Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Breakfast in Florence – Lunch in Pisa

I was going to take the train to Lucca this morning, but I got up too late to make it worthwhile. So after breakfast on the terrace, I went to my room, packed a lunch (PB&J again), walked over to the train station and rode to Pisa. Ann and I were in Pisa a few years ago. I didn’t have a good impression then because of all of the vendors alongside the Field of Miracles. This time I had Rick Steves with me. He guided me through the town and gave me a brief history of it along the way.

Pisa - Piazza Garibaldi I walked along the Corso Italia, Pisa’s main street, passing countless fashion, gelato and jewelry shops. At the end of the street, I crossed Ponte di Mezzo. According to Rick, this is the center of Pisa. The current bridge was built after WWII when the US and British bombed the old one. Across the bridge was Piazza Garibaldi which is named for the leader of the movement of Italian independence in 1870. It is also known for Pisa’s favorite gelato – I had licorice.

Pisa - Piazza delle Vettovaglie Market Continuing along Borgo Stretto – Pisa’s main shopping street – I turned left and wandered through Piazza delle Vettovaglie. This is an historic market square. There was lots of produce for sale. It gave me a chance to take photos of one of my favorite subjects.

Pisa - Piazza dei Cavalieri Piazza dei Cavalieri was next. It has a clock tower, a colorfully decorated palace and several beautifully colored buildings. It also has a statue of Cosimo I de’ Medici stomping on a dolphin. This is supposed to represent Pisa’s dominance of the sea.

From there it was on to the Field of Miracles and the leaning tower.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of tourists here and a lot of vendors trying to sell to the tourists. There are also some very worthwhile things to see including the Leaning Tower, the Duomo, the Baptistery, the Museum of the Sinopias and the Camposanto Cemetery. I, being the cheapskate, did not enter any of the buildings. I sat down on the steps of a statue, ate my packed lunch and took in the atmosphere. Some people next to me were giving envious looks at my PB&J sandwich, chips, banana, cookies and fizzy water.

Pisa - Field of Miracles

I walked around the field taking several photos. It is really beautiful. The vendors and the tourists are not pushy and obnoxious.

I retraced my route back to the train station and rode back to Florence. On the way back to the hotel, I discovered a grocery store real close to the Ponte Vecchio on this side of the river. I had walked past it many times thinking that it was a hole in the wall. I was wrong. It is a very large store with a fantastic deli counter with all sorts of salads, meats and cheese. I picked up a salad for dinner tonight. I’ll be returning for more goodies soon.

I’m going to bed early tonight so I can get up early tomorrow in order to catch the 9:00 train to Lucca.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Florence – May 30

Florence Statue

This blog is suspended until I do something worthy of reporting. Today was too normal, other than my PB&J lunch and my dinner of flat pasta with tomatoes and asparagus and my gelato for dessert.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Castellini to Florence

It was still very cool but sunny when I got up this morning in my comfortable agriturismo room. I dressed, packed my bags, put my bags in the designated grassy area for later pickup and rode my bicycle to breakfast at Villa Cristina. I was the last one there. For the first time in several days, I was hungry. I ate a good meal which included an egg for protein.

At 7:30 we were off. I was riding with Kathy, Hal, Matt, Dave and Eric. I wore my GPC jacket while Matt had on the full kit. We represented Berkeley well. I was glad that I had on my jacket because the initial descents were cold.

Matt and I got slightly ahead of our group on the way into Greve. We cruised through it slowly looking for the bicycle shop that Tom and Julie mentioned because of its selection of Italy jerseys. We didn’t find it. The one that we found was closed on Sunday. So we continued on arriving at our hotel at 10:20.  Of course our rooms were not ready that early, so we spent our time chatting with the other riders as they arrived.

Here’s a link to today's ride.

Julie arrived with the van shortly so we could get our luggage. As we did, some of the rooms opened up. By the time I showered I was ready for lunch. I ate at a nearby osteria and had bocconcini di pollo al limone. It was good but it was way too much to eat.

Quattro Leoni in Florence - Jim, Jennefer, Matt, Ruth and Darrel The terrace at the hotel was a good place to sit this afternoon. This was our social scene where most of the group wandered through and chatted. Dave opened a couple bottles of wine that he bought in Castellini and Julie supplied leftover wine from our Happy Hours. I led a group of 16 to The Trattoria Quattro Leoni (4 Lions) for dinner.We sat at three separate tables. Six of us ate outside. I had prosciutto and melon followed by baccalĂ  alla fiorentina. We stopped for gelato before returning to the hotel.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Monteriggione to Castellini

I breakfast buffet was really good. I had scrambled eggs with bacon for the first time on the trip. This isn’t something I normally eat, but I needed some protein to keep up my energy. I have not been hungry at breakfast for several days because of our late dinners.

