Italy's tourist traps

We had committed to the tourist route up the coast so we came down out of the mountains and found ourselves in the chaos of European and Italian tourists. We fortunately found a campsite south of Salerno (coastal Campania) which was great value.. Very cheap and connected to a hotel - so we had the camp ground to ourselves, use of the pool (we snuck in without swimming caps :) and beach.

Cycling along the west coast was hot, busy traffic, smelled like rubbish, and every 3rd to 4th corner had a pair of prostitutes waiting for a lift... (To suit all tastes...Tim claims no knowledge of the trade in Australia...does it exist in the street-pickup form and are they as "unappealing"?)

We managed the Amalfi coast in one day... ALIVE!! Stopping for the occasional photo was beautiful but peak tourist season did not encourage us to stop for a swim. Perhaps not noticed with other transport, the amount and smell of rubbish/urine was almost overwhelming even with the amazing views at every corner. Safety = easy...narrow road = yes... but not as narrow as the Stuart Hwy feels when a road-train is overtaking!

Pompeii - one of those places to check off the 'to do' list. It was incredibly hot and we enjoyed people watching as much as the ruins...amazing what some people choose to wear to outdoor/dusty/uneven ground attraction! We saw lots of old ruins and half a dozen casts of people smothered by Vesuvius ash. The inside wall paintings were quite well-preserved. It felt like 70% of the buildings were still under construction/surrounded by industrial fencing being "restored" (as though they haven't had time previously for this?? - things happen quickly in Italy).

Setting off the next morning was slow as we had navigational glitches on almost every corner. We eventually left the city (decided to avoid Naples chaos) and headed back to the mountains. We were rewarded after a 110km day with an authentic gelateria in San Gregoria della Matese and had some really cold, rainy weather but good food and nice road gradients through the less-touristy centre.

We enjoyed a great lunch of the freshest cheese we will ever experience...Buffalo mozzarella!

Waking early yesterday morning from our campsite - somewhere between a vineyard and an olive grove, we made the journey into Rome. A slight detour led us down the Appian Way which was beautiful and historic but the cobblestones were a pain in the bum... literally!!!

Despite the traffic and the disrepair of the roads (especially that little strip right on the edge!!) we arrived safely at our campsite. Swimming pool and bathroom were very welcome - came with hot water AND toilet paper!!. We did the majority of sites in the late afternoon and evening for the best lit up conditions. Our particular favourites were the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. We also visited the Spanish Steps, lots of palaces and some cool old stuff we couldn't figure out the name of.. We were quite impressed with the random church that had painted its walls to look like marble - great from a distance!! but don't look too closely.

Today was the Vatican museum with Sistine chapel, St Peters Basilica and inside the Pantheon. Paying extra to jump the queue of the Vatican was well worth it but considering it was the biggest museum we'd ever walked through, we were exhausted... Our favourite room was the geographical Cartology room with paintings of Italian regions and an incredibly intricate painted ceiling. Speaking of ceilings... The Sistine Chapel was not the best we saw - sorry Michaelangelo! Obviously it's a matter of taste but we were not even close to being arrested by the camera police!

Moving on we made sure we conformed to the dress code for St Peters but Tim was told that his head was unacceptable - we soon realised it was his hat not his head but 'off with it' while pointing to his head did leave us dumbfounded for a second. St Peters was genuinely spectacular! Not surprisingly, it was the most extravagant of the churches we have visited....ever - a tremendous amount of marble and stone! Have we mentioned Tim likes rocks?
The Pantheon was also a pleasant surprise... We were exhausted after the Vatican and St Peters but we went back (during opening hours). Great piece of architecture!

Painted red marble!

What?! You don't speak Italian?!!

As soon as we rode off the ferry in Villa San Giovanni (mainland Italy!) we headed straight for the mountains. After accidentally drinking non-potable water (whoops!) - we decided it wasn't that bad after previously eating vegetables that had been discarded in a pile of rubbish on the side of the road in Sicily (haha! wait for our 'food evaluation edition' to hear more detail on this)- we made our way up (literally up to 1300m above sea level!) to the Aspromonte National Park. 

Absolutely beautiful! - felt like we were in a fairytale woodland with abundance of trees, shade and camping-friendly picnic sites... We decided to take advantage of the BBQs and buy some 'real' meat for lunches. After eating what we called 'packages of goodness' which appeared to be pieces of lamb weaved with garlic and wrapped in prosciutto, we then stuck mainly to sausages for simplicity. Butchers (macelleria's) must not have that much business as one gave us a free tub of ricotta (surely it was going out of date!?) and Suppa Antonio = www.salumificiosuppa.com in Fabrizia gave us our entire order for free!! (Ok so it was a total of 4 sausages but hey!)

The general response to two pale, blue-eyed and comparatively very tall (yes even Emily is taller than Italians-both men and women) strangers riding through town was to ask us endless questions about us and our journey. After getting through the basics, conversation often became much more complicated and when we explained that our Italian language skills were limited, locals seemed offended and surprised that we didn't speak Italian. One (possibly senile) man asked us if we were sisters!! We giggled and let that one go as his English was much better than our Italian.

We came across the occasional English-speaker, usually from the north of Italy who pointed us in the direction of the Sila national park... Lots more shady trees and an endless supply of picnic spots and clean water fountains. It wasn't until we by chance walked into the Pollino national park headquarters and met the most useful informational man yet.. His English wasn't great but it was our first chance to pick up some maps and even have one which highlights just the national parks... This has been the foundation of our route planning - hitting the national parks!

We've been critical so far on Italy's pizza (doesn't compare to Melbourne's Lygon St). We did however stumble upon a pizzeria to rival Lygon St nestled randomly in the Pollino national park forest - we were just looking for water and a flat area for the tent and found a family-run wood fired oven pizzeria... Amazing food and genuine hospitality to two sweaty, stinky cyclists. Much better than one-pot-pasta!

Vino = 1.60€ per litre

We made it to Pietrapertosa then Castelmezzano and were excited to get off the bikes and get strapped into a zip line from one mountain village to another (together!!)... Brilliant being able to see just where we had cycled as well as the beautiful scenery... Lucky for us we turned up on a Friday afternoon - apparently the whole town closes down during the week and the zip line is open only on weekends. Eating gelati and limoncello and then waiting for the morning was well worth it!!

Heading west we were a bit tired of hills but knew we only had a small range to pass before the coast. Tim's stand finally broke - he carries a lot more weight than me (gear mainly, not just body weight). We had a delicious lunch in a small town in the valley called Atena Lucana but unfortunately they tried charging us double what we should have paid... Then asked us out opinion of what the bill should be where we then wrote out our own at more realistic prices!

As we head towards the coast we are dreading the tourists but looking forward to Amalfi, Pompeii and obviously civilisation.