Author Topic: Round the World - Do you have beer we are coming to visit? (Read 90052 times)

michnus · « **Reply #500 on:** February 18, 2015, 03:11:23 pm »

Quote from: J-dog on February 18, 2015, 02:50:45 pm

Got any more pics of Israeli girls?

Not ones I am allowed to post, JDog

Thanks dirtyXT. I understand forums are difficult and is not as easy as LIKE from facebook, then at least you know people are watching and not posting for nothing. Honestly is good to know people enjoy the post and if only it get somebody off the couch or be as inspiration to somebody to start and plan an adventure then it's cool.

Rodlau · « **Reply #501 on:** February 18, 2015, 11:42:18 pm »

This is great. Never had much desire to visit Egypt, but now absolutely no desire. Pity about the disaster of the photo loss. I suppose backups of backups is not so dumb after all

Thanks for the effort in the posting of this great adventure.

michnus · « **Reply #502 on:** February 19, 2015, 02:47:22 pm »

It was well after dark when we decided to fit our LED Lenzer headlight to the front of Elsebie’s bike’s wind screen and use it as a headlight. The small little headlight’s beam turned out to be too powerful, as traffic from the front kept flashing their headlights at her. It worked and got us to the hotel in the small town.

First day in Italy.

We could not have asked for a more perfect place and time to land in Italy and experience our first day in the country of exotic machines, pizza’s and The Mafia.

While I went back to the customs officials to clarify and make sure we indeed did not need paperwork for the bikes, Elsebie had a bit of time to plan our route for the day. It turned out we were right at the start of the popular and scenic Amalfi coastline. Landscapes of towering bluffs and pastel-hued villages terraced into hillsides, precipitous cornice roads with luxuriant gardens, and expansive vistas over turquoise waters and green-swathed mountains.

Vietri sul Mare is a village known for its ceramics and in particular its arty clay tiles and one that offers sweeping views of the beautiful jaw drop coastline. The road meanders past viewpoint after viewpoint. The one at Capo d’Orso may be the best of what we have seen and skirts the villages of Maiori and Minori, the ruins of a first-century A.D. Roman villa, before a junction close to Atrani whisks you inland to Ravello.

Small cafe's all along the way packed with weekend bikers.

The views are breath taking and spectacularly beautiful. The pace is slow with people sipping coffee and beers at road side restaurants and coffee shops. I think we could easily get swallowed up in to this lifestyle and spend a life time around these parts, never getting bored or used to the views, smells and sights.

ROOI · « **Reply #503 on:** February 19, 2015, 03:06:30 pm »

Damn this is a nice read keep them coming

evansv · « **Reply #504 on:** February 19, 2015, 04:05:39 pm »

michnus · « **Reply #505 on:** February 19, 2015, 04:11:10 pm »

Quote from: J-dog on February 10, 2015, 06:31:59 pm

Jewish and Arab girls

Sorry Jdog, these are all I was able to recover

We are not big city people but Tel Aviv is a really groovy hip city.

michnus · « **Reply #506 on:** February 19, 2015, 04:11:47 pm »

michnus · « **Reply #507 on:** February 19, 2015, 04:13:39 pm »

And a Saffer

P.K. · « **Reply #508 on:** February 20, 2015, 09:05:49 am »

Hey Michnus....FUKKIN AWESOME trip. Have been following your travels with interest, but not really into posting on this or any forum but felt you needed to know that your efforts and reports are followed keenly on this forum. You probably won`t remember me, but I made your bike bags before your Angola trip. If I remember correctly your and Eric came to us with specs and we made up the bags....The Tarpaulin Factory in East London. Didn`t charge you enough if I remember correctly !!....it was early days in the business and we were desperate for business.

michnus · « **Reply #509 on:** February 20, 2015, 09:42:21 am »

Quote from: P.K. on February 20, 2015, 09:05:49 am

Hey Michnus....FUKKIN AWESOME trip. Have been following your travels with interest, but not really into posting on this or any forum but felt you needed to know that your efforts and reports are followed keenly on this forum. You probably won`t remember me, but I made your bike bags before your Angola trip. If I remember correctly your and Eric came to us with specs and we made up the bags....The Tarpaulin Factory in East London. Didn`t charge you enough if I remember correctly !!....it was early days in the business and we were desperate for business.

Wiele P.K! Thanks so much for the feedback.

