Rome and home

We left Montepulciano and Tuscany by bus and train, expecting a downpour that never happened, and a difficult trip that never happened either.
We saw some of the things we expected to see in Rome, like the Colosseum, and unexpected things also. The first picture is of a stuffed deep fried zucchini flower, one of several culinary treats here, the second, snow on the mountains behind Rome. That's taken from our hotel window, a little too far out from the centre for Hannelore's tastes! The third is a nice picture of the Tivere, (sounds a bit like Tiber, doesn't it?), with St Peters in the background, and you all know the fourth.
So, on the plane this afternoon, the whole thing is over again, see you all soon.

Tuscany-Hill Town Trek

Well, that's what our Lonely Planet guide book calls this route, which takes in the hilltop towns of Asciano, Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano.
They are all similar in that they are on the tops of hills, with large protective walls all around them. They are all a challenge to get up, from a cycling point of view, especially when you are carrying lots of camping gear, that you can't use. We stayed in hotels, and had a €106 meal in our Montalcino hotel, although a lot of that was spent on Brunello wine.
The scenery is fantastic though, and of course, if it wasn't hilly, you just wouldn't get it!
The first picture is the Tuscan countryside, as we looked back at Asciano on the way to Montalcino.
The next is looking out at the view at Montalcino, where fog has filled one of the valleys. The third is looking down from Montepulciano, and the last Hannelore with her room with a view in Pienza.

Florence to Sienna- CHIANTI

So, we left Florence on the so called Chianti Strada, where all the world's Chianti is made. Nothing like the raw black stuff we used to buy in the beehive flagon when we were young of course, this is the high quality gear that everyone flocks to.
We rode to a town called Greve the first day on this trip, which is supposed to be in the heart of the Chianti district, but I was disappointed, because there was no camping, and the Chianti we bought at a wine shop there pretty ordinary. Hannelore warmed to the place however, when we found a hotel overlooking the town square.
Next day, we continued on to Sienna, but lunchtime found us at a gaspingly high town called Radda, and we ended up in a lovely restaurant, where I had fresh pasta with fagioli, and Hannelore had freshly made risotto, both dishes delicious. The waiter sold us off Chianti, although Radda is in the heart of the region, onto something called Brunello, which we'd never heard of, which also turned out to be delicious.
Sienna was a bit disappointing for us as well, we spent a full day there, but perhaps old narrow streets and cobbles are a bit too normal for us now.
The first picture is the Tuscan countryside as we came out of Florence, the second is Hannelore enjoying a rare hot cafe latte at Panzano, on the way out, the third more of the brilliant Tuscan countryside, it all seems to be like this, and the last two in Sienna. The first of these is the Duomo, the second the singularly extraordinary Campo.

Florence

We came across from Lucca to Florence by a route devised by pocket earth, the map ap I've mentioned before. It was fairly tense, we couldn't look around much because of the traffic, and after 80k or so, we found that the camping area we arrived at was shut, even though it was advertised as being open on the Internet. Somehow we fluked a B&B elsewhere, after a long struggle, another story, ask me some time, I might get over it in a month or so. The first picture shows the view looking towards Florence from the B&B.
Next day we made it to another camping area which overlooks the city, and the next pictures are views from Piazza Michaelangelo which is just next door.
Presently I'm sitting in a square near the Museo Academia, where Hannelore is queuing for an invitation to queue for a ticket to join a queue to get into see the original David. The sign outside says "visit the museum without having to wait in line"! It was all too much for me, so I'm just sitting here in the square, observing the locals.
The last picture is of the David copy in the Piazza di Signoria, don't know why I'm including it, because everyone has seen it...

From the coast to Lucca

We came down the coast of northern Italy, their Riviera, usually packed in summer with tourists from northern Europe, but at this time of year, and raining (sometimes heavily), it's empty, and most of the camping areas are closed. The first picture shows Viareggio, one of the popular beaches, as we saw it.
From there, we came away from the coast to Lucca, which everyone likes, "you must stay there at least two days", they say, so we did. The second picture is of one of many church towers in the town, taken from the wall which encircles it. This wall is wonderful for walking, running and cycling on, in these times, but I doubt it is tall enough to have been much of a protective measure in days gone by. The third picture shows the wall, and the fourth is a statue of Puccini, (one of many in these parts), in the square outside the house in which he was born.

La Spezia

We went to a nice little hotel in La Spezia, and Sara, the proprietor, directed us to a nearby trattoria for dinner. I think the chap with Hannelore in the first picture was the owner, if not, he certainly acted as if he was! He owned us while we were there too, virtually telling us what we were going to eat. We each had a fish dish, which seemed to be the house specialty, delicious, as was everything else he brought us, most of which we hadn't asked for. He even made our neighboring diner offer his plate of fried shellfish to Hannelore, for Hannelore to sample a piece. A very entertaining evening.
La Spezia is a port city, with a lot of grand old style buildings. The second picture is of the port, and the third a picture of another small port beneath a castle, just south as we left.