The skies were threatening rain when Matt and I left at 8:00. We packed our rain jackets to (a) ward off the rain spirits or (b) to put on if it rained. Option (a) worked because we didn’t have a drop of rain all day. The weather was sunny and cool all day, our most pleasant day on the tour weather-wise.

Monteriggione We made out first stop after less than 3 km at Monteriggione, a very small walled village. This is a busy tourist stop. We were early enough so that we saw no other tourists. After leaving Monteriggione, we soon picked up Dave and Eric, our strong father/son team. We rode with them all of the way to the finish.

A Perfect Tuscan Cycling Road

Today’s route had several short climbs and descents. Only a couple of them were steep. We were mostly on narrow roads with little traffic. We stopped a few times for photo ops, nature calls and snacks. We had lunch at the top of the steepest climb of the day in Radda in Chianti. We ate outside in a small trattoria on the main piazza. I had been at the same place two years ago and enjoyed it. We all ate ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach and covered with a sauce made with sheep and goat cheese.

Wedding in Radda in Chianti

After lunch we walked our bicycles up the main street of the town to where we saw a crowd gathering in front of a church. A wedding was just finishing and a military honor guard was crossing swords waiting for the bride and groom to walk the gauntlet. We watched them walk past each pair of officers. When they reached the last pair, the officers block them with their swords and forced the bride to walk back up and down the stairs and kiss each member of the honor guard.

Soon we were off riding again, this time picking up Ruth and Darrel, or rather they picked up us. Ruth pulled us for the next 10 km to Castellini. Our first stop was for very good gelato. Our second stop was up a hill to Villa Cristina, our headquarters. The third stop was another 2km to an agriturissimo where many of us found our rooms and an inviting swimming pool. I have a small funky comfortable room with older stuffed furniture. The shower in the bathroom drains on the bathroom floor. It works well. And we have FREE wifi.

Here’s the link to today's ride.

We walked to town and toured the main street. I had been to Castellini before but had never been in town. It is an interesting old village that has been converted into a tourist haven. There are lots of shops selling local products especially Chianti. There are lots of old buildings including one that looks like a castle.

We had Happy Hour at Villa Cristina and then walked to a pizzeria for dinner. We had two kinds of pasta – ravioli and linguini. Our main course was two kinds of beef. One had a pepper sauce that was outstanding. Our dessert was local cake. If I had less wine I could describe the meal better.

It turned cool when the sun went down. Some of us still had on shorts and short sleeved shirts. We had to drape chair covers over us at our outside dinner seating to keep warm. At the end of dinner, we couldn’t find our transport back to our agriturissimo so we walked. It was cold.

Friday, May 27, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Massa Maritima to Monteriggione

I left Massa Maritima shortly after 8:30 with Julie and Matt. The sky was clear and the temperature was reasonably cool. The first few miles of our route duplicated the loop ride from Massa Maritima a couple of days earlier. We had a gentle climb past a field of red poppies and through a green forest of deciduous trees. Dropping down the other side of the climb, we descended through more fields and along side a creek. It got fairly cool here and we told each other to remember this at 2:00 when it would be hot.

We soon reached the next major climb of the day and were surprised how gentle it was. This was in sharp contrast to yesterday’s ride. We stopped a few times for photo ops and to get refreshments from the van. Tom was today’s driver and he had water, bananas, etc. for us. I took a photo of Radicondoli where I had stopped for lunch two years ago.

Massa Maritima to Monteriggione - Radicondoli

Continuing on, we climbed into Casole d’ Elsa. This was our lunch stop. Julie remembered a good pizzeria where we could buy pizza by the slice. It was with a crispy focaccia crust – very nice. We ate our choices with cold peach tea.

Massa Maritima to Monteriggione - Matt in Casole d' Elsa There is a famous statue in Casole d’ Elsa that Tom challenges everyone to find. I have been here before so I knew where it was. I took Matt’s photo next to it.

We left Casole d’ Elsa in high spirits ready to tackle the next 15 km to our hotel. Unfortunately, we missed one of our turns and dragged Dave and Eric with us. Naturally we discovered our error at the bottom of a hill. Rather than climb back to the turn, we checked our map and found a new route. This route involved dirt, rocks and gravel. At the point where we felt really lost, a man was walking up the “road” and Julie with her fluent Italian was able to ask him if we were going the right way. We were, and after a couple of kms we ended back on route.

