Ah – they say it always about location, location, location.

Today we have travelled via train to Riomaggorie – one of the small towns of the Cinque Terre, on the west coast of Italy.

We have made our booking on booking.com for an apartment overlooking the ocean.  Booking.com – we have made a mental note to be extra careful when booking something through them. 

Two things that we didn’t like about them – when booking it gave the impression that we were about to pay via credit card. No, it infomed us that it was booked and we need to pay the full balance in CASH when we arrive. Who pays cash. From memory, I think we even had to quote our credit card number when making the reservation – very strange.

Also, you were able to cancel the accomodation 12 hours prior to arriving – also seems very strange.

Also, when B was travelling with us she had a problem with booking.com – got an email saying she had just booked a hotel. Who knows what had been clicked in google maps? All a drama to cancel the booking and get refunded any cancellation fees.

Ok as I said it is all about location.

View from our kitchen below (it is raining – so can’t be out on the balcony)

Size of apartment has been compromised for location.

Kitchen = 2m x 2m (duck your head to access)

Balcony = 1m x 1m (duck your head to access)

Combined lounge – bedroom.

Not 5 stars – but I think it is all about the location.

We left Pisa at 10.00 am – Arrived Riomaggie 1.00 pm.   It is difficult co-ordinating air bnb’s. The air bnb you are leaving wants to kick you out as earlier as possible. The arriving one as late as possible.

It has been predicted today to have 40-80 mm of rain, so we have done our best to limit the time that we could have been waiting to get into our accommodation.

All good, rain was only 5-10 mm and our host is waiting to show us the unit when we arrive, he had also agreed to early access to the property.

We are hear for the next 5 days – so good to take it easy.

Down the coast

Our view

View from our kitchen.

View – advertising Cinque Terre

We have been told Lucca is a nice little town not far from Pisa – so we catch a train trom Pisa – a 30 minute train journey.

We are here on a saturday – so it is very busy – usual cathedrals / bell towers etc  – we decide to by pass them while we explore the rest of the town.

Very nice town – a walled city – well preserved behind a mound of earth / brick wallls ( a bit like a dyke).

After lunch we visit the cathederal, museums and archeological sites.

The most interesting was, Chiesa e Battistero di San Giovanni e Santa Reparata, where they had excavated under a large church – completely removing the floor of the church for an archeological dig (revealing parts mosaic floors, parts of buildings, walls etc)  then re-building a suspended tiled floor (steel beams) so that tourists could go below the church to inspect all the archeological diggings.

Later on in the day we stumbled across a cross bow competition. The competitors were aiming at the centre of a dart board about 50 metres away.  Very powerful and a little bit scarry- the darts moved with lightening speed and arrow needed to be prized out with a hammer. Very dangerous and not too much occupational health and safety.

One of the churches in Lucca

Wedding car at local church

Lucca Cathedral – impressive

Aquaduct

Cross bows

Inside the Chiesa e Battistero di San Giovanni e Santa Reparata church – where they had replaced the floor of the church

Another bell tower with trees growing at the top

Lucca Cathedral San Martino and Bell Tower – well worth a visit

Views over Lucca from the bell tower

Ouside of the church where floor had been replaced 

Today it is a 20 minute bus ride to Poggibonsi, then a 60 minute train ride to Pisa , with a change at Empoli.

All works quite well – we arrive at our air bnb 60 minutes prior to check in. Enough time for a coffee at the local pizza palor. Then a bit of shopping for grocery supplies.

We meet up with our local air bnb host and are shown through a large 2 bedroom house. The “house” was in a 4 storey unit complex with 14 “units”.

The house had been decorated in retro style. We had to review the photos of the alr bnb listing to confirm with what we were seeing. While there had been no deception – we had formed a different perception from the listing. All good, the “house” was really nice and we enjoyed our stay.

Then off to explore Pisa – we have booked a climb up the Leaning Tower of Pisa – but it is not until 6.45 pm – so plenty of time to kill.

We eventually find our way to the Leaning Tower. It is an impressive structure in its own right. Made of marble – it looks fantastic. It is quite amazing that you can get up so close without being blocked by fences  or gates.

Now it is time to do what every other tourist is trying to do – get the funny photo of the leaning tower.- much advice given on how to set the perfect photo….. A couple of our attempts below.

Every one comes to see the leaning tower. But it is not the only impressive structure in the presinct. 

The cathedral & baptistry are also very impressive.

We get our turn to climb the leaning tower. First impression – the perfect marble floor you enter by – it is sloping – it is sloping a lot.

This sets the tone for your climb to the top. A marble staircase circles the tower all the way to the top.

You perhaps complete 5 or 6 rotations as you climb to the top. As you climb you are pushed to the outside wall and then pushed to the inside wall of the tower – depending on where you are in the circular rotation.

It is certainly a weird sensation – a bit unpleasant.  We climb to the top and enjoy the views, ever conscious that we can always see the slope of the building and that gravity is wanting to pull you in one direction.  

The Baptistery and Cathedral at Pisa

L T O P

One attempt

Another attempt

Quite a lean

The Baptistry 

A day to relax in San Gimignano. We have booked a second day here to recover from our bike riding.

