AMALFITAN COAST:

From Volterra, we got the car and headed to Montalcino (to get to know
the famous "Brunello di Montalcino",   which really worth a visit  for
those who  love wine) and to  Sorrento where we stayed overnight. Next
morning we  went  to Positano  and  took a day   off (we had a lot  of
driving the day before!) to brouse around. It's a very charming little
village and it was a very nice day. It's all built on the mountain and
there's  an one-way twisting  road which goes  all the way down to the
sea. Before it goes up again,  there's a pedestrian  area which is the
center of the village -  don't miss it! Incredibly,  there are lots of
things to see in there including a  promenade over the sea which takes
you   from one beach to  the  other, passing by   a few  nice and cozy
restaurants.

Positano/Amalfi/Ravello/Positano (50km) -  Unfortunately  it wasn't as
beautiful as the day before  - it seemed as it  would rain. Anyway, we
decided    to go to  Ravello,  which  is a  6   km  uphill right after
Amalfi. The road is really  something - all by the  sea. Of course, we
got  a light and quick  rain, which didn't  bother us at all. I'm sure
that in a car you can't see as much as in a bike.  We stopped to visit
the Emerald Cave, which is nice, and made a few  photo stops. The road
is very narrow and  plenty of tourists   cars and buses. We've seen  a
quite common scene - all the traffic got stuck because there was a bus
on a curve   and it couldn't  make it  all in  once because there  was
another bus on the other way. So they spent a while to pass. For us it
was fun, because we could go through with our bikes and we had all the
road for us. Amalfi is a fishing  and tourism port on  one side of the
road and the town is  on the mountain  side. It has a very pictoresque
church. On to Ravello, we started a beautiful  climbing, in a valley -
the Dragon Valley. On the way up, you can still  see the sea from time
to time, and small  villages on top of the  hill, on both sides of the
valley. Once up  there, it's  a great  feeling, and  also a  wonderful
view. We were starving by that time and  it was quite cool, so nothing
better than a home-made pasta and a glass of  the wine. After, we went
to visit  the gardens   and the  spectacular  view  of the sea,   and,
according to a local map, we decided to  take a different way down. It
was a mess! In  the begging, downstairs, then, we  took a path to  the
right,  which became narrower and narrower,  and, if we  decided to go
back, it would be a  very painfull ride up. We  thought we might  have
gotten the wrong way, so we tried a different  one, to the left, which
fortunately took us to somewhere -  it was another little village, all
trimmed, because there  was a party  being  held (it  was Sunday). But
there was no way down through there - we could see the sea, but to get
down there, we'd have to carry the bike. So we went back up to Ravello
on a paved road (we were on the other side),  and took the same way we
came  up, down to  Amalfi. When we got to  Amalfi, the sky was getting
dark,  with very heavy  clouds. We tried to hurry  and escape from the
rain -  no use - it  caught us on that  beautiful road! But, still, it
was  a wonderful view: the  mountains  dark  and the horizon  reddish,
because it was almost sunset.  It was kind of wird, but  we loved it -
it's  adventure!  So, finally, we  arrived  back to beautiful Positano
completely wet, but very happy.  After  a warm shower,  we went to the
grocery and bought lots of afettatti, cheese, wine and bread and had a
very special meal at the hotel.

ODDS AND ENDS:

… Positano Tourist  Office:   (089) 87-5067 Hotel   La Bouganville:
(089) 87-5047 It's very  well situated -  just in  front of  the small
square on the begginning of the pedestrian zone, and has a parking lot
very close. The owner  and his son are very  kind and always  ready to
make your stay more comfortable.  restaurant: Il Guadacino: nice food,
good   prices, local people,  wonderful  view   (it's  located on  the
promenade which begins at the end of the main beach)

…	Ravello
Tourist Office: (089) 85-7096 (it's better to check out the local maps before) 

SARDINIA:

