Populonia
Baratti & Populonia
Our final ride for this tour took us directly south along the coast to Populonia. The weather was a bit cool at the start and I had to circle back to the hotel to pick up and put on my arm warmers. The sun was out, though, and the blue sky sparkled. The first 15 miles were dead flat until we reached the beautiful harbor town of Baratti. Then we climbed a very steep grade up to Populonia which is “noteworthy for its Etruscan remains, including one of the main necropoleis in Italy” according to Wikipedia. The small town was very picturesque and the view from the castle’s tower was fantastic.
After wandering through town, I had my mid-ride cappuccino and banana. I rode back down the hill and did a quick tour of the harbor. Then it was time to return on the flats to our hotel.
I stopped in Donoratico to the train station to print our tickets for tomorrow’s ride to Rome. The ticket machine would not accept my input data. Because I have printouts of our confirmation, I expect no trouble.
Here is a link to today's ride.
Ann and I had a wonderful lunch at a cafe on the beach. After our bruschetta, she had a salad which I can’t describe. I had black tagliatelle pasta with mixed shellfish and a little spice in the sauce. It was delicious.
We saw the bicycle rental crew pulling into tow as we walked back to the hotel. I retrieved my bike and turned it in. My rental bike was a very heavy hybrid with an eleven-speed Shimano internal hub. The gearing saved my legs, knees and back but I was very slow going uphill.
Happy Hour was special with Syd giving out rewards to his staff and to volunteers. After that, we took group photos of the Valley Spokesmen group. Dinner was outside in the patio area. Here is the menu:
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