On the way to Africa !

Ciao from Messina, Italy, on the African continent. As if you look at the geographical data and maps, Sicilly is part of the African continent... but not as a country as it is part of Italy. Yes, it is not independent :)

So to get here, i had to go through 3 regions of Italy.
Puglia 1st, from Bari to... a bit before Matera (city where the movie 'The Last Temptation of Christ' was shot) where Basilicata starts, then Calabria.


So on Monday i 1st went for a walk with Alain in Bari city center, then left around 11am on a semi cloudy day, and rode up hill in direction of Matera.
When night started to say it would arrive, fog also arrived. So i planted my tent in a forest and ate in the fog. But later in the night the sky became clear and i could enjoy the moonlight and its shadows...

On Tuesday i arrived in Matera around 11am and had a walk around the old town, full of housed built in the rock, and full of paved streets on a hilly geography. So to visit i left my bike and all the stuff on one of the main squares. On my walk i placed an envelope on a wall so that Dalia my Lithuanian friend could find it 1 month later as she is going to visit Basilicata and Matera at the end of March!

Around 2pm i left Matera and went in direction to the sea... and passed Metaponto then went off the main road to find a small house on the border of a field, to put my bike in and install my kitchen and mattress for the night.

Wednesday i cycled south, on the main road and until nearly Cariati.
The scenery was ok, with some castles or old towers. But the road was mainly full of traffic and sometimes very narrow.
The temperature got really warm and i could take my pullover off and wear my Tshirt only!
In the evening i wanted to camp on a beach but the wind was too strong and i had to find a field on a hill.

Thursday i cycled until a bit after Crotone, still on the coast. The scenery was really nice, with sea on one side, hills or mountains on the other one... I went on a small street that was closed to the cars at it was destroyed and i had to walk aside the bike for some 30 meters. But this day was full of heavy wind and in the afternoon i decided to stop at 4pm as a storm was nearly arriving, and as i had found an empty house with roof ready to accept me.

Friday i rode until Catanza, then took a train to Tropea where Salvatore waited for me at the train station with his opel astra break. I was glad to get a lift as the 8 km we had to ride then were only up hill...

On the week end i spent in Tropea, i helped around with cutting wood in the fields, i ate specialties home made by Elisa, i cooked some crepes also. On Sunday we went for a ride near the Capo Vaticano and could admire the Sromboli and other Eolic islands even if they were in the blur.

On Monday i left Tropea under the rain, but my Norvegian website say it should stop around 10am and even be sunny at my destination point... and this kind of happened !
I 1st started the way up to the end of the hill, had a big way down then, and another up hill for around 500m...then again a way down to arrive to Villa St Giovani and take the Ferry to Messina.

And now i am at the smile house with Robby and other guests. Today we had kind of a lazy day but went for a short tour in the city center under the rain. now it is kooking time. Each of us French, Romanian, Lithuanian, Dutch or Italian prepare some food for Robberto's mum birthday where we all are invited tonight !

Next plans will be to go to Catania, then... Palermo to catch a ferry to Sardenia on the 19th or 20th of March. Just hoping spring will come back...