Louise and I had been looking for a biking trip to somewhere, but weren't having any luck. We almost booked a trip to Quebec, in conjunction with a Canadian Administrators Conference that I was thinking of going to - but the dates didn't work. There were so many on-line trips to choose from that we just couldn't make a decision. Then, out of the blue, some long-time friends, Scott and Carolyn (that we know from our windsurfing days at Nitinat) emailed us and said they were going to Italy for two weeks of biking, and asked us if we would like to join them. We accepted right away!
Louise organized our trip, and arranged for some extra days on either end of the cycling - to do some non-bike exploring. When not cycling, we stayed with Air BnB's, so experienced real Italian living. We began in Rome, then took a train to Pisa where we had a day to explore before meeting up with Scott and Carolyn. The next day, we started the first of our cycling tours. Our first tour was with Flexitreks - Tuscany, and was seven days of self-guided touring from Pisa to Florence and back. The day after the Flexitreks tour ended, we took a train to Riccione - where we stayed at the Dory Hotel for a week of "Hub and Spoke" cycling. (We stayed at the Dory then cycled out and back on different routes each day, guided by a professional cyclist.)
We said goodbye to Scott and Carolyn after our week at the Dory, then went to San Marino for a few days, before ending our trip with a couple of days in Venice. We were gone for just under four weeks. It was an amazing adventure, and we have way too many photos (several thousand). We didn't take our good camera as we didn't want to deal with it on the bikes, so we only had our phones. Still, it will take a while to sort through all of the photos. Louise and I plan to create a photo book of the trip eventually, but likely not until next year. I have included just a few photos and a bit of a brief description of each part of our trip below. You will have to visit us sometime next year to get the full story.
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| Rome |
We arrived in Rome around Noon - after nearly 24 hours of traveling. We had left home the morning before - flying thru Toronto - where we waited a couple of hours, before boarding our flight to Rome. Once in Rome, we took a Train and then a Bus to reach our apartment. Our apartment was in an older building, built in a square - covering the entire block. The building had an interior court yard that was open to the sky. Apparently that is how many of the apartments are in Rome. We took an old cage-style elevator to our room on the fifth floor.
After settling in, we went for a long walk - seeing some of the sites; and then when we got tired of the crowds, we walked back along a quiet canal on a biking/jogging trail. We had a nice dinner and then crashed - and had a great sleep. Before we went to sleep, our host - Olga - took us to her apartment and pulled out a map - pointing out several sights which she thought we should see.
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Old cage-style elevator
- not much room and very shaky!
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First priority - Gelato!
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We started out the next day at 8 a.m. and basically walked all day, seeing many of the things Olga had suggested. We started at a cafe where we had an "English Breakfast". We were the first customers, and I think our host was happy to have people out on the patio, to draw in more people. From there we walked to a college on a hill top where we had a great view of Rome.
We walked through many squares and saw lots of churches. We noticed a big military presence. In most of the squares and next to many of the churches, there would be a jeep and a couple of soldiers, one with a big machine gun. There was also a military helicoptor circling overhead all day. I guess that is the norm in Rome.
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Louise had arranged a tour of the Colosseum for mid afternoon. So after already walking for seven hours - we joined a three-hour walking tour of the Colesseum, Palatine Hill, the house of the Vestal Virgins and the Forum. It was very interesting. When we were done, we walked back to our apartment, only getting lost once. We saw a motorcade, with many motorcycles, black SUV's and much fanfare. We were lost anyway, so asked a local policeman for directions, and asked who was in the motorcade. It was the German Chancellor.
We slept very well that night, and the next morning, took a bus, and then a train to Pisa.
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Walking path by the canal
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Street parking was crazy. Good thing we were walking...
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Da Vinci Museum - Did you know he invented the Bicycle?
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Louise passing a random fountain
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Statues everywhere
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Chiesa di Sant Ignazio di Loyola
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Chiesa di Sant Ignazio di Loyola
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Ted at the Colosseum
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The Forum
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Colosseum
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| Pisa |
Pisa was probably my favourite city in Italy. Other than the tower area, which is a zoo, the city has a relaxed feel with a nice downtown and many open squares, local shops and cafes. It is also a very walkable city as it is not very large.