We stopped at a bicycle shop that was slightly off of our route. We had some purchases to make. I needed water bottles and Matt needed other things. The shop was closed for lunch, so we rode on to our hotel.

Here’s a link to today's ride.

Our hotel, Il Piccolo Castello,  is a four-star “resort” with a large swimming pool. My room is big, clean and comfortable.

We had Happy Hour alongside the pool. Then we had dinner on a covered terrace. It was a fixed meal. We started with risotto mixed with herbs and maybe spinach. Then we had very small pieces of veal with string beans. Dessert was two small wedges of ice cream cake with chocolate sauce. A light meal like this is OK with me because it’s very close to bed time and I don’t like to go to bed with a full stomach.

BAC Florence to Elba – Porto Azzurro to Massa Maritima

We had breakfast at 7:00. We wanted to catch an early ferry so that we would miss the afternoon heat on the climbs at the end of the route. I left the hotel at around 7:35 and arrived with a few others at the ticket office at 8:10. There are two competing ferry lines. We arrived on the Toremar line. The ferry schedules are coordinated between the two companies and our return trip at 8:30 was with the Moby line. The Moby ferries are cleaner, more colorful and have more amenities. They also cost more. Because we arrived as a group we got a discount on our tickets. A passenger with a bicycle costs Euro 18.80. The other line costs Euro 16.60.

We had a quiet ride, arriving in Piombino at 9:40. Julie and Tom pointed us in the right direction and we were off. I ended up leading a train of riders because the route was loaded onto my GPS. This was very helpful getting out of Piombino with its roundabouts and heavy traffic. After a few kilometers, Deborah and Ron were the only ones left on our train. After they took a long pull, they pulled off at a gas station to get some refreshments. So I rode solo through the flat farm belt for about 25 km.

The road that we were on for the last 2/3 of the route was a narrow farm road with very little traffic. The first part of it was flat with lots of crops growing in the fields. The last part of it was very hilly and went through forests, vineyards and olive groves. We had ridden this route in reverse two days ago, so we anticipating the steady, steep climb. It was still difficult in stretches. On the last steep pitch, I got off of my bicycle to catch my breath. I had trouble starting up the hill again because of the steepness. So I walked up another 100 feet to a lesser pitch and started riding again.

Our sag van was parked at the side of the road near the summit. Julie and Tom had picked up some bread and sandwich fixings so that we could have food on the route. Our route had no places to eat. I stopped for a jam sandwich and extra water.

Continuing on, we had several short, steep hills all of the way into our hotel in Massa Maritima.

Here are links to today’s ride to the ferry and from the ferry to Massa Maritima.

I joined Matt, Tim and Doug at a deli that we had gone to on our first day in Massa Maritima. I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach and covered with chingali sauce.

Soon, Julie showed up with the van. We picked up our bags, went to our rooms and cleaned up.

Later in the afternoon I found an ATM and some gelato.

Don at Le Fate Briache Restaurant in Massa Maritima This evening several of us went to Le Fate Briache Restaurant. It was a very small restaurant run by a mother and daughter. It specializes in typical food. I had a cold “soup” which consisted of  Tuscan beans, bread and other things. It was very filling. I also had small ravioli “pockets” stuffed with gorgonzola cheese and pears. It was yummy.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Day 6 – Porto Azzurro, Elba

View from the Hotel at Porto Azzurro on Elba

My objective today was to get some rest and I did. I lazed around the hotel all day reading except for a short trip with Julie and Tim to the COOP to pick up Happy Hour supplies and lunch fixings. Tim and I shared prosciutto and cheese on rolls on the terrace at the hotel. It was not very exciting, but it was inexpensive and filling. I also bought some bananas for tomorrow and some bottled water. The tap water does not taste good.

I saw several people from our group coming back from various excursions – some by bicycle, some by motor scooter and some by foot. A few went swimming in the Mediterranean. I’ll be hearing stories later about all of the things I missed.

The weather is hot.

Peggy, Jerry, Sharon, Don and Matt at Dinner in Porto Azzurro I finally got out after Happy Hour and went to dinner with several others at a waterside restaurant. I had stockfish in a tomato based sauce with potatoes along with a green salad. The meal was light and refreshing. We sat outside next to the water at a long table. The weather had cooled off a bit and it was very pleasant. When we split up the bill, we discovered that we put in too much money, so we all stopped for gelato.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Day 5 – Massa Maritima to Porto Azzurro in Elba

This blog and the next one will be posted late because our hotel in Porto Azzurro had no internet connections.

