Road to Perugia

15 minutes on the Italian roads and we are already lost, not the best way to begin your first journey abroad, off course this is not the desert and getting lost does not mean that you are going to be eaten by any wild animals (LOL) but nevertheless it just gets your initial anxiety.

A short stop and our first questions are a hell, no English, map on the tank and asking for directions by pointing Perugia, a Italian driver signals to us to follow him, he tries to make us understand that he will lead us up to the road which connects Ancona to Perugia.

We follow him and soon we are out of the traffic madness of Ancona (reminds me of Greece) a relief for me since the panniers on the side of the bike do not provide me lots of opportunities to bypass local traffic.
Once on the road we get the next hit, fuel, ok we will stop in a local fuel station and fill our tanks, how hard could that be? Well if you are a first timer in Italy and it’s Sunday afternoon, it is hard, I had read about the automatic fueling systems (where you insert cash and you get pumped) but I didn’t know all of the details…I had no small money (50 euros only) and I was trying to understand how I get my change back, for our luck a Greek truck driver stops, we ask him for instructions and he tells us that once we put the money inside get a receipt stating how much money we installed on the machine and how much fuel we pumped, with this receipt we can get our money back once the station opens…Monday….hell how are getting our money back when we are like 260Km’s away from Tuscany? Well he told us to try a bit further and that probably we would find an open station, I ask George is thats ok with him, my BMW has quite some fuel in its tank and I surely can travel a few Km’s down the road, George tells me he is ok with it so we both hit the road towards Perugia.

A few Km’s away we find another petrol station, spot on, we get in its open and working as we would be expecting, ok time to try the self service system, insert the money, choose the pump, pure fuel and get the receipt stating how much you cash you fed the pump and how much fuel you actually used. But here comes the funny part, we go inside the cashier and ask for our change, the cashier non speaking english of course, tries to tell us that today they are not refunding, bollocks! we ask why? since it’s open and it belongs to the fuel station, the cashier answers the boss is away…
So we go outside and try to figure a way out, and suddenly out of nowhere a guy with a t-shirt of the fuel company and boots appears! We reach him and ask him if he can find us a solution, yes he can! and finally we get our change back and we are ready to go!

Nice GSXR...

Road to Perugia #2

Ok in Greece we dont have self service systems, which is a nice addition, but man someoone needs to find a solution regarding the change, otherwise how do you expect to get your money back? especially in the instance you are not carrying any small change.

We hit the road riding towards Perugia, first miles are a bit awkward since this is our first motorcycle trip abroad, we are trying to figure out what is actually going on with the speed limits, cameras and everything traffic is really light…so light that the encounters with the other vehicles on the road are really rare! The Italian countryside pays off for the long boring straights, nice green fields and a lovely sky which breaks the “canvas” from the distant mountains! The roads are absolutely fantastic a real joy to ride, incredible tarmac and quality which surely you can only rarely find in the Greek side.

My little "beast"

After a few hours we reach Lake Trasimeno, we decide to take a short rest and enjoy a nice coffee with the view of the lake in front of us, we are again pleasantly shocked by the prices! nothing compared to a similar coffee in a similar place in Greece were you would be paying double or triple the price of it! (and then Greek tourist agencies are complaining for low tourist numbers).

The coffee is just what we needed at that time, the sun is still up but not high

Lake Trasimeno

anymore soon it will be fading behind the Tuscan hills and that is a view we would like to experience our first day in the Tuscan countryside! we finish quickly with the coffee and head towards Montepulciano to catch the SP146 road which will lead us to San Quirico D’Orcia, the sun is dramatically changing the view of the landscape leaving us speechless! Red, orange colors pain the green fields of the Tuscan countryside just making us stare the place like we are in paradise!

The view changes once you are at the west side of the lake, it transforms to the long heard Tuscan rolling hills with small farmhouses and hay stacks packed in the field, a truly dreamland for a rider and a photographer!

Sunset over Tuscan rolling hills

Soon we reach San Quirico D’Orcia where Michelle the guy who runs the place is waiting us! we unmount our luggages and enter the majestic old farmhouse which is waiting us in a warm atmosphere! It is remarkable how nicely they have restored the house dating since 1700 and used from the Pilgrims crossing the Tuscan landscape towards Rome, and we as modern Pilgrims are ready to enjoy the warmth embrace of the Tuscan countryside.

The 2 runners

Sunset over Tuscany #2

Sunset over Tuscany #3

First day ends with a nice visit to the San Quirico village, medieval images pop from the corners and we just enjoy the sightseeing even under the dark veil of the moonless sky of the night. The only drawback (which we did not expect) is that restaurants / tratorias close early, so we are left wondering where we could catch some food for our demanding stomachs, the ride was long today and we had no meals, soon a small pizzeria appears in the dark main street of San Quirico where we can enjoy a delicious Italian pizza and some nice local beer.

Next day involves Mugello! and we want to make sure we will be fresh and full of energy in order to enjoy the race!

