Saturday, July 30, 2005

Day 1: shall the great adventure begin





Almost 4 hours behind schedule the 2cv and I are ready to finally hit the road. These are the first kilometres of a long journey of almost one month long. As you can imagine, the excitement is huge and the illusion even higher. We don’t know exactly what to expect, but sure in our minds there is a sole objective: to be back where we started in about 28/29 days. If you allow me a Portuguese expression (translated, no panic), “anything beyond that it’s all profit”.

The Travel Plan:
Original departure time was set to 7 am… But due to the heavy traffic on the air corridor between Porto and San Sebastian, we are dealing with a little delay of…4 hours. We planned to arrive already today in San Sebastian, stopping over Bilbao, arriving already around midnight at our final destination. Therefore, it is now pretty obvious that we will miss our goal. No problem though: second day will only include a light dislocation till Biarritz (less then one hour drive), so our global schedule remains untouched.

It seems we’ll have a nice and warm day of driving ahead of us. Just perfect to put on my 10€ crappy sun glasses, “put tha cream” and enjoy the beauties of driving a convertible.

See you all in Spain.


KILOMETRES (Total): 0
KM SINCE LAST POST: 0
GAS SPENT(Total):0

Click here to know all the details of my Legendary Companion

The Legendary Companion



Car: Citroen 2 Cheveaux 6 Club, convertible.
CC: 602, two cylinders
Speeds: 4
Weight: 895 Kilograms
Colour: White
Plaque: SJ-99-72
Year of Fabrication: 1989

The Plan




One adventurous Portuguese student, one legendary 2 Cheveaux, 27 or 28 days on the road: those are the ingredients of an Adventure that will bring us from Porto till Palermo and back.

The map indicates a large part of the route we propose to travel. Our journey will start on the 30th of July, heading to San Sebastian (Spain), via Bilbao.

On the second day of travel we expect to reach Biarritz (France), from where we will head to Monte Carlo, via Carcassone, Saint-Tropez, Cannes and Nice.

Italy shall be reached on the 2nd of August, with the first stop schedule to Vintemiglia, followed by San Remo. On the following day, our first question mark: if ELSA (The European Law Students’ Association) Cagliary are so kind to attend our last minute request to participate in the ELSA Italy Training Days, this amazing city will be our next destination (travel made by Ferry Boat, taken from Genova).

On the 7th we should be back to Genova, heading back to France, Combloux to be more precise. In this quiet and amazingly beautiful town right in front of the Mont Blanche the Challett of Isabelle (a companion from many others great adventures) will host and provide us with the first couple of days of pure rest. Ça roule ma Poulet?

After the Alps, the plan is to return to Italy and head south. First towards Milan, where we hope to be able to meet (hopefully for the second time) il piu rossonero de tutti il rossoneri: Andrea. Then Florence, Pisa and Rome. Sim Netinho, lá estarei em Fiumicino á tua espera no dia 15.Next stop: Consenza, “dove il pazzo del terroni Giancarlo me aspeta, non é vero?” From Calabria we’ll move to Sicily, heading to our furthest destination: Palermo. Sorbello: ci vediamo à Palermo, Bastardo. Mi prepara il véro expresso chi sono farto di aqua di puppo!!!! But before Palermo, visits to Messina, Taormina, Etna, Acireale, Catania and Syracuse should come take place. We should now be around our 23rd day of travelling, time in which a third adventurer might be joining us. Não é, Qim? Next stop, Salerno. Carla, questa volta io manjo un gelato grande come il mio viagio!!! Then Naples, where I trully hope to meet all the amazing people who we had the pleasure of hosting in our home town, Porto, back in 2003. Ragazzi, questa volta viaja solo Tiago. Il dictatore Portuguese é morto. Finally, back to Rome, heading to our final destination in Italy, Civitavechia, not before visiting the Vatican. Here we will catch the ferry till Barcelona.

Back in Spain, there is the strong possibility that we will meet some close Portuguese friends of mine in the capital of Catalunya. Then, only Porto ahead of us.

Our arrival is schedule for the 27th or the 28th of August. Huufffff….. Will I be returning by car?! What do you think? How far will we make it? Feel free to post your bet.


P.S. 1 - We apologize for the considerable use of other languages rather then English in this first post, specially for the many mistakes I should have done in those languages I can barely speak. From now on, the use of any other language but English will be highly exceptional.

P.S. 2 - Anyone nearby? It will be a pleasure to meet you. And of course: a home cooked meal and a cousy bed are always more then welcome. lol