We left Massa Maritima this morning in perfect weather again. We coasted down the city streets and then turned onto a true country road. There was almost no traffic as we wound through vineyards and olive groves at a leisurely pace. Soon we reached several very short, steep climbs. I was riding with Julie, Deborah and Ron. All of us had to walk our bicycles on some of the steeper pitches. After 8 miles, the road bent down and we rode downhill and flat stretches all the way into Piombino – about 24 miles.

Massa Maritima to Elba - View from the Road The downhill section was through vineyards and forests. The flat section was through huge agricultural farms. It reminded my of the Salinas Valley area in California. I don’t know all of the crops that were growing there, but we saw some workers picking artichokes.

Our group split up as we neared Piombino. I road solo for a little while until we got to town where I missed a turn. As I backtracked a couple of hundred feet, I met Deborah and Ron along with Doug. We rode together to the port where we bought tickets and boarded the 11:30 Toremar ferry to Elba.

It was a relaxing one hour ride on the ferry. It reminded me of the Seattle ferries where you tie up your bicycles on the inside and then go to one of the several decks to wait out the ride. Almost everyone in our group caught this ferry so we could sit around and chat to pass the time. I went out to the outside decks for frsh air and photo ops. This was after eating a tuna sandwich and drinking some peach tea that I bought at the snack bar.

After arriving in Portoferraio in Elba, we got on our bicycles again and rode south across the island to Porto Azzurro. There was a little confusion at first about which way to turn, but we soon got it straightened out by following Don, the senior member on our tour. Experience pays off.

Here’s a link to the first ride and the second ride.

Our hotel overlooks a small harbor. There are several sailboats and other pleasure craft anchored in it. Our rooms are small but comfortable and clean. The main road runs between our hotel and the harbor. My window is very close to it. Ear plugs will be used tonight.

Matt and I walked 1/4 mile into town and joined Kathy and Hal at a shop that had sandwiches. They had not eaten on the ferry and I was still a bit hungry. I had a foccachio sandwich with salami and cheese. It was greasy but good. We ate at small tables in the shop but had to leave when the shop’s clerk turned off the lights. We wandered through the harbor area and saw tourist shops and restaurants. Then it was back to the hotel for rest.

We had a group dinner at the hotel. They served us pasta with a tomato based crustacean sauce and grilled mixed shellfish. For dessert, we had strawberries in cream. The dining room is on top of the hotel and overlooks the harbor with a fantastic view.

Monday, May 23, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Day 4 – Massa Maritima Loop

I thought about taking a day off today, but my old tired body said that it was OK to ride. Besides, the route was short and not too demanding. The weather was perfect – clear, sunny skies and warm. I started out riding solo but I was soon joined by Kathy, Hal, Dave and Eric after I got a little lost getting out of town. Our turn-by-turn queue sheets are easy to read but the street signs are not.

Massa Maritima Loop - Olive Trees The route took us through forests, past a castle dominated village and alongside olive groves. Part of the route was named Strada del Vino – Wine Road. It was not dominated by vineyards but I could see quite a few and some signs offering wine tasting.

The climb back to our hotel was very difficult – steep and hot. I arrived as the  noon church bells were ringing.

Here is a link to today's ride.

After cleaning up and cooling off, I met Matt and Tim and we wandered over to a different deli style cafeteria. I had some cold bowtie pasta with green vegetables and pesto sauce. This was accompanied by rice with shellfish. I couldn’t eat it all. Matt and Tin ordered a stuffed something that was shaped like a very fat fish including flappers on the rear. We thing that it was fish based. Time ate one of his. Matt gave up after one bite.

Back at the hotel, I stretched out on the bed and soon took a long nap. I hope this doesn’t cause me to stay awake tonight.

I joined Ruth, Darrel and Matt at dinner tonight. I had a tomato salad with basil, etc. along with tortellini carabonara verdera. We stopped for gelato afterwards.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Day 3 – Volterra to Massa Maritima

I left Volterra before 9:00 riding solo. Somehow I lost one of my new water bottles, so I had to scrounge around to find another one. I didn’t want to be short on water on a hilly, warm day. Jennifer loaned me one of her spares. By the time I filled it and was ready to go, most of the riders had left. That’s OK because I could ride at my own pace.

