Crossing from Slovenia to Italy on a motorcycle

CAIRO – 16 July 2017: While I was crossing the border from Slovenia to Italy, Christina was on board, traveling from Patras, Greece to Ancona, Italy with ANEK LINES. After one and a half month we would finally meet again! Christina just took the short way by ship, having ANEK LINES on her side, while I, on the other hand, enjoyed an amazing trip through the Balkans!

While in Italy, I found myself at the new home of Akis Temperidis and Vula Netou, the Greek couple that had made a RTW trip on a Land Rover. We had set off from Greece at about the same time, when I was starting my previous trip in Asia. However, at that time we did not know each other… It was meant for us to meet up, totally unexpected, in a hotel in India! In a country with more than a billion people, three overlanders from Greece bumped to each other! How unbelievable could that be…

Now, we met again on a different corner of the world, having the same vehicles (mine was slightly different this time). Akis and Vula, along with their baby girl Anastasia, are living now in a small village in Northern Italy. I was their guest there, and we couldn’t stop telling each other stories from our journeys! I think that, in those two days, we were only physically in Italy. Spiritually, we were all wandering in other continents… They gave me plenty of advice concerning Africa, as they had made almost the same route we were about to, plus they had spent a year and a half in Tanzania, managing a lodge in the jungle!


Riding towards Cerreto Pass, at 1,200 m (3,937 ft) altitude, through the road that Akis suggested to me!

Christina and I were finally back together, and from now on we will be traveling together, for as long as it will be possible… Of course, for Christina it’s a whole new life now. She has never done such a long trip before, neither on motorcycle nor in any other means of transportation. She is, however, determined to live the nomadic life (well, in a modern version) and she is doing great. She may be lacking the experience but she has the will, and that is the most important thing!

In Livorno, Natalia was the one who hosted us and she really made us feel like home! We went to buy some groceries and Christina cooked, in order to have some meals ready, while on board to Morocco. The original plan was to ride our motorcycles all the way to Gibraltar. But since we had been delayed so much our departure from Greece, it was better to take the ship and be in Morocco in time, as we wanted to find the best weather conditions possible while traveling along the African continent.

Reaching the port of Livorno, we were very surprised to find that we were about to sail away on a Greek ship, with many Greeks amongst the crew! Mysterious are the ways of how international commerce works… How could we ever dream that we would sail to Morocco on the same ship we used to take to the islands of the Aegean Sea! It took us two and a half days (60 hours) to arrive in Tangier, Morocco with a stop in Barcelona, Spain. The weather was great and it was nice being on board, watching, even from such a long distance, the shores of France and Spain. We even met a few sailboats traveling in the Mediterranean Sea. In times like these, I really miss sailing. Have you ever had the feeling of missing what you do for living? Since I got myself into sailing, I feel like this all the time!

We spent our time on board very cheerfully. I made the first video of my trip in Albania, we read about Morocco and we were chatting with the Greek members of the crew, who they hadn’t seen another Greek for months. They found the best place on the deck for us to settle, where we could spend the night comfortably and quietly.

This article was originally published n Mad Nomad blog.