We checked into our hotel after arriving by train, and headed down to see the tower. We bought passes and climbed up to the top to see the bell tower and the views of the town. It was a little odd climbing with the steps all at an angle. After taking our own photos of each other supporting the tower, we got a good laugh at everyone else doing the same thing. People all over the place in weird poses, trying to get the perfect shot.
Pisa, like a lot of the old cities, is surrounded by a wall, parts of which are still standing. We were able to explore parts of it as we walked and biked around the city.
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Louise.. Holding up the tower!
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Our Food Tour Guide, Sasha
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A highlight of our stay in Pisa was our "Food Tour". We met Sasha, our host, as well as another couple, Debbie and Don from Kansas, for the tour which started in Garibaldi Square. (Garibaldi was a famous general who was very popular because he treated people farily - we saw tributes to him everywhere we went..)
Sasha took us to the local food market and then to five different restaurants/cafes where we ate different kinds of food, and at four of them, had a glass of wine.
The first stop, our favourite, was a meat/sandwich shop. The name of the shop, I Porci Comodi, which roughly translates into "anything you want".
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Wow - we had a large tray of meats, breads and spreads - just for the two of us!
Each of the stops was different, and we enjoyed all of the dishes except one, which was a cows stomach stew (Tripe). I am not sure it was really that bad, but we were very full - and the name, look and texture just weren't very appealing.
The tour ended on the river bank with Gelato for everyone. We really had fun on the tour, and we enjoyed meeting Debbie and Don as well.
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The first stop on our Food Tour
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Enjoying Gelato at our last Food Tour stop
Sasha, Don and Debbie
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Scott and Carolyn arrived that afternoon, so we walked downtown with them to have supper. We had a very nice evening - it was great to see them again! We hadn't seen them in years, but it was just like we saw them last yesterday.
We headed to bed early, our first Cycling adventure was about to begin!
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We were surprised at the Military presence everywhere.
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All the bikes in Italy seem to be either 30 years old or older, or high end carbon fiber racing bikes.
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Food Market
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Louise by the river
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The Leaning Bell Tower
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One of the Bells
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Enjoying a break!
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They actually straightened it a bit because it was going to fall over. I guess they didn't want to really straighen it or it wouldn't attract any tourists....
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Part of the City Wall
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Pisa at night!
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| Cycling from Pisa to Florence and Return |
Our bike ride to Florence and back, was a "Self-Guided Tour" arranged by Flexitreks. I was able to download the route onto my GPS Bike computer, and the company gave us maps and step-by-step, (or kilometer by kilometer) instructions.
There were about thirty people in our group, of various abilities, but we actually rarely saw them, as everyone left on their own schedule and stopped wherever they wanted on the route.
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Starting our Ride (in the rain) at the Tower
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Stopped at a Cafe/Bar for lunch!
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We did run into a few people more often then others, and really enjoyed several of the couples that we met from England.
Our weather wasn't exactly perfect, as we did experience a fair amount of rain on our ride - but the temperature was comfortable, and we had some rain gear, so it wasn't really a problem.
FlexiTreks moved our luggage each day to our new hotel, so we only needed to bring with us what we wanted for the day. We also brought a change of clothes with us, in case we beat our luggage to our next hotel.
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The first day we rode to Lucca, which is a lovely walled city where we spent the night.
We found an interesting restaurant with a Pirate Theme. The owner looked like a pirate and had his tatooed and pierced-face on the local wine bottles that are served in the restaurant.
The second day, we rode to Montecatini, another interesting city. From Montecatini, we rode into the country side, through towns like Vinci (yup, where Da Vinci was from), and the town where Pinocchio was written.
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Walking through the historic wall around the City of Lucca
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...on the road...
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We returned to Montecatini that night, and Louise and I took a tram up to Montecatini Alto village (above Montecatini) to enjoy the sunset. The view of the city was spectacular. We enjoyed a gelato in a small ice cream shop before heading down for supper.
On our fourth day, we took a train for about 20km (to avoid cycling over a mountain), and then rode the remaining 50km to Florence.
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Florence is a much bigger city than I had thought it would be, with lots of traffic. Fortunately we entered the city via a path on a dyke which lead to a park trail that got us right into the down town. We crossed some major roads, but there were usually bike trails, so it wasn't all that bad, and our GPS found our hotel without any difficulty.
