What pictures!!

I'm completely at loss of words here.

The village looks very creepy!
The photos remind me of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code"!!
Holy Grail, Fibonacci numbers, Numerology!!
Jesus Christ, I am out of this thread!!!

You are one lucky soul Sunny. or should i say: God's one of the Fav. child.

there are very few people in the world who can see the world like you do.

Umm...now words apart from one.

Have you used any software..if yes..Could you name it.. or they just out from the Canon's Lens?

Pics are good sunny. Your street photography has grown by leaps and bounds...like this one from day 8-


The object is nothing special but still the pic has many things, viz. multiple colors, nice toning, pattern of bricks, etc.

But its becoming hard sometimes to understand the motive of these recent xbhp roadtrips road trips. The website said, at the time GIR-I, GAR and GNZR-I, that the motive of these trips was 'to promote biking in India as lifestyle'. The pictures too depicted that motive.
In PowerHunt, lead idea was to 'search the most passionate biker'...

But in the recent raod trips (incld. Great Ireland Roadtrip, GNZR-II, or the current ), there seem to be a shift from 'to promote biking in India as lifestyle' to 'to promote xyz country in India'. May it is just happening or it is intentional but the feeling is there. And if it is really happening then a visitor to xBhp.com though would not mind these lovely pictures bringing to his eyes some of the beautiful places of some of the great countries of the world, may expect loads and loads of pictures related more to bikes, bikers and biking in general rather than loads and loads of pictures of streets, oceans, mountains, statutes,etc.

Ofcourse biking is involved to the core of the projects and xbhp is still providing pictures , but still, i feel proportion of biking related picture has gone down compared to the total.
(I dont know whether i have put my views in entirety but being a regular visitor to the website this is an opinion in general put forward)

These are great




Thumbs up

Is that a haunted village or you made it to look so? Either ways, its sure for looking creepy, but I liked it very much. The camera is blessed

Day 11 - Castelluccio di Norcia to Pescocostanzo (289 Km)

<em><strong>If 1 million has 6 zero's, 1 Billion has 9, 1 Trillion has 12, 1 Gazillion would have 15 </strong></em>

<em><strong>then, </strong></em>

<em><strong>how many zero's would be there in 1 Brazilian ? </strong></em><strong> </strong>

Read on and find out…….

I got up late, infact Sunny had to (literally) break open the door of my room to bring me back from my comatose existence *- I had been so tired that it was literally like coming back from the dead.*It was 9:30 AM already and we had miles to go. I remembered that I had woken up around 8 AM but had dozed off again and this was probably the best sleep I was having.

Today's menu of destinations had quite a few choices, and we had to be careful in making a pick. I was still in a daze, still had tunnel vision and with this, I stumbled out of the bed to step outside the room.

I suddenly had a feeling of wind being sucked out of my lungs and literally fell down as in front of me was a sight to behold, I suddenly remembered I was in Castelluccio, a village first settled by the Romans in the 13 century BC.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/1.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

In front of me, is was a vast valley, stretched as far as the eye could see and the valley was full of flowers - gazillions of them - under a clear blue sky.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/2.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

It was as if angels had descended in the night and spread the brightest lavender, yellow, red, blue and white flowers in a mesmerizing pattern. If there is such a thing as heaven, then, this is it - this is really it since in our wildest dreams, I cannot imagine heaven to be any different. You might be thinking that I am going overboard, but folks, I am not kidding and am absolutely serious.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/6.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/7.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/9.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

I could not think anymore about anything else and rushed to get ready. In precisely 30 minutes I was packed and ready to get out to go. We mounted our bikes and rode the short distance to the Castelluccio Taverna to have our breakfast for which we were late already. It was the best breakfast of all the trip yet and i will remember it for a long time. We sat outside looking at the spectacular scenery and eating and discussing.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/11.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

We spoke with Barbara, the jovial, polite young Brazilian lady at the Taverna and she showed us the way to go to the valley where we wanted to spend time taking pictures.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/12.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

She explained to us that the fields below were infact a mix of wild flowers and flowers from Lentils that are grown and harvested in the valley, the valley is an ancient dried up lake bed. This amazing mix was a blessing from nature and the countless flowers we saw below are a protected area to be tread upon carefully and included a fine if the police caught one walking on (in) it.

I finally deduced that the tasty lentil dish (similar to the black dal we have in India) we had had for dinner while watching the second semifinal the previous night was also the local produce of this village.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/10.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

We mounted the Ducati's and rode straight away to the fields and indulged ourself in every possible shot that we could think of.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/15.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/3.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/4.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/14.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/5.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/8.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/13.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

We did not realize that the time was now 1:30 PM and we still had a lot of riding to do. We had taken the pick from the Lonely Planet for highly recommend, Pescocostanzo, a hidden gem in the Abruzzo region of Italy - far away from the tourist trail and we headed for it.

Sunny's GPS was of course our chosen guide for this. We were not sure if we will be able to complete 250 odd Kilometers of mountain riding having started so late so we refrained from booking a hotel in advance.

