geeteetravels

The final few days of our holiday were spent in London, UK taking in Erika’s final recital at Guildhall and helping her get moved out of her flat. We flew from Pisa to Gatwick airport where we were able to store our bicycle and equipment bag for 8£/bag/day, found our train into Victoria station, and then found the Dockside Hotel, our last booking.com reservation. Tara’s father Morley and his partner Sharon were already there, also at the end of their European holiday, so we met them and Erika for a London pub meal that evening.
The following day Morley and Sharon flew home to Vancouver and we explored London a bit. We visited the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House which is an outstanding collection of art and not so big to be overwhelming. It was once a private collection and had been donated. Our favorite was the collection of impressionist and late impressionist paintings, especially Manet’s barmaid. There happened to be some school groups visiting at the time so we were able to eavesdrop on some of the discussions about this and other works.
Later that day we wandered around the Southbank area and then over to Hyde Park to see the Princess Diana Memorial and enjoy a cup of tea on the shore of the Serpentine Lake. Again we found a pub meal of traditional British fare before meeting Erika at the Phoenix Theatre for a performance of “Once”, a musical theatre production she had chosen.
The next day was Erika’s recital so we made our way to the Guildhall
music hall and (anxiously) listened to her 50 min. performance of Debussy, Busoni, and Chopin. It went very well, even she was pleased, and we were able to meet some of her peers, instructors and benefactors.
We helped her pack up the remainder of her things, move some to a friend’s flat and then met George’s cousin Poul for a visit and an Indian meal. His flat is located close to the hotel so that was convenient.
The next day we were up early for our morning flight home to Calgary. All went smoothly except for Erika’s bag being overweight, to be expected when you are moving over the Atlantic.
Now we are home again to work some more to save money for our next European cycling adventure, although we are hoping for a little less adventure next year and have developed some new strategies to keep our valuables and documents safe.

Final day on the road for this edition and I planned a very light run of 21km into Pisa. Our B&B was just a block from the piazza antifeatro and exactly the kind of accommodation that works best for us. Our genial host Giuseppe had a secure place for bike storage a few blocks away. He recommended a few good restaurants, what sights to see, supplied a typical breakfast and charged a reasonable price for the room.
We negotiated the cobblestones of the empty Sunday morning streets, picked up some lunch groceries, and rode south. The weather had cooled to very comfortable temperatures the last couple of days, much better for cycling.
The ride to Pisa was quite gentle, only about 20 kms and very little uphill. The excitement of the day was a tunnel which turned out to be straight forward as it was well lit, only 600 meters or so and 2 lanes wide. We rode to the leaning tower to take a photo of it with the bikes and then made our way back to the hotel where we began our tour. The afternoon was spent disassembling the bikes and packing up for our flights out the next day. We enjoyed a final meal of pizza in one of the piazzas and celebrated a successful tour with wonderful friends.

Half the team on the cobbly wobblies leaving our nice B&B and Lucca

The excitement of the day was doing 45km/hr downhill in the dark through this km long tunnel

The Giro di Tuscany 2013 comes to a close with the triumphant ride back to the Hotel le Torre

Note still more checklist revisions, some involving care and spares of passports, sunglasses, wallets, and phones

So it turns out there's a lot of stuff happening in Pisa tonight

... like a parade

... and a vintage car rally (seriously beautiful Alfa Giuletta Special Sprint shown here)

Up the Arno where Galeons were racing but we missed it

An A for ingenuity as the chicken clog dances to the music of the banjo

Last trip to the Tower.

We reluctantly left the Villa Sonnino by San Miniato for our ride to Lucca. It was a quiet and somewhat hidden refuge in a forest, so peaceful after the boisterous party in Poggibonsi the previous night. We had a bit of trouble getting on the correct roads again today and had to do a few u turns to get back on track. The GPS likes to change the route on us so we have to keep an eye on it. We were also delayed by another flat tire on our friend’s bike, the fourth for them this trip.
The route today was relatively flat and easy, also shorter than all the other days. However the traffic was a bit heavy as it was a Saturday. We arrived a bit early to check in at the B&B so headed to the main piazza for a gelato and a look around. European piazzas are a great place to people watch, we often do this. Later we were able to get into the accommodations and put the bikes in a secure location. After a quick cleanup we ventured out again to explore. We climbed up the tower with the trees growing up top and got a great view of Lucca and the surrounding area. Then we just wandered around, looking at cathedrals, statues, more piazzas and the wall/walkway that surrounds Lucca. We had supper in a great ristorante recommended to us that was right beside a large gathering of some type, wedding, reunion or something so that was interesting to watch also. We will miss the warm evenings and outdoor dining we enjoy most days.