We had a funny moment in Florence, when after cleaning up, we went down to the pool and texted Carolyn that we were there. She said they would join us in a couple of minutes. When they didn't show up, we texted them again.... It turned out that they were in a different hotel, and didn't have a pool, so were wondering where we were. We arranged to meet for supper, so all was well.
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Stopping to put away our jackets!
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Ted and Scott enjoying a break!
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There were a lot of young people staying at a hostel close to our hotel. It turned out they were gathering for the World Climate Demonstration in downtown Florence the next day.
We spent a "free day" in Florence and went on a City Tour that Louise had pre-booked. It was interesting to learn the history of the region and see all the old buildings and statues. We also learned that there would be a train strike the next day in conjunction with the climate demonstrations - and we were due to take the train in the morning to Empoli.
After some phone calls to FlexiTreks and a late night visit to the Train Station, we were able to book the train early in the morning, before the demonstrations began.
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On our final day we got up early so we could catch the train to Empoli, and then cycled the remaining 70km from there back to Pisa. In total we cycled about 280km, with almost 1500m of elevation. Most of the cycling was on roads with very limited traffic or on bike paths, or gravel trails.
The country side was spectacular, and we enjoyed many stops at local cafes.
I think we would definitely do a self-guided tour again.
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Scott and Carolyn
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Riding past many estate homes
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Riding through the country side!
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Caught by a train with our friends Tony and Val.
Ted, Carolyn, Tony, Scott and Val
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Pirate Pub owner in Lucca
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Taking the Funicular to the old town above Montecatini
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Taking a break by some olive trees
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Entering the town of Vinci
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Louise, Ted, Scott and Carolyn
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Looks like the deathly hollows...
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Beautiful scenery!
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Our guide, Barbara, showing us a map of Florence
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A little crowded by the covered bridge....
We were told to keep our hands on our valuables....
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A nice statute of a beheading....
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David - another disturbing statute...
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Back in Pisa
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| The Dory Hotel - Hub and Spoke Cycling |
The stay at the Dory Hotel was a very different type of cycling trip. The Dory Hotel in Riccione has been hosting cycling holidays for almost 30 years.
In the summer, Riccione is like the French Riviera - very hot, with crowded beaches and beach bars everywhere. In the spring and fall, however, the weather is cooler, and most of the tourists have left. In fact a lot of the hotels, and almost all of the beach bars and cabanas were closed for the season while we were there.
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Carolyn, Louise, Scott and Ted!
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Louise, collecting shells on the beach!
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Rather than close like the others, the Dory takes advantage of the cooler weather by hosting cyclists. The country side is spectacular and there are many quiet roads which make for excellent cycling.
The Dory have about 20 cycling guides on staff, and run tours every day (except Wednesdays). They lead guided hiking tours, mountain bike tours, and five different levels of road bike tours each day.
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The road bike tours are the Dolce Vita Group - a recreational ride with a focus on site seeing, the Cappuccino Lite (Beginner ride), Cappuchino, Cappuchino Super Group, and the Cappuchino Elite group.
The Cappuchino Light (beginner ride), is usually around 60-70km with climbs of up to 900m. Other Cappuccino rides are longer, with more elevation and steeper grades.
The "Elite" ride is just ridiculous with 25% grades and full on racing. If you can't maintain 45kph on the flat, then don't even think about it.... I didn't!!!
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Daily Ride!
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Having fun!
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They post a map of each tour with a ride profile and description, in the bike shop each evening, so guests can sign up for the ride of their choice the next day. All the rides leave in the morning and get back in the early afternoon.
While the hotel likely had 100 cycling guests, we were with a group of about 20, who were mostly from Vancouver, with a few others from the US, and us from Camrose. Many of them were return customers some of whom had been to the Dory ten times or more.
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Louise and I rented E-Bikes for the week. An E-bike is a great equalizer on the hills, but is a bit slow on the flat.
Unfortunately my E-Bike had issues starting at about 30km out the first day. It first became intermittent, with the power coming on and off, and then it quit altogether at about the half-way point, where it became a very heavy bike with fat, knobby tires. It was a lot of work keeping up to the road bikes on the way home.
They said they had fixed it for day two, but it had the same issue. For a second day, I was riding a heavy bike, not at all suited for roads.
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Louise, pointing to the Medieval Village in the distance
- our destination that day
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My new Road Bike
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On day three, they said they had fixed it again, but I had had enough and had it replaced with a standard road bike. It would be tough in the hills, but at least I knew what I was getting into.