Map of the day:

I was planning a trip abroad for quite some time, and what better than combine photography with motorcycles! The destination was quickly set, thanks to information from fellow photographers I managed to set our base location to San Quirico D’Orcia, a lovely Tuscan small town located between the famous yet fantastic Tuscan Rolling hills. A quick search over the Internet revealed that there was a plethora of places to stay in that area, we wanted something more traditional to combine the lovely countryside with the traditional architecture, so we opted for Agritourism. After carefull inspection and research we decided that Ill Poggiolo located just outside the San Quirico town would be the ideal match! A lovely building dating back from 1700!

We decided that our best match would be to stay all of the nights at the same place, this would remove the hassle of packing and mounting / unmounting luggages on our motorcycles, San Quirico D’Orcia is kind of centrally located in Tuscany so it provides amble opportunities to ride around and enjoy the spots of the famous landscape.

We booked our ferry tickets which would transfer us from Patra of Greece to Ancona in Italy, 04/06/2010 was set as our departure date and 12/06/2010 as our return date, 1 full week to enjoy our trip and discover the Italian countryside.

I took the day off at 04/06/2010 to make sure everything would be on time, since our ferry was departing from Patra at 17:30pm we needed to be on the road at 13:30pm. I met with my friend George at Attiki road which crosses Attiki and lands on the Greek national road which interconnects Athens to Corinth. A small stop for some water and the first pictures is necessary (sun was really hot…really really hot) and off we are towards Patra!

After a really boring trip towards Patra (where you also pay a damn 2 euros toll for a ghost road) we finally arrive at the port of Patra, we check in and we board on the ship! First day has ended regarding road trips, now the sea journey begins!

Map of the day:

After our short stop we headed towards the exit marked Bralos just a few Km’s after Kamena, here the fun part starts! The ride was just awesome, moisture over the green/red/yellow trees but with a nice conditioned road, gave us the opportunity to start starring over “nature’s images” which where transforming rapidly, mountains, forests, villages, long peaks! everything there! The colors where so fantastic, nature in its finest, autumn is a lovely season to visit them and definitely the Greek climate allows such short trips even in November!
The road towards Athanasios Diakos (after Bralos) is tight but in good condition, it ascends the mountain and contains lots of U-turns, on the BMW it was quite comfy since the engine has adequate power and the brakes are working as they should. After Stromi there is a small part of missing road, probably the local authorities have started a repair of a most likely previously damaged. Don’t worry though as the part is really small and its easily passed even from street bikes since it was prepared to have its tarmac layered.

A few Km’s before the Village Stromi a waterfall welcomes us! A fantastic place to be and off course a fantastic place to stop! We pull over for a few photographic moments, and after a few minutes cameras are on fire! Surely a well deserved stop!

After our short stop we head towards our final destinaton, we reach first Stromi village where we get lost for a while, GPS is not very well mapped for that area so we initally head towards the wrong direction, we quickly find out that we are heading towards the wrong direction (although nooone complains, since the place is simply magical!) so we change route, and head towards the correct one.
After a few Km’s we reach Athanasion Diakos our final destination, Diakos is a small traditional village, around 900meter above sea level, in 2001 it was counted having 634 people as population.
We stopped at the village square, where nearly all the taverns are located, our plan was to enjoy some nice Greek country food (Lamp chomp attack) and then head back home through the old national road.
The weather was just spot on, moody (which is ideal for such a village) not so cold, but also not hot, clouds where covering the mountains around and the trees had the fantastic red / yellow color of autumn.

After our long (hehehe) stop for some food, we started heading back home, we followed the road towards Stromi, and from there we headed towards Pavliani. At Pavliani we made a refueling stop (300Km’s from starting point) and we headed towards Amfikleia we would be returning through the old National road, Amfikleia, Livadia and from there on to Kastro and the new National road.
It was a fantastic trip, the return although we already had 300Km’s (and another 200Km’s to cover) was lovely, all those images and smells where all being processed during the return, and continued to do so even after a few days of boring office work! Surely those trips are the best ones, they just offer you “food for thinking” during the boring, tiresome and long working week! Stay tunned, because the brain…requires more food for thinking, and the next trip has already been planned!

BMW 07/11/2009 Athanasios Diakos trip

Spit it out Johny…the journey is here and the mood is around, should the weather co-operate we shall be doing half a thousand Km’s in a days joy!
I have in mind many different destinations and nothing beats a nice old traditional village on one of the most appealing Greek mountain landscapes!
So tripod is getting ready, photographic equipment as well, the bike is getting serviced (damn I wish there where self healing engines!) and we are preparing for what sounds as a lovely weekend!
It’s been a long time since I roamed around traditional villages with a motorcycle, and it was about time I did so!
First stop is Kammena Vourla for a lovely coffee and some Loukoumades (check Greek dictionary for meaning ), next we continue towards Damasta and Bralos (Greek magic #2), we continue for Pavliani and finish to Athanassios Diakos, enjoying the Greek country (and some Greek traditional food ).
After out lovely meal, (damn I feel nice…) we prepare for the return, a return which in my humble opinion (we don’t give a s**t about it) should be relaxing and calming (yeah! you know lamb chops need their time… ). We head towards Kaloskopi, and from there on to Amfiklia (maybe another nice stop for a quick coffee? ) on from Amfiklia we head towards Cheronia, after Cheronia we head for Kastro which is our last part of the “slow” Greek country and we reach the “new” National highway, onwards the journey is typical until we reach our home!

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