small community, with a couple of beach front hotels. It has a large beach front, which in a strange way reminded us of Maine and New Hampshire; however, there were mostly old falling apart and half constructed buildings on one side. The beach area had many small open boats on it. There was not a person in sight.

Since it was only 1 pm, we decided to head towards Nicotera before going to Rosaro. This would allow us to have a nice bike ride before calling it a day. The ride to Nicotera involved quite a large climb (higher than the hill we climbed into Palmi yesterday). Many people cheered us on as we climbed, and one person stopped and asked if they could take a picture. We are always happy to oblige!

Once we reached Nicotera, we discovered that everything was still closed – it was still siesta time! We find ourselves wishing we could try some of the local Gelato (Italian ice cream), but the places don’t seem to be open when we want them. With everything closed, we decided to head back down the hill and go to Rosarno and find a place to stay for the night.

Rosarno does not appear to be the nicest of towns. We found a reasonable hotel near the train station – with English speaking receptionists, but they did not have any rooms available. There was an Albergo (small hotel) next door, which did have a room – for much less money. So, we are in a very basic room for 43 Euro a night. Clean and dry, but definitely somewhat the worse for wear. We went to the hotel next door to ask about Internet, and discovered that they have free wireless from their lobby and lounge area. So, we have a cheap room with a short walk to free Internet.

While we continue to feel lost and confused, we are managing to survive and find places to eat and sleep. We’re reminding ourselves that the first week of any journey is the most difficult, so it should get easier. Scott is trying to focus on one day at a time, rather than worrying about the future – difficult and completely contrary to his nature!

Scott’s Adventures in Rosarno

While Becky relaxed in an overstuffed leather chair in the lobby of the Hotel Vittoria, Scott left on a mission. He was to find a pay phone and buy a “carte telefoniche” (phone card) so we could call Andrea and confirm when we’re meeting tomorrow.

First, he went to the train station, and confirmed there was a pay phone there. He also confirmed that the store in the train station did not sell the carte telefoniche.

Thinking that the Centro (city centre) might be the best place to look for a card, and the Centro was likely at the top of the hill, he set off. (In many old European towns, the oldest part of the town was built on a hill, where it was easier to defend).

First he climbed several residential streets, then found a staircase leading straight up the hill. At first the staircase was fine, but then he climbed higher. First weeds covered the steps, then whole steps were missing. Nearing the top, the weeds and missing steps got worse, and junk filled two thirds of the staircase. Finally, he reached the top – and it was open, not blocked as he had feared. Phew!

He arrived in a small park, with people loitering about, and a large fire lit at the base of a tree. Perhaps not the best place to be in twilight? He hurried on, looking neither left, nor right, seeking a busier, better lit area. Aha – the central square! Several churches, a few shops, and nothing of interest. Sigh.

But wait – there’s a view down the hill, and a well-lighted street with many shops. The sky was still light enough to see where the sun had set, so he was able to maintain a sense of direction as he descended the other side of the hill.

No luck though. This area was much busier, with heavy, fast-moving traffic, but not a Tobbaconist in sight. He stopped at a stationer (similar to Grand and Toy in Canada) thinking they might have something, but they didn’t. What they did have was a young shop employee who spoke fairly good English, and was able to rescue the other employees from Scott’s pathetic Italian.

After much repetition of directions, Scott was off again. 600m, on the right, near the Hotel Vittoria was the “Snack Bar”, which carried phone cards. He walked briskly along, but then repeated honks came from behind. It was the fellow from the shop! He pulled up on a scooter, and gestured for Scott to hop on. This could be interesting… Scott’s first ride on a scooter or motorcycle, behind someone he’s just met, in Italian rush-hour traffic, in the dark. Scott hops on, not without some trepidation, and they sped off. Weaving in and out of traffic, passing cars on the left who appear to be waiting to turn left, Scott would have feared for his life, but the ride was over too soon. There it was, the Snack Bar, and with a quick “Ciao”, his mysterious benefactor rode off into the night.

The Snack Bar was within 100m of the Hotel where Scott had left Becky, only in the other direction!

Phone card successfully purchased, he marched off to the train station, ready to call Andrea. But no. He reached the station, inserted the card, and… “error!”. Try another orientation? “error!”. Three of the four possible orientations give an error, and the fourth won’t accept the card.

But wait – this phone is one of the rare ones which accepts coins! Becky has all the Euro change, so back to the hotel he trudges. This is getting a bit tedious…

Fortified with currency, he returns to the station. Insert coin. E1.00 credit. Dial number. Error. Repeat. Error. Perhaps he’s being too clever. In many European countries, a zero is used to prefix dialed numbers, so he automatically added one after removing the +39 country code. Try without the zero? Aha, a different error. Now the machine won’t accept his coins…

Back to the phone card, he sees a small corner with a perforation and a label. “Sta…” I wonder if this is meant to be removed? He bends the corner and it breaks off cleanly. Now the card can be inserted in its fourth orientation. Wow! 5 Euro credit. Dialing again, and he actually gets through! … to Vodofone. Sigh. Vodofone says something in Italian, but conveniently repeats the message in English. The phone is offline or out of area. Oh well, at least we have a phone card now!

Morals of the story:

1. Pay phones are hard to come by in countries with 90+% mobile penetration.
2. Ask at the hotel where you can buy a phone card – they might have a good suggestion!
3. Learn something of the language of a country you’re visiting before leaving home. Every little bit helps!

Other realizations today:
1. We could use some lessons in basic life skills (what to buy where? At what times?)
2. When looking for accommodation, try a nice hotel first – they may have people who speak English, and if it’s too expensive, they can probably give a recommendation.
3. A dinner of Primo, Secondo and Dolce (salad) and a litre of house wine is too much for us when starting to eat at 8 pm.

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