day 1:
left napoli at 08:00 on 8 june 2000 to go pick up my friends tony &
piera who live in gaeta (45 minutes north) for a 09:00 departure.
i had a caffe` while they got organized. we left around 09:30
and headed out on secondary roads toward rome. we stopped north
of rome for lunch at a little snack place where we had an italian "snack"
of ravioli, pasta salad and gnocchi which were all excellent. we
kept riding secondary roads up to livorno which is right outside of pisa
and then picked up the autostrada. we rode it up the coast and reached
menton, france (just inside the border) at 20:00. not bad for
the first day, 560 miles. very nice little town. our first out of
italy dinner was great. i had mussels in a tomato sauce which was
different than they do it in napoli and equally as good and then rabbit
for a second course. also had a nice red wine. lodging
was inexpensive as we paid $100 for three people and a garage for the bikes.
day 2:
we doubled back to italy to buy tony a different pair of riding pants
as the purple ones he had borrowed weren't cutting it. we left italy
again around 12:30. we rode autostrada through the south of
france and reached figueras, spain around 19:00. 372 miles.
riding from perpignan, FR to the spanish border was a bit hairy as it was
very windy. i didn't remember that area as being such last year but
then we took a slightly different direction. once again, figueras
was a nice little town. i had targeted it since it was where salvadore
dali` was from. dinner was onion soup with a second plate of
lamb with a nice house red. $57 for 3. another good accommodation
for $58 for 3 and a garage.
day3:
went to the dali` museum for the morning and got separated in the museum.
i headed back to the hotel as i was afraid they were waiting on me there.
they waited 2 hrs around the museum thinking i was still there.
we finally found each other at a little restaurant near the hotel and had
a great salad and a mixture of local grilled sausages. left
for Barcelona around 16:00 in the rain. arrived at Barcelona around
18:00 or so and when we stopped i realized that i had lost the keys to
my hard luggage which i had put in the pocket of my rain suit (very bad
move). i had gone to the bathroom at the toll booth before
arriving at Barcelona so hoped they had fallen out there. t&p
went to look for a hotel and i for the keys. took 45 minutes
to find my way back out of the city (the spanish amazingly enough seem
to have the same idea of how to mark roads as the italians) and then 20
minutes to find the keys and get back. no rooms at all in Barcelona
so we had a quick bite and then headed for tarragona which was the next
largest town south. again no rooms but luckily the concierge
at the hotel we stopped at was a biker and called the surrounding area
and found us a hotel in a small town of alcover for $42 for 3 and garage.
arrived at 01:30 after a long 150 mile day.
day 4:
up and off early. rode south and got lost in the small town of
reus where they had the same lack of traffic signs. finally
found the highway and headed for valencia. stopped in a small
beach town for a nice lunch of calimare, shrimp in garlic sauce and assorted
seafood. very good. mixture of autostrada and secondary roads.
another windy day. we found a hotel (about $55 for 3) and walked
around town a bit. 271 mile day. found an irish pub for
a beer and then had a mediocre paella. it was decided to stay in
valencia the following day and night as there appeared to be a good deal
to see there. i bought a very nice suit there for half the price
of what i had seen for the same thing in napoli. we found the
holy grail in the local cathedral (it was very nice. don't know why
that british bunch had such a difficult time locating it.) took a
nice walk through town to try to find a new helmet tony had seen some frenchies
wearing without luck. another so-so paella for lunch and grilled
seafood for dinner.
day 5:
off for granada. 300mi. arrived around 18:00 and
went to visit the Alhambra which was a moorish fort/city. granada
was nice as well and quite busy with tourists and such. walked
about and did a bit of shopping. dinner was gazpacho and chicken
in a garlic sauce. very nice. had a discussion on if
t&p would go on or return at that point. i wanted to go to sevilla,
cordoba and then head up to madrid before going back. t&p decided
to go on to sevilla and then decide about cordoba and madrid, so we headed
out the next day.
day 6:
sevilla after 170 miles arriving at noon via secondary roads (a lot
like riding through new mexico.) sevilla was nice with an elaborate
cathedral. busy city. stayed in a small hotel where i
paid $24 for a single. dinner was fava beans with ham and egg
followed by white fish with garlic sauce.
day7:
we decided to ax madrid so it was back to valencia cutting through
the country side, past cordoba via secondary roads for a 420 mile ride.
probably the nicest riding day of the trip with nice roads and a fair amount
of twisties (again like riding through new mexico/arizona) lots of
olive and orange trees. stayed out of the center of valencia.
ate at a "hip" restaurant where i had white fish with a squid sauce which
was excellent.
day 8:
headed back towards france and rode to nimes for a 470 mile day. took
autostrada the whole way. nice small city. nice coliseum, cathedral.
dinner of duck all'orange which was great. found the
helmet tony was looking for but it was a bit pricey so he gave it a miss.
day 9:
started back toward italy with pisa as a goal as tony had not been
there. they were thinking of staying at an army base near there
for the night and i had decided to continue on alone.
tony missed the exit so they decided to continue on with me maybe stopping
a bit later. we started getting close enough to home
and weren't extremely tired so decided to finish it out.
i got home at 01:00 on day 10 (two days short of plan.)
good trip overall with 3500 miles. the extra two days would have
been nice to see madrid and a bit more of the country while we were there,
but there will be time later for that.