Cagliari to Catania

This will be a slightly unusual crossing in that it spans non-continuous riding. We took the ferry from Cagliari, stayed two weeks in Palermo, then continued on to Catania. We have multiple posts covering Palermo and there will be others from Catania, our new base. More than anything, this blog entry is meant to provide a geographical continuity with our previous major crossing, from Milan to Cagliari.

Cagliari-Palermo Ferry

We took the Grimaldi Lines ferry, which may be the only vehicle carrying vessel running between Sardinia and Sicily. At this time of the year, it only runs once a week. For us, this aligned perfectly with the end of the month. We left at 5pm on the last day of February and arrived at 5am on the first day of March.

The boarding procedure is similar to what we experienced in Genova on the way to Porto Torres with Tirrenia Lines, except that it’s completely hassle-free. We left our Airbnb in the heart of the historic district of Cagliari almost an hour before the mandatory 3pm check-in and had our bikes parked in the waiting lane at the Marina about 5-6 min later. Grimaldi’s official literature is adamant about travelers with vehicles arriving at the loading dock NO LATER than 2hrs prior to departure, but, in practice, the loading doesn’t START until that time.

A few minutes before 3pm, about 5-6 attendants gather at the gates and then right on the hour the gate lifts up and vehicles are processed one by one. I think two out of three waiting lanes were open when we sailed, leaving the middle one to merge with the others. You’ll need your passport and an electronic PDF or a print out of your ticket. With my helmet on and face ID active on my phone this was a bit of a pain. I kept a snapshot of the ticket with the barcode at the ready, but it was immediately rejected by the processing attendant. They didn’t use a bar reader and seemed to be only satisfied by being able to scroll the four pages of the actual PDF. So be it. Oh, and they DO verify the license plates so do make sure that what you put on the ticket matches yours.

Once past the first check point, you follow the vehicle in front of you around the docks to another waiting lane right next to the ferry. This is where they print out your cabin pass. As with Tirrenia, Grimaldi gives motorcycles preferential treatment — front of the line. We waited about 10-15 minutes watching dock trucks pull cargo containers onto the ferry before the motorcycles were motioned ahead. This time we weren’t completely alone. An Italian Vespa rider and two Dutch bicycle riders came along as well.

Unlike Tirrenia, where you self-tie your motorcycle to the port side of the boat with the motorcycle side stand facing the wall, Grimaldi has you placing your bike between the entry ramps right at the very bottom of the loading deck. They expect you to place your bike between tie down blocks at 90 degrees to the ramps with front and back facing the walls. After we parked, the Vespa guy just left so I was a bit confused about what happened next. As is the bikes would roll at sea. A moment later one of the attendants dropped off some tie downs. I immediately assumed it was a do-it yourself affair like on Tirrenia, but it’s not. Asked to explain the tie down procedure yet another attended finally cut to the chase: ‘No, no. WE do it’. The words were superfluous, his index finger said all that needed to be said.

We had a couple well meant laughs on the observation deck watching the crew paint the deck below.

Not knowing where the cabin may be located and trying to avoid having to drag all our stuff around the boat, Min went on ahead to figure out the logistics while I waited with the motos. The cyclists ended up leaving most of their stuff right on their bicycles. I suppose we could have done the same, but decided to play it safe.

We found the cabin itself to be small but sufficient. Two beds instead of the four we found on Tirrenia. The trip was uneventful and the dining options poor. We watched a bit of Italian Serie A football in the main lounge regretting having ordered the very worse crepe we’ve ever tasted. The following morning we discovered there was a much nicer lounge on deck 9.

We sailed into Palermo at 5am. Cabin occupants are requested to begin leaving their quarters about an hour earlier. First via a broken speaker, then via personal visits. I opened to the door to thank them for the reminder the first time they came around. But when they returned 5 minutes later I made it very clear I was annoyed. They didn’t bother us too much after that.

Having hauled all our gear into the cabin, we decided to haul it back down ahead of docking. Strapping all the bags back on the bikes can take good 15 minutes and we wanted to avoid the debarkation frenzy. Down in the cargo bay, we found ourselves alone between tractors trailers. The air was saturated with diesel fumes, but we got it done. No sooner did we finish, than an attendant found us where we weren’t supposed to be and escorted us back out to the waiting lounge. Well, let’s call it a gray area. The doors were open. On Tirrenia opened meant access allowed, as one of the attendants explained when we sailed from Genova. Min, however, was pleased with the rescue. Another 6hrs of life preserved.