The GPS took us through some great mountain scenery and we completely avoided the autostrada though we still had to go via some state highways which are equally good as the autostrada in terms of the available speed. The highway led us to L' Aquila.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/21.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

This place had had an earthquake last year and most of the city was under repair or construction. We slowed down and reached a street where the signs of the devastation were still visible. A house had the entire front wall torn away and we could still see stuff lying around in the rooms and the toilet was as if someone still uses it! - This, after 1 year of the quake!!!!!!

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/20.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

Most houses had broken walls and had reinforcements to stop further damage. A lot of buildings were covered from the front, a sure sign that they were being worked upon and resurrected.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/19.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

We had prayer in our heart and we slowly moved out of L'Aquila. We reached a regular Italian town called Sulmona. By now it was 5:30 PM and we had not eaten anything since breakfast. In addition, I was very conscious of the time since I wanted to wish Kavita,my wife a happy birthday precisely at 8:30 PM - which is midnight in India. I wanted to finish the ride and reach the destination by then.

Sunny was extremely hungry and his GPS was taking us around in a wild goose chase looking for a restaurant the GPS said was there but was not there. We must have taken some rounds of the town and tempers were beginning to flare. Finally we decided to move on and look on the way. The reason we were running late was also because I had taken atleast one hour at a fuel stop to browse the net using Sunny's phone to order flower deliveries for Kavita.

Sunny had put a way point on the GPS to a place called Scano. Scano is a town up in the mountains and along the way there are many lakes all beautiful. We stopped at one of the most picturesque one and took shots and videos.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/18.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/16.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/17.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

This particular lake had ducks and had an old bridge leading to some sort of a monastery. We took the bikes on this bridge and took some more pictures. The GPS took us all the way to Scano and then to our destination. While riding on, we realized that we had "definitely" seen this part! It turned out that the loop for Scano was not exactly a waypoint but a 20 kilometer loop which had brought us back all the way!!!

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/22.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

We soon arrived in a small village called Costanza. Here Sunny found the only restaurant in the courtyard opposite the church. There were an Australian family staying there and they were a big help in translating to the lady who owned the place that we wanted extra spicy pasta (Sunny) and Pizza (Me). It was already 8 PM and I set the alarm in my phone for 8:30. The Pizza arrived and it was the biggest spicy pizza that I have seen. While I ate, the alarm sounded and I called Kavita at the precisely midnight IST to wish her.

While we ate, Sunny was offered a room at the same place but, first it was too expensive, had no ventilation and was not our destination. We were determined to reach Pescocostanzo and it was still 2o odd Kilometers away. We set off and covered the Km's in a jiffy. We arrived at a *a sharp turn right towards Pescocostanzo and found that the road suddenly deteriorated. Actually there was no road left, only gravel with large rocks interspersed. Sunny told me to be careful on the Scala and I braked hard. The next 4 kilometers was a steep ascent and a battle with this gravel.

A building appeared but it seemed to be deserted. I was wondering where we had come and whether it was worth it. Sunny went further and asked me to follow as he found more signs of habitation. I followed and as we moved ahead, the habitation grew and we started looking for a hotel.

The first one we found was a B&amp;B which had apparently no way to get in. The second one was full!! We moved on and were amazed.. It was another ancient Italian Village straight from Asterix!! Cobbled roads, beautiful buildings…

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/26.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/23.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

Soon we found Hotel San Franceso, a very beautiful boutique hotel in one of these streets and the owner offered a room to us. The hotel was really nice and cozy and the room was loaded with high quality teak woodwork. The beds were comfortable and Internet was good. We dumped our stuff and roamed the streets taking pictures.

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/28.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/24.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/25.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/27.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/31.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/29.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

<img src="http://www.xbhp.com/gitr/travelogue/images/day11_jul8th_castleluccio_Pescocostanzo/30.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" />

At about mid-night, we returned to the room and worked on uploading the Day 4 blog, checking mails and completing a lot of pending work. We finally slept at 3 AM when we could not keep our eyes open any longer.

Until Tomorrow…..

Amazing pictures!!

Travelogue approved.

nice log....

Heaven

Pictures look soooo good ,bet being there would have given a totally different ....whats the word I am looking for ...."Heavenly" feeling ....Riding those curves with superb surroundings should have made it a totally different and special experience in this trip to Italy.....

Guys I don't know if you guys have uploaded any video of ur ride by GoPro HD camera in these 11 days log ,Would love to see some of those in places like these(Sun,Sound and surrounding ) ...If you have already,can you share the link ..appreciate it ....

this surely is heaven!! beautiful pictures =]

Wow this one was amazing.. The fifth last pic is awesome, great pics Sunny and needless to say nice log Anurag Sir.

Oh my god. The pictures are worth a million words...Did I miss the Brazilian
Waiting for more

Thanks enfro

Indeed, it was heavenly.. the trip kept unfolding one heavenly locale after another and I guess it will take a big kick on my butt to bring me back to reality!! I still dream about this trip.

The video's from the 5DMkII and GoPro are being compiled to be released later. I assure you that you will see it soon.

Thanks Deep

Noor, Thanks for liking my scribbles. I have tried to be a commentator rather than a writer.

Hi Haroon, Thanks a ton from both me and Sunny. Go to Castelluccio to find out how many zeros a Brazillian has.

The pictures from this day are mind boggling. Look at the colors of the field! Amazing. What a beauty.

I read each and every blog of yours of the trip and it made for an interesting read.