Let me paint the picture for you - I am currently sitting in a French campsite (pure luxury with toilet seats, toilet paper and a hair dryer!), listening to Bob Marley as well as the ping pong ball bouncing across the table, and am surrounded by the beautiful mountains of the Pryenees. A dinner of succulent lamb with fresh veggies followed by super sweet raspberries with yoghurt has just been polished off. The sun is setting behind the pink clouds and I have a cup of tea in my hand and piece of dark chocolate in the other. The laughter and chatter of my fellow cyclists completes the scene. Tough life aye?!
Admittedly it has been a bit tough to find time to write about all the amazing experiences I have been privileged to have recently - I have been taking my own advice and living each moment! However, I would love to share some of the highlights with you all.
Let's take a few steps back to the end of the 1.75 leg adventure through Italia - most of these memories include food: we learnt how lemenoncello was made at a local family lemoncello grove in Sorrento. We then proceeded to taste the seven different types of liqueurs. These included different alcohol concentrations of lemoncello, and orange, mandarin, fennel, and liquorice liqueurs. We were told that people usually leave "very happy from this lemoncello grove". Definitely ticked that box.
Next up was a trip to a local gelateria in Sorrento where we learnt how Italian gelato is made. Naturally taste testing was included. My favorite was an organge, lemon and candied mandarin gelato. The gelateria, called Gelateria David, has been in the family for a few generations and has an owner who is currently married to a Sydney-sider. The good news is that he is not only marketing savy (pancakes are known as the PanDavid) but he has plans to open up shop in Australia - exciting times ahead!! And yes, I did go back in the morning for brekkie and consumed a Pan David with chocolate, fresh fruit and gelato. Damn marketing gimmicks! Nevertheless, it has been one of the best brekkies so far, excluding the pastries in Venice.
I can hear all of your thinking - "Are you now the side of a house Han?", "Your parents will be happy when you get home as it will be a celery diet for awhile..." Fortunately other activities have included a trek up Mt Vesuvius and a 6hr hike along "the walk of the gods" along the Amalfi coast finished off with a staircase of 1067 steps 🏀. So thankfully I still fit into my pants (let's just keep it on the hush that they are trackies). Back on track, I highly recommend taking the time to visit the ruins of Pompeii and have a guided tour to make sense out of all the rocks scattered around. Plus you get to go behind the scenes and take a trip to the Pompeii brothel where ceramics indicate the activities in each room - definitely stuff they didn't teach us in school.
However, at the top of the list is the climb up Mt Vesuvius. The pure, untamed strength of the mountain still permeates the atmosphere and the plumes of smoke hissing out the side of the mountain, plus strong winds literally blowing the clouds straight past you make for one awesome experience. I did feel a little like Bridget Jones afterwards though as I literally had an afro by the time we got off the mountain. We were also lucky as our guide, included in your ticket up the mountain, was explained to us as "the Casanova and ladies man of the tour guides available". It was a little contradictory given the wedding ring on his fourth finger. Nevertheless, Casanova didn't disappoint and delivered an interesting and fun tour. A pity about my hairstyle aye?!
On a side note, we ate at Il Principe in Pompeii - a Michelin star restaurant that emulates food eaten by Pompeiins (yes I may have just made that word up- it may catch on), over 2000 years ago. I had some beautiful seafood with orange and asparagus followed by an amazing warm chocolate fondante with fresh fruit. The evening was made special as the owner, his wife, and their son all took turns to come out, explain the different dishes, the philosophy of the restaurant and the special events that they put on. So if you are ever out in Pompeii, head to Il Principe!
The Intrepid tour soon drew to an end and it was tough to say goodbye to the new friends that had been made during the two short weeks we had been together, or even only one week in some cases. A few train rides later, I had made my way from Amalfi in Sourthern Italy to Nice, which is on the south coast of France. It was here that I rejoined the Bike Dreams Team to begin Le Boucheles Pyrenees. I arrived at Hotel Anis, aka Fawtly Towers, walked into the garage where all the cyclists we cleaning their bikes as was greeted with a very Australian "Oh bugger, you're back again!". It felt like I had come home.
Till next time,
Ride safe, ride happy, ride in the moment
Han
No comments:
Post a Comment