Italy/Greece roadtrip pics

[Keen]

Hi,

Just got back last weekend from our latest road trip! As mentioned in an earlier thread, me and my girlfriend had been planning an Italy/Greece trip for a while now. We originally planned to make it all the way down to Athens and across to the other Greek islands but money/time constraints meant that Corfu was as far as we got. Still, we set off from Antibes in the south of France and took the coast road towards Genova, down to Pisa and all the way down past the bay of Naples. There we spent a day checking out the ruins at Pompeii (I used to study ancient history so I've wanted to go for years) before blasting eastward in one high speed afternoon just in time to catch the ferry from Bari across to Corfu. We had a week there on the beach and by the pool, riding the coast roads and visiting the places of beauty before catching a ferry back to Venice, taking a gondola ride in the morning then nailing it back to home in Antibes.

best bits: the amazing coastal scenery in Corfu and the twisty Amalfi coast roads. Seeing sights like the tower of Pisa and Pompeii, just having 2 weeks with nothing to think about but where to ride to today. Trying to keep up with a ninja-riding lunatic on the coast highway between Monaco and Genova.

worst bits: the cheap (25 euros) tankbag I bought for the trip - one of the magnets was broken and jagged, so it wore through the material and scratched my tank up the chain also gave up halfway so we had a stressful morning in Sorrento waiting for a mechanic to get a new one and get it fitted before we had to catch a ferry in Bari that afternoon.

Setting off from home:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/01settingoffnp.jpg

Me looking pretty exhausted in front of the leaning tower of Pisa:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/02pisa.jpg

The bike loaded up ready to blast down to Pompeii:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/03svincenzonp.jpg
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/05bikeloadednp.jpg

On the way down we stopped at a random hotel in the coastal town of Gaeta... by some weird coincidence there was a huge meeting of the Italian Honda owners club there... must of been 40 bikes. After a nice chat about places we should see and how impressed they were to see a UK-plated hornet all the way down there, we accepted a free club sticker and got going again:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/23hondapeople.jpg
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/24hondabikes.jpg

Pompeii- temple of apollo:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/06pompeii-templeofapollo.jpg

Pompeii- the forum:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/07pompeii-forum.jpg

Pompeii- "Beware of Dog":
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/08pompeii-bewareofdog.jpg

Pompeii- Amphitheatre:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/26pompeii-amphitheatre.jpg

Pompeii- the brothel (full of weird ancient porno drawings):
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/09pompeii-ancientbrothel.jpg

On the coast road somewhere near Amalfi:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/10bayofnaples.jpg

The beautiful Corfu coast, and a secluded monastery:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/15corfucoast.jpg
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/14corfumonestary.jpg

After a week chilling on the Island, we caught a 6am ferry to Venice to enjoy an embarrassingly touristy yet great fun gondola ride:
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/18ferrytovenice.jpg
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/19venice.jpg
https://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/21venicegondola.jpg

So that was our trip in condensed version... hope you enjoyed the pics. We took abut 250 photos in total, did 1500 miles and finished off the chain/sprockets and my rear tyre. What fun
____________________
"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[natv4]

Sounds like a fun trip. Certainly a beautiful part of the world.

I have a few questions about the ferries...
How much did the Corfu to Venice ferry cost?
Is that a new service?
How long did it take?
Which ferry company was it with?

I was hoping to ride through Croatia down to Greece, then catch a ferry all the way back to Venice at some point in the future. I was just a little concerned it would cost a fortune. They cancelled the Split to Venice ferry after 2 years.

Thanks.
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[Keen]

Hi,

I'm not sure about how new the service is but the ferry company was 'Anek Lines' and it cost about 140 euros for two of us and the bike. If you want a cabin, it was another 80 euros per person on top of that, otherwise you just get an aeroplane-style seat. Our ferry left at 6am and didn't arrive until 8am the next morning, so its 26 hours. It dragged on a bit but it was great to arrive in Venice by boat, you see so much of the place on the way in.
____________________
"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[Dom]

Nice write-up/pics. Just curious, how's the Hornet for touring?
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Photos and that

[natv4]

[Keen]

[Dom]

Cheers for the reply, tbh that was more or less what I was expecting to hear. As you say a useful but fugly screen is probably worth having for touring, it's just the tank range that has me a bit nervous really.
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Photos and that