Fortunately, Louise's E-bike worked very well, and she had no difficulty on the hills, although it was hard for her to keep up on the flat as the ebikes in the UK only give assistance up to about 25kph, and we were moving faster than that a lot of the time.
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In spite of our difficulties, we had a wonderful time. We met many great people who we hope we can keep in touch with, and we enjoyed the rides and the scenery.
On one of the rides, we stopped at the hotel owner's farm where we were treated to a barbeque, wine, and a tour of his balsamic vinegar process. On another day, we stopped at another vineyard to sample more wines, olive oil and balsamic vinegar with different meats, cheeses and breads.
We also stopped and toured (or stopped for a Cappuccino, in many interesting Medieval Villages - which are almost all on the top of hills..... requiring long hard climbs...
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Our group stopping for a break!
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Wine Tasting!
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The meals at the hotel were all excellent, and included a full breakfast, a full lunch when we got back from our bike ride, snacks in the bar at 6:00 and then another full meal at 7:00 which included all the wine you wanted to drink. I am amazed that we didn't gain any weight during our stay, although we did put on a lot of cycling miles.
Over the week we rode about 230km with a bit over 2800m of elevation gain. I would say that in general, Louise and I are not quite ready for the Dory, as it really caters to more advanced cyclists. We still had fun, and we were far from the weakest link in the group.
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We stayed an extra day in Riccione after the cycling was done.
We had some thought that I might go windsurfing, as there was a place that rents gear - although we found that it was closed for the season, and other than one day earlier in the week, there really wasn't enough wind anyway.
Instead, we had a very nice day sitting on the sea wall watching the boats, walking around the downtown, having lunch on a patio, walking along the beach collecting stones and shells for Louise's crafting, and generally relaxing after a very physically active week. It was a really nice break!
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Lou and Ted - A Roman Bridge over 1000 years old in the background.
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Stephano (our hotel owner, Dominique, Louise and our Tour Guide, Paulo
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Some of the guide team!
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Carolyn
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Tony and Ted
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Ted and Louise; Scott and Carolyn
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Ted in the Hotel Bike Storage shop
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Ted in his new Italia biking shirt
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Ted and Louise, cycling to the beach!
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| San Marino |
The Republic of San Marino was only an hours bus ride away (actually two busses). San Marino is the fifth smallest country in the world, and the oldest constitutional republic.
It has only 35,000 people, and is completely surrounded by Italy. It is one of three countries in the world to be totally surrounded by another country with the others being Vatican City, and Lesotho (surrounded by South Africa).
It is also one of the richest countries in the world based on GDP.
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So Spectacular!
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Guaita Tower
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The City of San Marino, where we stayed is on a mountain top with steep elevations everywhere. The city has public elevators to get people from one level of the city to the next.
Walking around San Marino was almost as hard as the biking we had done the previous week, as all the streets seemed to be at 15% or better grades.
It is a medieval city with narrow streets and many shops, mostly serving tourists.
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There are three "Towers" built in the 1300 - 1500, which are a major tourist draw, and are set up as museums. We hiked between the towers and it was interesting exploring them. We were able to get up to the top of the first two towers for some spectacular views, as the towers are basically built on the edge of a cliff.
Our BnB suite was the best of the trip, only a few minutes from where the bus dropped us off, and close to all of the sites.
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. . .
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Exploring the historic tunnels...
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On our second day we took the elevator down to the bottom of San Marino and then walked down to the main cemetary which had been recommended to us, and then walked to a set of tunnels which had been constructed in the early 1900's for an electric train system.
In WW II, when the British bombed Italy and San Marino, the tunnels were used to shelter many Italian refugees. My friend, Jeremy, in Camrose had recommended that we try to see the tunnels, and it was a good recommendation. They were very interesting.
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From there, we took the funicular back up to the top and continued exploring the shops, museums and exhibits.
I was able to do a short tour of their legislature building which, although quite small, was very impressive.
We also toured a Modern Art museum, and a Cross Bow shooting arena.
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Taking a break.
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Not toys!
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San Marino does not have strict gun laws, so there were a couple of shops that we visited with all kinds of handguns, hunting rifles, and automatic assault weapons on display.
It was sort of unsettling. They boast very little gun violence, but I suspect the guns are taken elsewhere as there is no border control.
Our visit was only two days long, but we really enjoyed it.
