Italy 2017 Part II

After our Tuscan bike trip, we caught a train from Livorno and stayed three nights in Lucca and its well preserved walls that encircle the historic city. We stayed in the centre and wandered around, taking in the atmosphere. It is a beautiful city.

We took the train from Lucca onto Riomaggiore and stayed in a slightly over-priced hotel on the main street. We used Riomaggiore as a base to walk the Cinque Terre coast.

On our first afternoon, we walked from Riomaggiore to Manarola and caught the train back to our base.

We took an early train from Riomaggiore to Monterossa and then walked south along the coastal path, to Manarola via Vernazza and Corniglia.

Once again, we took the train from Manarola to Romaggiore, our home base.

We booked three nights in Florence at comfortable, fairly large VRBO apartment near Ponte Vecchio. It was walking distance to the central attractions and local food shops.

After we had moved into our apartment, we walked over to Pitti Palace. Despite its impressive collection, it was not very busy.

We self-catered dinners and wandered around the bridges and central duomo areas in the evenings.

The Uffizi Gallery has one of the most amazing art collections in the world. We had booked opening-time tickets far ahead of time.

We had booked a week at Dory Hotel, Riccione. The first day was an arrival day and we sorted out the rental bikes for the week. In all, there was four riding days as Wednesday was a rest-day and the last day was a departure day.

The primary language was English. Many of the guests were from Canada, USA and Britain. The balance were Germans and French with smattering from elsewhere. The package included all delicious meals and guided rides. The owner and guides were all enthusiastic. Guests signed up for groups the day before and could choose from 5 different levels with distance/average speed/total elevation changing with each level. They categories were Bikeness (non-riders, e-bikes), Cappuccino light, Cappuccino, Cappuccino super and Limoncello.

On Day 1, the intermediate group (cappuccino) rode 98km while the relaxed group (cappuccino light) rode 76km.

On Day 2, the intermediate group rode 82km while the relaxed group rode 67km. We all met at the owners home for a pig roast at lunch.

Day 3 was a longer day. The intermediate group rode 115km, while the relaxed group rode 103km, with 1700m of elevation gain.

Day 4 was a scheduled rest day. However, the Giro d'Italia was passing relatively nearby, so the hotel booked coaches to bring the guests to see it. However, we have seen other European road races and opted to visit nearby San Marino by local bus.

We got back to the hotel in time for the "simple" lunch buffet and went for a ride around Riccione.

On Day 5, the relaxed group were treated to a olive oil tasting stop which turned out to be more of a wine tasting stop. Even so, they rode 72km and missed the hotel lunch. Meanwhile the intermediate group put in 82km and had their lunch at the hotel. The Cappuccino light group had a better day than the Cappuccino group.

Day 6 had the intermediate group riding 83km, southward and back along the coast while the relaxed group rode 73km.

On Day 7, we borrowed cruiser bikes for another town ride, then caught a shuttle van to Bologna airport. From there, we caught a local bus into the city.

We had a good part of Saturday to wander around the central area of Bologna. It doesn't feel touristic and we got the impression that most of people were Bolognese.

We caught a flight to Frankfurt and connected with a flight to Vancouver the following day.