The ride started out with a 10 km downhill dropping around 2000 feet. The we had a series of ups and downs throughout the morning and eventually got back up to 2500 feet. The weather was very warm on the climbs but the descents were tingly cool. I stopped at Castlenuovo at 37 km for a Fanta and a fruit bar after passing several geo-thermal power plants. I caught up to Matt here. We decided it was too early for lunch so we pedaled on.  He left a few minutes before I did but I caught him again a few km later. He was standing at the side of the road waiting for a huge group of motorcyclists to pass.

We rode together for a while over several short ups and downs. Then we had our final descent of 1500 feet over 10 km. Matt is more conservative on descents so I lost him on the way and didn’t see him until after I checked in to the hotel.

Here is a link to today's ride.

The luggage van hadn’t arrived yet so several went searching for some place to eat. We found deli-style hole-in-the-wall that served good inexpensive pasta. Afterwards, we found the luggage van, took our bags to our rooms and cleaned up.

P5220176 After resting for a few minutes, Matt came by and we decided to wander around town. Massa Maritima is an old medieval town. We learned that first-hand when we walked down to the main piazza. There were guild flags hanging from all the buildings. Soon there were guilds marching through the streets wearing medieval costumes and pounding on their drums. We followed them back to our hotel where they ended the parade. I shot some videos which I will post on YouTube later. (We have to pay for internet connections here so I won’t be online very often).

Our hotel is very nice. I have a huge room that overlooks the garden and yard in the back.

We had our normal Happy Hour tonight and then walked to a restaurant for our group dinner. Along the way we met the guild festivities in the main piazza. They were wrapping up their competitions. The winning guild was announced with loud cheers and celebrations. (Another video).

We had a typical Tuscan dinner – antipasto with several kinds of meat and breads with pate, ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, flat noodles with wild boar sauce, slices of pork with baked onions, lots of vino rosso and sparkling water and dessert which Matt and I skipped.

It’s now closing in on 10:00 so I am going to sleep.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba– Day 2 Ride – Around Volterra

I wimped out today. I started riding with Matt, Tim and Jerry on a loop through San Gimignano. My legs felt a bit tired, my throat was sore and my stomach was complaining about the change in cuisine. So I rode as far as the mobile pork vendor and turned around. It was a short ride, but it was also a good workout. Here’s the link to today's ride.

Hal, Tom and Kathy at Lunch in Volterra

Back in Volterra, I cleaned up, did my internet thing and then went on a walk with Tom so we could preview the restaurants that Julie lined up for dinner. We stopped at one for pizza and were joined by Hal and Kathy who had just returned from their out-and-back ride. (They went a little farther than I did). That’s Hal, Tom and Kathy in the photo.

Roman Ruins in Volterra

After lunch I went with Hal and Kathy to the old Roman Theater. Then I wandered through the streets back to the hotel. While sitting in the lobby, I greeted the riders coming back from the San Gimignano loop. They were very hot and tired. I’m convinced that I made a good decision by cutting my ride short. The temperature in Volterra was very pleasant, but it was hot on the road.

Dinner tonight was in a very busy restaurant. We just got back to the hotel and it’s 10:00. I had a good meal, though. Grilled shell fish and a mixed salad.

Friday, May 20, 2011

BAC Florence to Elba – Day 1 Ride – Florence to Volterra

Matt WatheFlorence on Our First Day's Riden and I thought that we would be the only ones riding the long route from the hotel. We managed to corral 7 more riders. The day started out warm and got warmer as we climbed up past Piazza Michael Angelo where we stopped for a photo op. We had a couple other regroups in the first few kilometers especially when we discovered that we missed a turn. Fortunately we had maps with us and could see a good alternative route. It turned out that this new route cut 6 kilometers from our day which was welcomed because of the tough climbs during the last part of our route. After we missed our turn, the tandem couple decided to double back to get on the correct, so that left 7 of us in our group.
We stayed together until we reached the first hard climb of the day. It was getting pretty warm so we welcomed a brief rain shower that cooled us off. It was here where we met the rest of the riders who had taken a train from Florence to another town so that they could shorten the route.
Lunch on Our First Day's Route
At the top of the climb, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. It was after noon and we were getting hungry and tired so we need fuel and a rest. We ate lots of pasta and drank lots of water.
After lunch, our group really split up. We had a long, fast downhill and then a long, slow climb up to Volterra. I reached the hotel around 3:00. The van was not there to greet us with our luggage until 5:00. Tom had some trouble with it and had to go back to Florence for an exchange.
Happy Hour was at 6:00 and dinner was at 7:30. We went out for gelato afterwards.
The day was filled with fun and comradery. It was a difficult ride, though. The scenery while riding on the ridges was beautiful.
Here is a link to the record of our ride.