Hahaha, I remember you well, and those bags served us for a looooong time man! In fact you did not charged us enough, but I can honestly tell you they were tough bags and we still have them.

michnus · « **Reply #510 on:** February 20, 2015, 01:10:08 pm »

It is a Sunday and the motorcycle riders are out in force, marvelling in the twist and turns of the roads that hang onto the cliffs. The roads are winding, narrow, and challenging to drive. Add in drop-dead views and daring Italian drivers and riders known for their driving bravado. Most are exotic naked bikes with fashion consciously dressed men and woman in high heels and summer dresses whizzing past on Vespa’s and Piaggio’s.

We were unable to spend a few days at the Amalfi coast as we had to head up to Rome. But we will for sure have to return to stay there for a week or a month or a year or so, to fully appreciate the beauty and people.

It is not cheap and for South Africans it can quickly suck a wallet dry. As it was, at the start of winter most camp sites close down and we were forced to stay in cheap hotels every now and then. The cheap is not the problem, but for SA travellers their cheap is not our cheap. With a bit of effort we found some campsites that were still open where people camped with camper vans and not our poverty-spec tent camping budget and equipment.

Camping at Pompeii camp Zeus

Close to Napoli we came across a campsite called Camp Zues for 38Eu for the stand per day. It is in walking distance of the Pompeii forum. This is the tourist route, but we were there and had to go and see where our civilization came from. We take it as: do some must-sees, and some see-what-happens.

From there we could take the train to Naples, the birthplace of the famous pizza and the sex museum and other more boring museums to see as well.

Cheap red wine, pasta, cheese and bread

Food bought from supermarkets are relatively well priced and of good quality. We soon found wine for 2-00Eu and enjoyed with bread and salami makes for a great dinner. Pastas and fresh vegetables are on offer from small independent shops.

Proper fish monger

Pizza is far from the only food Naples does well. Its fritti (fried offerings), seafood, and pastas are some of the best. The confectioneries, if you have a tooth for pastries, are beautifully made and taste just as good.

Ask most people in Italy what they think of Napoli and they conjure up images of a garbage crisis and Mafia, runaway crime rates with pickpockets and bullets flying in the street. Napoli is a chaotic city, gritty, dirty but full of life.

narrow streets of Napoli...Naples.

michnus · « **Reply #511 on:** February 20, 2015, 01:20:43 pm »

Part of the reason we travel is to seek to understand the beauties, the mysteries and the differences of our world. The beauties for us in cities like Napoli are the absence of the likes of the traditional malls we have in South Africa.

Street shops owned by individuals or passed down in the family do business next to each other with a lively buzz and healthy competition. None of the same boring retail chain brands you find in every bloody mall in SA with the same stuff on offer and any new offerings pressed out by the big ego driven retail brands.

Stores and shops rarely open before 10am. Everything closes again around midday, not to reopen until 3 or 4pm. In the evening, the streets in the centre come alive.

The museums we have visited thus far are all well maintained and the information easy to use. It is in stark contrast to the museums in Cairo where photos are not allowed and the place is stuffy and the artefacts not properly marked with little or no information.

The National Archaeological Museum is one of the best to visit if you had to choose one. Secret Museum or Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) principally refers to the collection of erotic or sexually explicit finds from Pompeii, held in separate the former Museo Borbonico.

Rather strange that they were so open about sex at the time one would have thought them to be more conservative. Yet in our age Janet Jackson slips a nipple on stage and the USA faints in disgust.

Just a bit much to post here but the history of the erotic depicting of the gods is on Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Museum,_Naples

michnus · « **Reply #512 on:** February 20, 2015, 01:27:18 pm »

They were a bunch of violent sexual fuckers.

Stop looking up old mens frock

It was surreal to wander through the elegant halls lined with works by El Greco and Cara
vaggio, Roman sculptures from the Farnese collection and 18th-century furnishings.

Did the pizza in Napoli live up to the standards? Well yes, but that said, some South African pizza places make damn well much better pizzas.

michnus · « **Reply #513 on:** February 20, 2015, 01:32:18 pm »

Pompeii ruins are a must see, just because it's so old and that they mastered to build such places in that time. The entire Napoli is build on old ruins.

The mosaic artwork is something to behold. Very fine and small tiny tiles must have taken them years to complete.

Jaakmh · « **Reply #514 on:** February 23, 2015, 11:34:33 am »

Truly inspiring RR!!

Please sir?.................."can I have some more"?

michnus · « **Reply #515 on:** February 23, 2015, 02:51:22 pm »

Quote from: Jaakmh on February 23, 2015, 11:34:33 am

Truly inspiring RR!!