Levanto and Cinque Terra

We loved everything about Levanto from the start, and I don't think it was just because we were able to stop going upwards for a while. The camping area was great, which means helpful staff, well maintained ablution centre with the luxury of toilet paper and toilet seats, neither of which appear common in Italy.
We stayed three nights before taking the small boat to do the five "walks" from the sea. The walks are presently closed anyway, because of a rock fall on one of them, in which some people were injured. Anyway, we had a lovely day cruising by them in the boat. We got off for lunch at Portovenere (first pic), then got off at Riomaggiore (last pic), to view the blocked path, and Monterosso, (3rd and 4th, from above and below). The second picture is of the little port at Levanto, and the fifth our boat.

Sestri Levante

We cleared out of Bogliasco following a pocket earth route, which turned out to be a back route more suitable for unladen mountain bikes powered by fit youngsters, so I now mistrust the pocket earth routes unless they can be backed up by a map with heights.
After we managed to get off that route, we just followed the main road and trusted the Italian drivers to miss us, which turned out to be a better option, because although it was pretty hilly, at least it was rideable.
On the way up the last hill (not that we knew it) Brian and Margaret, in a motor home on a pull off, noticed how slow we were going and got us in for a much appreciated cup of tea. Brian hospitably offered to put the bikes on the back and take us in to Sestri, but for some reason I declined, and we continued on to Chiavarra, short of Sestri, but there was a camping area, and we were anticipating more hills, so we stopped there. The first photo is looking back towards Bosciaglo, the Ligurian sea, on the way to Sestri Levante.
Next morning we carried on, just 10 k's of flat road saw us in Sestri. We camped at another sea-oriented site, poor, everything run down, they obviously get their money without trying too hard. We spent a nice day there, sight seeing, the second picture shows the beach there. You can see that although the sand is grey, it is substantially a beach.
Next day we set off again with one of our late starts, 11am, for Levanto, we knew we were in for a tough climb, but I made it even tougher by taking a wrong turn, so that we had to do about 5k extra upwards, than we otherwise would have had to. It took about 4 hours to cover the 40k's. The third picture is looking back down the road to Sestri Levanto, as we made the climb.

Genova

Or Genoa if you're a Pom.
We spent three days in Milano, and did a bike trip out to the monument-ridden town of Pavia whilst there. We were amazed at how the maniacal Italian drivers failed to hit us on the busy city streets there, and in Milano itself. Our guide book says that it is because they are very practiced at missing cyclists and other objects because they have to do this in Italy every day of their lives, and this could be so. If you just hold your line and don't make any sudden unexpected movements, all is well.
Anyway, we caught the train to Genova with little difficulty, and met our corresponding parents-in-law of the Vic-Jess variety, Paul and Catherine there. This was a huge fluke, as they were only free for that particular day in Genova, and so were we.
So, we had a nice morning there together, and benefited from their recent knowledge of the town, before moving on to our next camp site, only 16k down the coast from Genova at a place called Bogliasco.
The first picture is of the Catorz (charter house) di Pavia, the second and the fifth (which won't go where it's asked), of the port of Genova, and the third and fourth are right here, the ocean at Bogliasco.

Milan

We met some new biking friends on our last day in Venice, Gabriel and Amalie from Canada, and Werner and Gertrude from Germany. On the last night we were discussing future plans over a glass of Gabriel's magnificent grappa, when a huge clap of thunder erupted,and we scurried off to our respective tents. It rained all night, and we had to get up and shift the tent out of a puddle. I don't know how, perhaps the grappa, but I managed a reasonable night's sleep in a wet sleeping bag.
Before the rain started, Gabriel had said that they had ridden from Genova to Sestri without trouble, then from there taken their bikes on the boat, little expense, to La Spezia, seeing Cinque Terra on the way, so we thought we'd do the same.
So, with the usual amount of train difficulty, we went from Mestre to Milan, where we were to catch another train to Genoa, but on the way, I realized that we would probably never be in Milan again, there was a camping area here, so why not stay? Well, we didn't make the camping area that tough day and had to resort to our most expensive hotel (€130) yet, but here we are in this big bustling city, with some pictures to show...
The first and second are the outside and inside of the Castille di Sforzesco, the others the outside and inside of the Duomo.

Venice

We spent two days and three nights in "Camping Venezia", a relief in one way, that we could get a camp again, though it was quite expensive at €30 per night. Still, I guess a hotel would have been very costly in this area. Venice itself was pretty much as expected, from the pictures we've all seen all our lives. The amount of tourists was about what we thought too, the bus to and from packed in much the same way as our trains when the Eagles or Dockers are playing. We walked our feet off in our touristic endeavours, and spent enormous euros on things like gondolas and the cafe Florian.
You won't see us on the gondola picture, but we were on one just like it!
The second picture is of the Grand Canal, the next of St Marcos square.