Okay, scratch the idea from yesterday to avoid large cities, just avoid biking into them.

Genova is a fabulous city and one of Europe’s largest on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy.  Think we covered most of it today.  We’ll identify a few, but most of what we saw will be covered in the gallery below.

Doge’s Palace

Porta Soprana

Birthplace of Christopher Columbus.

The Palace of St. George

Cattedrale di San Lorenzo/St. Lawrence Cathedral (5th or 5th century)

The Church del Gesù originally built in the 6th century with a most incredible interior including at least two pieces by Peter Paul Rubens.

There were shops for the super high heels the girls wearand beautiful wedding dress shops, especially popular in Spain, just never took a picture and fabulous food everywhere.Still can’t get over what they serve you for an appetizer when you order a drink.Genova/Genoa is an incredible city, easy to see the sights “by foot” as they have direction signs everywhere.  Fun place, incredible food, great place to see.

Duckies enjoyed their rest and were really hesitant to leave this nice hotel, but we had to go.

The problem we see with this new direction, now that we’ve passed the knee of Italy, is that the prevailing summer winds will now be in our face.  Nevertheless, the wind was cool to the close to 80 degree temps we started in this morning along with the rest of the Genova commuters.

Still sights of see on the way out of the city and besides the immediate downhill from the hotel door, the climbing began right awayonly to drop to a boardwalk we enjoyed for a mile or two. Getting out of the city was much easier than getting in, but still as impressive.We climbed the beautiful green hillsand dropped back to the sea only to climband climb and climb then drop again.  We wove our way through small towns and narrow streets.It was in one such town we ran into Giovanni;could have talked for hours, but we were all on riding missions.

Seems odd to be mentioning snow with palm trees around, but guess it happens as we’ve seen this sign nummours times.  The ride today was spectacularly gorgeous,gruelingand ear-popping tough. Five hours out with less than four hours on the bike seat, but only 30 miles accomplished; it was a tough ride, but OH so beautiful.Though we’ll feel it tomorrow, wouldn’t have traded today’s ride.

Found a hotel in a two square block town, perfect after the hustle, bustle and noise of the big city.  A plate of grilled vegetablestwo bowls of pasta, bottle of wine and basket of bread and we were ready to turn in; tomorrow’s ride it supposed to be worse.  But on our short stroll back, the Wine & Jazz Festival (we’d seen posters for) was in full swing.  Of course it’s a small town, so full swing meant one table doing a “sparkling wine” tasting (not allowed to call in Champagne-it’s a French thing), so naturally we tried it.  The sommeliers were a lot of fun (especially enjoyed Maurizia) and the pours (in a very nice wine glass) very generous. Four glasses later, plus a glass of Grappa Millesimata (similar to cognac only made from grape pulp), we stumbled to bed.  The evening was cool, so opened the doors and were serenaded to sleep by the jazz musicians still playing.

A beautiful 75 degree morning with the ocean wind and intermittent clouds continuing to keep it cool.  We loaded our bikes on the flat sidewalk outside the hotel and that was the last flat spot we saw for hours, with the exception of the little side trip we mistakenly took through a nice little beach town. Once on track, the climbing began immediately, but this time it did not stop, no downhills, no coasting, just straight up. Though the clouds continued to offer partial shade and keep the temperatures below 80, we were still soaking wet from the struggle.  Saw very few cars, several bicyclists and even a mountain goat,

the only one feeling ‘right at home’.  It took us nearly three hours to climb the 14 miles to the Passo Bracco summit. The five mile downhill was just long enough to chill us and have our legs turn to jelly before the next climb began.  Luckily, it was up and down for the rest of the ride (never thought up/down would be a good thing).  We stopped for lunch on the side of the road near a small town that had been devastatingly affected by the landslides created by too much rain two or three years ago,

river walls were still being improved and bridges not quite finished.  As we were started to head out again, Matt from Australia, came speeding by to a quick stop.  He’d started a month ago in England and was biking Europe for the summer before heading back to his homeland.  He joined us for our remaining two hour ride into town as we traded stories. We continued to see washed out areas along the way and had a mile and a half sprint through a tunnel.   We couldn’t just part without having a beer or two, so we spent the next hour at a sidewalk cafe enjoying not sitting on a bike.

Matt was heading further south, we were heading to our hotel.  No touring of the town tonight, just too tired.  BUT, we were fortunate to find the most incredible local restaurant for dinner.  Caprese salad,Ravioli and a mixed grilled meat platter, which we devoured before we remembered to take a picture.  Hydrated with a carafe of wine.  Perfect ending to a wonderfully grueling day.

The threat of rain this morning, made the 72 degrees seem much warmer as the air was thick with humidity.

