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It's a wonderful ride, the sun is shining on the twisty tarmac below our wheels, great view of the sea to our right, dramatic mountains on our left! The coastal road turns up into the mountains and we stop for a break at a scenic turnout. A friendly stray dog comes bounding up to greet us. He seems very socialized to people. Perhaps someone's former pet? Or perhaps he can smell the doggy treats in Neda's tankbag? https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN2860-XL.jpg "Awww... who's a good boy? Yes! You're a good boy! You're sooooo good!" Besides riding around the world, I believe it's now our unofficial mission to feed all the stray dogs around the world. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0704-L.jpg The Goodest Boy |
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I'm a good boy too, Neda. Take a picture of meeeeee! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2865-L.jpg Back on the road to do more mountain twisties https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2874-L.jpg The route descends back to the coast as we come up to the next major city on our way south |
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Oristano. Very pretty, but we don't spend much time here. We're feeling a little bit tired. I think we're going to call it a day and stop somewhere around here. Yes, I know. We've only gone about 120 kms today and we're already done. Ride for a couple of hours, rest for a couple of days. This travel fatigue is kind of getting out of hand... So we tried to book a place in Oristano for the evening, but we can't find the same deal we got in Alghero. Too expensive. Instead, we ride about 20 minutes outside of town to stay on a farm just outside the town of Marrubiu. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2883-L.jpg The couple that owns the farm has a couple of guest suites on site that they rent out to tourists Surrounded by all this nature, it turned out to be a much more picturesque place to stay than in the city. We just had to ride a bit into the neighbouring town to grab some groceries, since there was absolutely nothing around us. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN2881-XL.jpg Preparing to leave the next morning... is it my imagination or is it getting warmer? Sardinia is not that big, only slightly larger than Corsica at 260 kms lengthwise. So I'm not sure if this warmer weather is the result of us moving further south in latitude or just the daily temperature fluctuations. But we don't complain, as we ride out of the farm into the brilliant, sunny day without any sweater or any base layers on underneath our mesh motorcycle jackets. I can't remember the last time it was this warm! Not a cloud in the sky and there's mid-20s on the forecast for today. Nice! |
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Today we are going to try to hug the western coast as much as possible, all the way until the edge of the land curves from south to east https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0733-L.jpg Somewhere near the southern shores, we spy this fantastic beach from the road I'm not really sure where we are, we're just exploring all the little roads that follow the shoreline. Later on I try to retrace our route on the map. I believe this is Capo Pecora. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0747-L.jpg We want to get as close to the water as possible. Trying to find a way down to the beach |
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Good a place to park as any https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0782-L.jpg Grabbing our swimsuits and towels and heading towards the inviting, crystal blue waters https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0728-L.jpg Neda is scouting around for a place to lay our towels down |
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Kicking off our boots and soaking up some much-needed sun and warmth https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0800-L.jpg Thinking about staying here forever https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0797-L.jpg Swimming around all the little pools inside the rocky shoreline. Despite the warm weather, the water is FREEZING COLD! |
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Moto-freedom I think this epitomizes what we love most about riding motorcycles around the world. Just wandering around with everything you need and own on the back of your bike. No schedule... if you see something interesting, just pull over and take all the time you want to explore without rushing to meet some kind of deadline. It culd be a monument or a vibrant, major metropolitan city. Or it could just be a pretty, deserted beach out in the middle of nowhere. The world truly feels like our oyster. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2901-L.jpg Continuing our shoreline trek, lots of empty sandy beaches around but no tourists https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2902-L.jpg |
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The road winds high above the cliffs of the southern shores and we get some breathtaking views over the barrier Here's a video recap of the roads around Corsica & Sardinia. Enjoy! |
We arrive at the southern end of Sardinia, near the port town of Cagliari.