The debarkation itself took no time at all. Off the boat and into the dark, empty and gritty streets we went. Our first destination was a highly rated cafe in the historic district where we hoped to await the first rays of sun. We’d arrive just 12 minutes before the 6am opening. I’d be fine.

Centro Historico, 5:52am, domenica.

But this was a Sunday. Self respecting Italian cafes do not open that early on the day of catholic sabbath. We’d have to look for a much more shady option. Some time earlier, on the way down to centro storico and right around the Marina we passed just the right place. A big and gaudy pink neon sign proclaiming the existence of ‘La Maison Jolie’ in the grittiest of surroundings. The place was nowhere to be found on Google Maps so we had to prove the Matrix wrong first. I looked down at the map and dropped a pin close to where I thought we could begin looking for it. This turned out to be the cafe’s exact location. Not only that, but the cornettos were divine and so were the cappuccino and the americano. We ordered a second round and watched the sun rise over the docks lounging in cheap chairs. Five plastic tables away from us, a young German couple travelling in a van with their bicycles strapped to the back door was having theirs.

Later that morning, we went on a couple rides. They were the first two I described in an earlier post here.

In Palermo

We covered a good amount of ground while in Palermo. On-road, off-road, both pleasure seeking and visiting archeological sites. Here’s a complete list of posts. Some yet to be published.

5 Rides
300m in 8 minutes
Sicani TET & Dirt
Erice & Castellamarre del Golfo (soon)
Valle di Templi (soon)

Palermo to Catania

After a week of sun that was supposed to have been a week of rain we set off for Catania two days after the rain finally materialized. We had just replaced Min’s rear knobby tire with a much more street oriented Pirelli Scorpion STR so the timing couldn’t have been better. The tire is not only road worthy — quiet and grippy — but is highly praised for its performance in the rain.

The day before our departure I rode Min’s MT450 in the rain around Palermo waking up the ABS. It kicked in predicably at all speeds and on all surfaces, even on wet polished stone. Considerably better grip than my street shoes. I parked the bike back in the garage with an inaudible sigh of relief and went home to dry my underwear.

Figuring out the exact departure time came down to watching the weather stats. Forecast calling for no more than 4mm an hour for two consecutive hours, we ride. Anything else and we postpone the starting time. Normally, we’d take the long way there and reach Catania after many secondary roads and photo ops, but we’re from the wild west – six out of seven days are sunny and that last one isn’t likely to bring any rain either. This H2O thing, we worship it, but in small doses.

The morning of our departure there wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we strapped our bags on in Palermo. Hard to believe that 18mm of water would be waiting for us in Catania, only two and a half hours southeast on the autostrada. According to Weather Underground the best window of opportunity was in the early morning. Anything later in the day and we had a 9 in 10 chance of a downpour.

So at 8:03 am we waved goodbye to our dear friend Maria who came to visit us from Austria, got on the highway and gunned it.

The first half of the autostrada ride to Catania is as good as any highway in the northern hemisphere. Getting out of the city is slower than one would expect, but once on the actual highway the traffic moves right along and the views of the Mediterranean on the left and the massive granite Monti di Caccamo on the right are spectacular. When the road finally turns south some 40 minutes later, the views become just as stunning as they are confusing. The only Sicily I’ve ever known, the one forever etched in my imagination by Francis Ford Coppola and Tommaso di Lampedusa, you know, the island forever parched by the sun, turns into… Colorado!

Just a day after what the Romans called the Ides of March the hills were vibrant green and the peaks of the Madonie covered in snow. Yes, the white stuff. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Palermo is farther north than San Francisco, after all. It’s the Alps and the big puddle between Europe and Africa that make it seem like its much farther south than it really is.

In the end, our gamble did pay off. We did not see anything but solitary drops of rain until we started riding through Catania’s frightening outskirts. Some two klicks away from our destination we finally heard the thunder and the actual buckets started coming down just as we were unloading.

Catania itself isn’t the prettiest town on this trip, but it buys us time for traversing the southern part of Italy on our way to Greece in two weeks. It also gives us a great base for exploring Taormina to the north and Siracusa to the south. Weather permitting – not looking great so far – we may even venture out to the baroque towns of Noto, Modica and Ragusa.