Thankfully, the clouds kept the temperatures below 80 for several hours which did not keep us from being soaking wet at every climb, but it helped.  As soon as we were out of town, we paralleled a most captivating yet intimidating Apennine mountain range. We knew at some point today we would have to turn towards it to get to our final destination and it did not seem to be going down in height.  In the meantime, we climbed rolling hills and enjoyed the picturesque roads.Today’s ride offered a choice in direction, so we headed towards the beach in hopes to have flatter ground to ride.  This is an incredibly popular bike route; never have we seen so many bikers (and it wasn’t even a Sunday).Hundreds of bikers, all offering encouraging waves and shouts.  We probably took as many pictures of them as we did of this mountain.In between the incredible looming mountain and farm fields we passed through an occasional small village

and one pretty harbor.Finally reached the beach road; even in the overcast skies people were heading to the beach at ten in the morning.The seaside towns all ran together, with the exception of an occasional bridge, it was hard to determine when one town began or ended.  The difference though, was there were no high-rise condos, apartments or hotels on the beach side, in fact, no building was more than two stories. Bicyclists of all kinds were riding the roads, so we fit right in (except for the large bags, of course).  But our nice flat road ended when we turned towards the hills about noon.The climb started slowly, then abruptly went to hairpin turnsand very slow climbing in hot sun.The ride down was beautiful (naturally) as the sun started to part the clouds.We came to a crossroads with conflicting signs, but were quickly rescued by Roberto.A half hour later we left the countryside and managed our way into Lucca.The old city is surrounded by a most impressive wall, which gives you a true feeling of stepping back in time as you walk through the gates and into the narrow streetsand small squares.The Duomo di Lucca (Cathedral St Martin) began in 1063, has a facade unlke any other we’ve seen,incredible detail.Next we found the Piazza Anfiteatroand enjoyed an afternoon salad as we watched the world go round, Italian style.  And since it was Saturday afternoon, there had to be a bride around somewherestrolled right by our table.  Wound our way back through the crowds to rest until for our next feeding.

Found a interesting local Tuscan restaurant where we enjoyed a most incredible bottle of Toscana wine, Saltimbocca and a pasta trilogy, finished with chilled Limoncello, a most delicious dinner.

Nice, France to Lucca, Italy

249 miles

We awoke to a spectacular morning, though only a degree lower on the thermometer from yesterday, the 71 degrees was refreshingly crisp and the sun served only to accentuate the billowing white clouds.

We rolled up and down the hillsides filled with grapevines and Christmas treeswith more riders on the roads and mountains in the distance.It is tough to describe in words or pictures, but there was a fabulous sense of romance and renaissance in the villages and countryside we rode, as if we’d gone back in time.

At 9:00, someone flipped the wind on full blast in our face. Several times we almost came to a stand still and struggled to move forward in the force of the wind.  The scenery was still spectacular, just a little tougher to enjoy or take pictures without stopping.  And of course, there was a grueling climb or twoto keep us grounded,

but the scenery won.Not sure if the wind caused the incredible sky, or the clouds the wind, either way it was mesmerizing. We kept waiting for either the wind or us to change directions.  With a little direction help for some cyclists, a long two and a half hours later a bend in the road provided us just enough change to almost to enjoy a push.  As a sidenote, these cyclist offered to lead us to the correct road, which we declined.

Today offered us some of the most awesome 50 miles of countryside we have seeneven the ditches had a certain appeal., And then we came to the river that borders the city of Firenze/Florence, Amazing!We were a bit tired to tour after our ride, but knew we would make up for it on our day off tomorrow.  We watched the mobs of people from our windowbefore we headed out for dinner.

Maurizia from Lavagna had told us Tuscany was know for it’s fish and beef (and wine, of course); so we set out to find the perfect steak.  Our hotel recommended a place around the corner (from experience, not a good idea) where we enjoyed one of the best if not the best steak we’ve ever had.  Our stroll back from dinner included beautiful music and carousels,

Truly Magical!

It was cold, overcast and windy, a perfect day to ride, but we were eager to see the city.  Firenze (Florence in English) is capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and is Amazing!We understand why ten million people a year would want to visit this city, we just didn’t expect them to all be here on the same day.This is the birthplace of the Renaissance and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages; incredible history everywhere, we just seem to focus mostly on Santa Marie del Fiore

look at this door(and this is a door to an out building).The Florence Cathedral is one of the most incredible we have ever seen.  Covered in marbles and immense; it is the fourth largest church in Europe, 502 feet long and 381 feet high.  The city has statues everywhere, on buildings, in squares and some covered in gold.

There is also the Palazzo della Signoria, better known as the Palazzo Vecchio (English: The Old Palace) and a store filled with everything Pinocchio.Not sure who other than Pinocchio could fit in this car.

Besides all the history, this town is a mecca for sightseeing, all kinds of shopping, especially known for their leather goods, fashion (Gucci is from here) and eating, we cannot begin to describe it!  But would recommend coming here while still gainfully employed and not retired; just so many things to buy!!! We’d also recommend staying at least a week; we barely scratched the surface of this city and never made it to the other side of the river, which also looks interesting.  SO glad we decided on this side trip, well worth it!

All this walking creates quite the appetite.Not loosing weight this trip with all this pasta, but we are SO enjoying it.