Please sir?.................."can I have some more"?

michnus · « **Reply #516 on:** February 23, 2015, 03:17:25 pm »

There’s probably an endless list of reasons why travelling Italy by motorcycle should be on any persons bucket list. For good measure I will list just five reasons.

We could not in our wildest dreams imagine the variety, cultural diversity and beauty of Italy. One great experience seduces you into the next with a bit of a feeling that resembles Alexithymia.

One:
Nothing much beats roadside lunches and wild camping where possible, with a bottle or two of Italy’s finest 2 Euro wines bought from local shops. There are obviously much better quality wines that does not cost an arm and a leg. We found the cheapies very pleasant with a fruity bouquet and easy on the pallet. I am just talking rubbish, I know bugger all about wine tasting! It’s good wine and will get you drunk quite quick. Add some cheese, fresh bread with olive oil and all is well in the world.

Enjoying views and the breathtaking sunsets over Tuscany while sitting outside a tent is the only way – not from inside a stuffy hotel room.

Best lunches on route.

roma

Coming from Napoli into Rome we stayed with Andrea and his son Massimo in their cool apartment close to the centre of town. Andreas went to great lengths updating us on the places to see, routes to take and places to avoid. The evenings spent with him and his son were great fun.

Andreas and Massimo, our hospitable hosts in Rome.

Parking is limited and the bikes had to bunk with other bikes on the sidewalk.

Wine and cake for dinner.

When visiting Rome it is better to stay on the outskirts where locals reside and visit their hang-out places in the evening. Rome itself is crazy busy with tourists right through the year.

Beautiful Rome.
With a vigorous and brisk walking pace the most popular part of Rome can be seen in 3 to 4 days. For somebody loving old churches and buildings, months would be needed to really take in the beauty of Rome.

Most of the famous Rome attractions in this photo.

On this day the Pope gave a speech and told everybody to be good people and pay their tithe to the church. Click to open.

The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman Empire. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it was the largest building of the era.
Two….

michnus · « **Reply #517 on:** February 24, 2015, 10:40:01 am »

Two:
Sharing Italy’s biker’s passion for riding and weaving through traffic in Rome and other Italian cities is a selcouth experience for people who normally avoid traffic and cities. The bike crazy Italians make space for motorcycles and allow scooters and bikers to freely flow through the congested streets. Being on a motorcycle makes sightseeing so much easier and parking is for free! Unlike the scary myths, riding in Rome is actually safer and easier than fighting Cairo or Nairobi traffic.

Officially known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, the enormous white marble monument that dominates Piazza Venezia was built as a tribute to the first king of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II.

Having the motorcycles as transport is the absolute best way exploring cities. Easy to get around and never having to spend hours in a car or bus trying to fight traffic. We lock the helmets on the bike and only use a small backpack to carry the camera and a bottle of water.

Stitched 8 photos to make this panorama. Built more than 1800 years ago, the magnificent Pantheon still stands as a reminder of the great Roman Empire. The name Pantheon refers to the building’s original function as a temple for all the gods.

The short rules for Italy….

If there’s bread on the table do not eat it or you will pay a small amount of gold in ransom. Entrees and bottles of water is normally expensive and not freebies. Many restaurants out of the tourist area serve a set menu (menu fisso) and do not have choices of single serving dishes. It’s really big meals and the need to sleep afterwards overwhelming. Outside seating at restaurants are normally charged at a small fee. Out of season most times they will not charge the fee. Out of tourist areas it’s not an issue at all.

Yes even a pyramid! The Pyramid of Caius Cestius was built around 12 BC by praetor Caius Cestius as his tomb. The pyramid was later integrated into the Aurelian Wall, which helped its preservation.

The Piazza di Spagna is one of the most popular tourist locations in Rome. People spend time relaxing on the steps watching other people eating icecream and laughing at tourist taking pictures with their phones and 11'Ipads. The famous Spanish Steps lead from the square to the Trinità dei Monti, a beautiful French church.

Cool water fountains around the city

Three………

Andre E · « **Reply #518 on:** February 24, 2015, 10:48:43 am »

Hey drol! Wanneer kom drink jy weer 'n bier?

michnus · « **Reply #519 on:** February 24, 2015, 10:55:08 am »

fok waneer ek weer jou rigting gaan

moet kak klaar maak wil April tot Okt gaan gatskuur rondom Turkey