Italy Greece Cycling Tour

TOUR SUMMARY

Date: From July 7^th to July 29^th

Advanced difficulty

Countries: Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Greece, Italy

Route: Nis, Skopje, Bitola, Ioanina, Igumenitsa, Brindisi, Lecce, Gallipoli, Taranto, Locorotondo, Alberobello, Monopoli

Number of days: 22

Total length: 1200 km (plus 600 km and 450 km by ferry and train)

Average daily distance: 55 km

Number of participants: four

We are used to having problems before we start traveling. We did not want to change the custom, so this year we have found problems in the Greek Embassy. We needed double transit Greek visa for our tour in Italy but these days were very "hot" in Greek embassy in Belgrade. The queues for visa were enormous and beside all, one day some nervous people had a fight and Greek authorities closed the embassy for a while. This resulted in the delay of one week at the very beginning.

We passed through Macedonia in a pleasant ride and continued our Greek section. We had to cycle more than 400 km over the Pindos Mountain to Igumentisa and take a ferry to Brindisi. We only had four days for that because that was the duration of our transit visa. The weather was awful. The road goes up to 1700 m above sea level and three days we were cycling in the rain and an unusually low temperature. The Pindos Mountain is beautiful but we were so frozen that we couldn't enjoy its beauty.

At last we passed over the mountains and only a dozen kilometers separated us from Ioanina - a beautiful city which lays on the lake shore. But than, when we thought that all problems were behind us, Sandra - the only female cyclist had an accident. She fell down on her face and broke a few teeth, got some scratches and hurt her nose. She had to spend a night in hospital and the day after she went back by train with my brother Sasa. Vladan and I proceeded with the trip. After the accident we tried to ride more slowly and more carefully but the same day when Sasa and Sandra went back we couldn't resist the joy of a fast ride on the fourteen km downhill section between Ioanina and Igumenitsa. Finally, we heated our bones on a warm sandy beach of Igumenitsa. After bathing in Ionian Sea we passed the Strait of Otranto by ferry and arrived in Brindisi.

Italian cities in Puglia are different from central and north ones. It is usually that the tourist center is in the new part of the town and even there are no tourist crowds. Old parts of towns (much lovelier) are basically for living. When you enter the small streets among buildings it seems that you have entered the stage of theatre. The life runs on these streets and it looks like it moved from the apartments. People wash their carpets, have a meals or do anything else on the streets. And they are very hospitable. They offered us cold water or a drink or simply talked with us. There are marvelous beaches in Puglia. You can find two kinds of beaches: sandy and rocky. My favorites are rocky. Click here to see what I mean.
In Taranto we left the shore and went to the unique area of trulli.
During our stay in Italy telephone lines with Yugoslavia were disconnected and we couldn't phone home. We knew that our girlfriends, parents and friends were worring about us, especially after Sandra's accident. After two weeks in Italy we went back to Greece and home.