I don't have much to say about biking  in Sardinia. But there are lots
of bike pages about it in the Internet. And, if you need any help, I'm
sure Lucio Caddeddu will be glad to help  you. It's such a big island!
And so  beautiful! And we only spent  one week! It  sounds enough, but
not   when  you're  talking   about going  so  far   just  to get   to
starting-point of the trail. We  left Positano towards  Civitavecchia,
where we got the boat to Sardinia. We stayed  at Costa Smeralda, which
is a very nice and famous area. As we had a one-week  stay in a hotel,
we did several one-day trips, and we didn't  get to go to the southern
part  of the island is, where  Cagliari is located.  Every day we took
the bike with us, but,  as explained above, we  didn't use it. Anyway,
I'll say here what we could have done. First of all, there's one thing
you might do:  go all  the  way round so that   you can visit all  the
island, staying each day  (or couple of days)  at each place. This way
it's  easier to use  the bike.  Well, back to  our reality, one day we
did  a boat tour of  the Arcipelago, which  I highly recommend. It's a
"cruise"  on  a small  boat   going   to  all   the  islands  of   the
Maddalena. But you should take your snorkel instead  of your bike! The
other day we went  on the bike  (finally!) to visit the only inhabited
island   - La  Maddalena. It's  nice   and cool,  with very  beautiful
beaches, almost all flat  terrain. You have  to take a  boat to get to
the island. Once you  get there, just  take a  tour around the  island
(it's quite small) and, if you  want to, take the  bridge and go visit
Caprera island.  The  other islands  of the  Arcipelago, you  only can
reach them by boat. The other day, we went towards Alghero. From there
we could have used the bike to go to Nettuno's  Cave, which is a must!
I've never  seen or heard  about nothing like that  - it's  a fabulous
work of mother-nature, for so  many millions of  years! To get to cave
entrance, there's a  very long stair down, and  then back up, but with
an unforgetable  view  and some scaring  sea  sounds, so it's  worth a
visit! But we'd  rather  go  by car, so  we   would have time  to   go
snorkelling. Of course, if  we were  staying in  Alghero, we would  be
able to  go to the cave on  the bike (it's a  flat terrain, all paved)
and we would still have time to go  snorkelling. The next day, we went
to the  middle  of  Sardinia, to  get to   know  a little   about it's
civilization - the "nuraghe" -  it's very ancient, and interesting. We
got to Nuoro and  decided to go further on,  so  that we might take  a
trail from  the mountains to the sea.  It sounded great, but  we still
didn't know  how far and  high we were  going, and,  besides, we would
have to come back all the way  up, which would  only be possible if we
had a very good orientation  of the trails and, of  course, if we were
staying  nearby.  It's  impossible to  come   all the  way  from Costa
Smeralda, do the trail, and  go back on  the same day, unless you know
very well the places, and eventhough, you'll  probably be deadly tired
at the end of the day. Well, we only realized that after we got there,
but, anyway, it  was great to  go there. The  road between Dorgali and
Baunei (around  40 km) is very interesting  - it looks  like the moon!
It's a very narrow road, on one side, rocks,  beyond which is the sea,
and, on the other, towards the interior, a  big valley. It was kind of
foggy, almost nobody around, only goats, so I could swear I was on the
moon! Baunei is a  very  small village  on the mountains,  from  where
depart all the tours - trekking or MTB - downhill, towards the sea. It
must be really  something,  because the  trails lead  you to  a beach,
where you can  only arrive by boat, walking  or on a  bike. We went to
the starting-  point, which is a restaurant  a few  km uphill from the
village,   called Il Golgo.  When   we got there,   the restaurant was
already closed for the season, but even if it  was open we would'nt be
able to go, because  we had a long way  back "home". But we  could see
the terrain  was not an  easy one -  lots of small  little stones! The
other day, rest day: we just drove near our hotel making several stops
in every "cala" we  saw. So we could  say we've tried snorkelling  all
over Costa Smeralda, including Porto Cervo,  which is very famous, and
very, very, very  very expensive, and Porto Rotondo.  On our last day,
we finally packed our bikes, and  we headed north, to Corsica, crossed
it  from south to north, and  took  a boat to   Nice, where we spent a
couple of days and came back.


THE END