Getting ready to leave the luxury of Villa Sonnino, a 4 star hotel for 70€

The piazza antifeatro in Lucca, another fascinating people watching spot/gelato stop

We climbed the Torre Guinigi, which has had 7 oak trees growing on it since the 16th century

A wizened italian gentleman with pipe and more modern accessories

We ate supper next to a huge outdoor banquet

We left Poggibonsi after a not at all restful sleep. The electronnica beat went on until 2:30 am, and we only had a fan, but no air conditioning.
Onwards we went on a relatively easy day as the trip winds down, with the planned highlight being to one of the most heavily visited places in Italy, San Gimignano. I have mixed feelings about these sort of places. They have every kind of touristic inducement to spend money, tons of people and noise, but on the other hand, all that started for a reason, which is usually still intact.
We climbed out of Poggibonsi, rode about 15km and went for coffee and did some shopping in San Gimignano. It is spectacular because of the setting and the sheer number of towers in the town. There was a manageable number of tourists there on this day but it another month and it will be crazy.
The rest of the ride north to San Miniato was supposed to be straight forward but we did get surprised a couple of times by short sharp rises unaccounted for by Mr. Garmin.
At the end of the day we also ran into some trouble finding our Villa despite being all over it by GPS. Finally we realized it was on top of the heavily forested hill right beside us, and we found a gravel trail up and onto the grounds. That turned out to be the service entrance but no matter. Soon one of the staff saw us and welcomed us warmly as though they had been waiting all day for our arrival. A couple of young guys even hauled our luggage up to our rooms for us. What luxury, and what fun!

Pushing it up a street in San Gimignano

Heading north to San Miniato but looking back at San Gimignano. Yes those are clouds but they mostly burned off soon after.

It's all about grapes and olives in the fields here.

Creativity in finding a place to dry the laundry is usually needed

We headed out of Siena on a downhill run which is always a great start to give the legs a chance to wake up and to make you feel like progress is being made. We were well caloried and caffeinated from our quite decent hotel in Siena (despite the aforementioned restaurant issue). Just another seriously beautiful day weather wise, expecting mid 30s again.
After the initial downhill we climbed to Castellina in Chianti where Rob announced their third flat tire of the trip. Just as we were smugly thinking that’s 3 to zero in our favour, our front tire went pffft. No problem, except we were running out of spare tubes and CO2 cartridges so a bike shop became a priority. Nothing in Castellina in Chianti though, but people told us there were shops in Poggibonsi. We met several tourists that were Brits today, some cycling on organized tours and some regular tourists. The tandems always attract the curious.
Then began the second best, or perhaps the best 15km of cycling road in Italy as we headed downhill for Poggibonsi. Just the right downhill grade, a good road surface, light traffic and spectacular hill top scenery make it so. Tara took another video but I haven’t had luck with uploading those to the blog yet.
Poggibonsi was just a stopover for us with nothing particularly attracting to us, but a couple of things made it interesting. One was this night was the “white night” festival which promised (and delivered) music and crowds in the street until 2am. The second was a restaurant we found on tripadvisor. We showed up at 7:35 to an empty restaurant where they weren’t initially sure they could fit us in without a reservation(!) After deciding we could be seated a lovely maitre’d lady came and explained our food choices for the different courses for the evening. We never saw a menu. We just ate what was brought to us, including her wine recommendation. We had a view of the kitchen and the head chef and crew so we could see how the restaurant worked as the place completely filled up. These people were extremely competent in every way and we somewhat paid for it too, but left very satisfied with the experience.
The white night experience was fun because there was so much life in the streets but I can’t say we enjoyed the pounding electronnica beat at 2 in the morning when we had long before gone to bed.

Leaving Siena through one of the old gates ; caught in a bit of traffic

Close to on top of the day's climb, enjoying the spectacular views of the chianti hills

Crowds started starting to form

Music everywhere, here in the form of a jazz trio

Nighttime fun in the streets

Today was a rest day, which we appreciated and needed after a couple of rigorous ones in scorching heat. Wandering around Siena is a good way to revive though, and hide from the sun due to the tall buildings and narrow walkways. Except of course if you step out into the glorious piazza del campo where the sun will scorch you until you crawl back into the shadows and order another cold moretti (the big one, 66cl per favore).
We shopped for small presents, ate a nice lunch, and retraced our steps to the air conditioned hotel room to actually take part in the afternoon siesta for a change. In the late afternoon we explored a bit more and I climbed a tower while the rest of the team had a look inside the magnificent duomo.
As the sun sank and the light turned golden we found a place to eat with a memorably cheerful and fun waiter. That was in contrast to an arrogant type who messed up my meal (ok, I make mistakes too) last evening but would not admit it. He became the evil Jaffar (Disney… Aladdin…) since he resembled him greatly. Tomorrow back on the bikes for a ride deep into chianti territory.