Exhausted. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0827-L.jpg Relaxing in Quartucci, at the very end of Sardinia We've booked a couple of nights at a really nice guest house in the suburb of Quartucci, cheaper than staying right downtown near the ferry. Which means it's decision-time, once again. We never really resolved our "discussion" in Marseille. I wanted to go to Tunisia. Neda wanted to drop the bikes off in Croatia and fly to Thailand. I admit that the Corsica -> Sardinia side-trip was a trick to get Neda to eventually come around to crossing over to Northern Africa. I told her, "Let's just traverse the islands, it'll be sunny and lazy and we can take our time. We'll ride down the western side of the islands, and when we get to the tip of Sardinia, if you don't want to go to Tunisia, we'll just come back up the eastern side of the islands and go straight to Pula." Come on, I can't be the only guy to ever beg a girl: "Just the tip"... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2918-L.jpg Hey, there's a Pula in Sardinia! Who knew... Well, here we are at the tip. And I'm friggin' exhausted. I can't continue riding into Tunisia, let alone back up Sardinia and Corsica again. I just want to catch a ferry straight to Croatia right now, dump the bikes and lie on a beach forever in Thailand. Neda smirks knowingly. She knew I'd run out of energy. My little "Just the tip" scheme backfired spectacularly. Europe is done. |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/375.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...map375_1-L.jpg We're too tired to even ride back up through the mountains on the east coasts of Sardinia and Corsica. Now that we've decided to leave Europe, we find ourselves in a great rush to get the heck outta here. Since we've both agreed not to venture any further south, the ferry at Cagliari is useless to us. The only boat back to mainland Europe leaves from Olbia, 275 kms away on the northeastern corner of Sardinia. We don't even think about it. The next morning we jump directly on the highway and within hours we're checking in at the ferry that will take us away from the islands. It took us four whole days to wander down Sardinia and now that we're on a mission... three hours to come back up! No pictures of the boring highway ride back. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2920-L.jpg But here's one of the ferry back to mainland Italy https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2923-L.jpg Ten hours later, we're spit out onto the shores of Genoa. From here, we're planning on heading east back to Croatia to dump the bikes and fly to Thailand. |
Neda had a thought. Since we're going to be passing through Cinque Terre on the way to Pula, why not drop in and see the famous Italian Riviera? It's on the way...
Sure. Why not? https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0833-L.jpg Beautiful southern shores of Italy As the name Cinque Terre suggests, this part of the Italian Riviera is comprised of five towns. Although the towns are all within 20 kms of each other, it's still too much to see in a single day, so we're going to set up a base at a campsite on the west end, in a town called Sestri Levante. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2931-L.jpg Riding out to our campsite. This whole area reminds us of the Amalfi Coast, further south on the boot of Italy. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2935-L.jpg Our HQ for the next couple of days We had actually wanted to visit Cinque Terre when we first landed in Europe back in 2014, but when we got close, Northern Italy experienced severe flooding, so we skipped the Italian Riviera. This part of Italy frequently gets flooded. The worst one was back in 2011, nine people were killed and there was extensive damage to several of the villages. |
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Heavy rains in the spring of this year led to extensive landslides which closed down several hiking trails and roads. Several months later, the roads still haven't reopened. This means that we have to take the main highway all the way east to La Spezia and then double back to visit the villages of Cinque Terre. This is unfortunate. There's a system of narrow, twisty roads that connect all the villages, and it runs along the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea! :( https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2939-L.jpg Routing through the city of La Spezia https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN2947-L.jpg La Spezia is pretty, but it's not one of the old villages of Cinque Terre |
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We make it to our first Cinque Terre town: Monterosso al Mare Wonderful pastel-colored buildings line the pedestrian streets. It's definitely off-season, but there are still a lot of tourists enjoying the Riviera's warm, late-fall weather. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0842-L.jpg I found out that the buildings were only painted these pastel colours in the 1970s https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0844-L.jpg |
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The medieval buildings here remind me of when we visited the mock-Italian villa of Portmeirion in Wales Now *this* is what the real Italian Riviera looks like! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0885-XL.jpg We continue strolling west past the town's centre to the beach on the other side. Of the five villages of Cinque Terre, Monterosso is the only one that has a sandy beach. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0867-L.jpg There's a huge rock just off the coast that everybody climbs However, they warn people not to get stuck on the rock when the tide comes in. Or you'll get stranded and have to swim back to shore! It's not that far a swim... |
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Monterosso al Mare's sandy beach. It must be packed in the summertime! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0857-L.jpg Looking over the colorful beach blankets the vendors have laid out on the sand It's so pretty and scenic here. Not too many people and the weather is warm and sunny. But still... it seems like we're just not enjoying it fully. Like we're just putting one foot in front of the other. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0882-XL.jpg Aurora Tower - they say that this is the marker that separates the old town (where we were earlier) with the newer part (the beach) |
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