What an interesting City/Country.
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......
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mmmm
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Tower in San Marino
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Ted enjoying the day!
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A big cloud came through.
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Enjoying the day!
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Candy Shops galore!
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Wow!
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Louise doesn't want to get too close to the edge...
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Steep Street....
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| Venice |
First Photo in Venice!
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The last leg of our holiday was a three-day stay in Venice. Louise had been there before, but it was my first time. After a full day of buses, and several trains, we arrived in Venice at about 4:00pm. We immediately took a selfie of ourselves in front of the main canal.
I have never seen a city anything like Venice. There is a long bridge from the main land which ends in a parking lot and train station.
There are no cars, and very few bikes in Venice, because there are no roads.
Most of the buildings are built along the many canals, and the space between the buildings becomes the walkways, or if the buildings aren't square to each other, then there is an open space for a square (often a triangle), where there are cafe's, bars or shops.
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Some of the main walkways are only a meter or so wide. I could stand and touch my elbows to the buldings on each side. The walkways are full of shops, mostly for tourists, but also other shops like plumbing and hardware shops that must cater to locals.
There are a lot of pedestrian bridges across the canals, and the trick is to find the walkways that lead to a bridge, because other than the main canal, there is no way to walk along the canals.
The buildings that are right on the canals get their deliveries directly by boat which pull up right to the bulding door on the water.
We saw police boats, ambulance boats, a fire boat, as well as garbage boats, courier (DHL) boats, and transport boats including boats with refrigeration units, and many stacked high with cardboard parcels. If a business wasn't right on the waterway, then the goods were delivered by hand using what looked like large fridge moving dollies.
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Some very narrow streets!
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Ambulance boat. The only one going fast.
They had photo radar on the Canals....
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Even the garbage was picked daily by fridge dollies.
We watched the DSL Courier guy walking down the street with all his boxes on a fridge dolly, while his assistant delivered them into the businesses.
Our BnB apartment was in about the center of Venice and close to many shops, cafe's, restaurants and grocery stores. It was on the second floor of a very old building, which connected two buildings over a walkway.
The whole island had a faint sewer odour, so there were odour misters in our suite that squirted every time someone walked passed.
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We enjoyed wandering around and trying to get lost.
It was like a big corn maze. Fortunately my GPS was working, which was a big help. We did some shopping and went to Saint Mark's square where we saw the "Pink Palace" and took a lift to the top of the clock tower. The view was spectacular.
Because Venice floods often, particularly in the fall and winter, there are what look like construction scaffolding piled up everywhere. If the tide is high (moon and storm surge), then an alarm goes off and the scaffolding is set out so that tourists and locals can walk between the shops without getting wet.
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Louise and Ted
- Daily Gelato Break!
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Of course all the locals have to run home to lift carpets and move furniture because their main floors can flood to a depth of a meter or more. This problem is slowly getting worse as both sea levels are slowly rising, and the buldings are slowly sinking.
On our third day we took a water bus first to the Island of Murano, to see some glass blowing, and then to the Island of Burano, where they specialize in weaving. Both islands were a lot quieter than the main land, and very interesting. We bought a small amount of glassware for gifts. I tried to get Louise to try on some of the clothing for sale on Burano, but it was quite expensive and she said she didn't need it.
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After the first restaurant that we tried on our first evening had been a bit of a let down, we found another restaurant that we really liked a few blocks away, so we went there both our second and third nights. It was a "hole in the wall" local restaurant, which seemed to cater more to the locals than the tourists. The food was great and the prices were reasonable.
We had also taken to buying some cheese and wine at the local grocery store, and snacking in our room. (Louise had been suffering with a cold since San Marino - so it was nice to have a bit of down time.) The cheese was very good, and so different from what we get at home.
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Ted looking out our apartment window!
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Gondola Ride!
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The next morning, we took a water taxi to the airport and began our long day of flying home - 2 hours for the water taxi, three hour wait at the airport, 9 hours to Toronto, then a 3 hour layover, and then another four to Edmonton.
We arrived home at about 10:00 at night and were in bed, very tired, at midnight.
What an amazing adventure. After almost four weeks, it was very nice to be home.
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. . .
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St. Mark's Square
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Gondola Ride!
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. . .
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Fish Market
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Fire Boat
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Burano
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...practicing...?
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Rialto Bridge
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. . .
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