Look at all the new La Pavoni machines!

Piazza del Campo in the morning sunshine, one of my favorite places

We went looking for the important water sources for Siena, mysteriously coming from a below ground river called La Diana

We had lunch at a restaurant so tilted they needed to alter the furniture

It doesn't get any more ornate than the duomo in Siena

A view from atop the half built wall attached to the duomo

Today started with a delicious breakfast at our hotel then a thrilling downhill ride for about 10kms. We really needed that after yesterday’s climbing. We stopped at the Abbia St. Antimo to see the 11th century church and hopefully hear some gregorian chanting. We visited here once before 9 years ago and then as today only heard a recording of the monks who reside there chanting, not a live performance.
Then off to another hilltop town, Montalcino, also very picturesque but again a bit tough to get to. After locating the local Coop store (italian version of Calgary Co op) we refueled and refreshed water supplies before heading back into the hot day. We rode downhill out of there and headed for Siena, a rolling route, but no more big clmbs. However the temperature was around 35 degrees with very little shade to be found, so we were struggling. George was remembering a song by Noel Coward that talks about only mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the noon day sun. About 5 km from our destination we had to stop and rehydrate, cool down, and rest as I was starting to feel quite poorly from the heat. We eventually pulled in to our hotel, again tired and very hot. We still managed to climb almost 900 meters and ride for almost 9 hrs. But we must not complain, we did choose to visit Tuscany, a hilly and warm destination.

Loading up at our upcountry stop at the Terre D'orcia

The Abbia St Antimo, 1000 year old thick stone walls make it a cool respite from the heat

Interior of the Abbia

Almost at Montalcino, home to Brunello fine wines

We're smiling after a couple of rounds of cold drinks

Piagge is hardly a place, but it’s purely a bit** to get to from our start in Pitigliano. 33 degree heat, 2 flat tires, questionable GPS navigation that put us on washed out roads, running close to zero water and having to beg for same at homes along the route, 60km, 9 hrs of cycling and 1388m of ascent. Absolutely spectacular scenery. Such was the adventure today. When we finally arrived at our destination it was a relief.

Since our B&B turned out to be only a B it doesn't get a great rating from us. Here we are foraging for breakfast.

Hot and dry all day.

The GPS led us down closed roads so I played at gatekeeper.

Grimacing at one of two flats today

Seggiano, seen from the back side.

The ride to Pitigliano marked our turn away from the coast for good this trip, and away from the relatively flat riding we had been enjoying. It’s all hills and hill towns from here on. It was a good climb but nothing unmanageable for us. Pitigliano is ancient with history back to the etruscans. It is a town built on top of volcanic rock called tufa. First sight of it is a treat as it comes up on you suddenly. Super impressive to see, a real wow moment. Unfortunately Tara had a real un-wow moment after finding the first squat toilet of the trip. The act of squatting released her prescription sunglasses from the front of her shirt and right down the hole. Ouch! I cannot believe how bad we are being for losing important possessions.
We stayed at a B&B, the second one we have come across which did not offer breakfast so only a B in my books. We wandered around taking photos of the picturesque old city, and stumbled upon a wine tasting event which was open to the public. It focused on the wine growing areas in close proximity to volcanos which actually covers a lot of land in Italy. Have a look.

On our way off the coast and into serious wine country.

Around a hairpin turn and you're met with Pitigliano.

One of many beautiful Fiat 500s to be found. It's a close relative to the 850 I once owned.

Pitigliano is full of alleyways and tiny interesting streets.

... and lots of cats.

Gorgeous with the lights on.

This day in particular I had been relishing as we were going to sail to the island of Giglio to see how salvage operations were going with the Costa Concordia. Rob first pointed out how close we were and wouldn’t it be very cool to see it refloated. So we did. It was great to visit Giglio which is beautiful, and you wish they didn’t have to deal with the monstrosity on their doorstep. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Traffic out the causeway on the way to Porto Santo Stefano by bus to catch the ferry

A fantastic day for a sail or anything else you could imagine outdoors. Lots of racing going on.

A bit creepy considering the deaths involved. The ship and all the works are right next to the harbour.

A view overlooking the main port on Giglio.

The ship and all the work involved.

This guy hung out on the back deck the whole way back, looking for and receiving handouts.