Although we still had to pack up our bags and move rooms. We had booked the hotel independantly to our bike ride booking. 

San Gimignano – a town of towers – seems in years gone by the were over 70 towers. Seems it was an ego thing to build the biggest tower. It was a prestige and wealth, the more towers, the more wealth. No tower was to built any higher than the Palzzo Comunale (town hall). To overcome this one family built 2 towers which the combinded height was taller. These twin towers are potentially inspiration for the architect who designed NY twin towers. We actually think the skyline of SG from the distance is not  disimilar to NY. What do you think ?

A postcard view of San Gimignano

Our view of the central square and the gelati line – didn’t get much shorter all day.

Some of the towers of San Gimignano, the two on the left are the twin towers.

Another tower

The towers of San Gimig

The narrow streets and the ever present towers

Cathedral – near the cenral square

A sample of the local white – and the San Gimignano skyline ?

69 kms travelled – Elevation gain 960 metres.

So about 300 kms travelled on the second cycle.

Making a total of of about 650 kms on our two cycle journeys.

We left yesterdays bad experience behind us. Making sure that we always had a full charge on our ebikes.

We stop in a small town – called Castellina in Chianti – small (nice) museum to explore – then assend the obligatory bell tower to get views of the surrounding countryside.

Next stop is  Monteriggioni – a large castle at the top of a hill. The castle has been converted into a shopping precinct – wines, cheeses, leather goods and Gelati all being sold.

We find a nice park for a picnic. We have stopped at many towns along our journey and can’t quite work out when things close for their siesta time. It all seems a bit vague – somewhere between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm – shops will close, some but not all – but I think that is also influenced by the day of the week and the location.

I guess we should have been more attentive today. We finish our picnic lunch – source our daily gelati – then we go to collect our bikes to continue our onward journey. 

But, Houston we have a problem – bikes are still at the bike rack where we left them. However, locked gates now bar our access to our bikes. Place where we left our bikes are now on a siesta.

Fortunately, sign indicates that we have a 30 minute wait. Could have been 2 hours.

We eventually continue our journey to arrive at our final destination – San Gimignano – about 4.30 pm.

We are staying two nights here – so more about S.G tomorrow.

Our room overlooks the central square of S.G. – we watch the line for the world famous Gelato, snake its way across the square.

We have been in constant contact with Michele ( we think he is the owner of the bike tour company) during the day. Where to leave bikes etc and when he will pick them up.

On our return from dinner (up another steep hill) we meet Michele – riding both bikes down the hill. Actually riding one and guiding the other.

We bid him farewell and thank him for the great trip.

We return to the hotel – L leans on a pillow and watching the passing parade in the square – while listening to excellant buskers in the square.

L does this for over an hour.

R tries to continues to catch up on the blog (falls asleep and gives up). Another day gone.

Museum

Castellina in Chianti 

Monteriggioni

Bikes locked inside 

Monteriggioni (walled town with towers)

Something that has come in handy at times is an app called “Google Translate”

Before you go on holidays you download the app – then download the languages your require.

 

You point the app to any sign / menu etc – it will show the translation immediately.

Above is the actual sign on the side of the road.

The same sign in google translate on the iphone (translated immediately – no wi-fi)

50 kms today with 910 metres elevation gain.

Today we travel in the Chianti wine region of Italy, famous for its wines but now also famous for the L’Eroica bike race. 

The L’Eroica bike race – pre 1987 bikes and bike clothing from that period in a non competitive bike ride – around the hills of Tuscany. 

We travel from Siena to Radda in Chianti.

On our journeys today we stop at the Castle of Brolio – we we have a chance to take in the fantastic views and sample the local wines.

But today is marred by two dramas.

Half way into our cycle today – R’s peddle fell off his bike. Ball bearings going everwhere. We could have been miles from anywhere – we are normally way out in the countryside – going through a small town occassionally. However, our accident just so happened in a small town. Quick phone call to our tour company. We send photos of the broken part. 

He advises that there is a bike repair shop in about 200 metres – they will either repair the bike or loan us a new bike. We can’t believe our luck. Repaired in 5 minutes and we are on our way.

Next drama occurs later in the day – there are 5 battery indicators on the ebike – we watch during the day that we still have plenty of battery power.  R has dropped down to 1 indicator light – it is not long before R is getting no assistance from the battery. With about 8 kms still to go, it is going to be a hard slog. Not sure how many ups or downs we have before the hotel. 

That last 8 kms proved to be our undoing. Our bikes at home weigh about 9kgs – these bikes weigh about

22 kgs. These bikes are not geared the same as our bikes – only 9 gears – our bikes 27 gears.

We are travelling on gravel roads – uphill – when we first notice the problem. It gets so bad that R has to get off the bike to push. Eventually gravel turns to paved road and then a good downhill. Nice while it lasts. Cycling in Tuscancy always involves some fantastic down hills and then some hellish uphills. This last 8 kms is proving no different.

We eventually get to Radda in Chianti only to discover our hotel is further out of town – up or down – who knows – R is struggling – after a further 3 hard kilometres we arrive at our hotel…. finally.

A swim and great meal at the hotel and we put the last 10kms into memory, hoping not to repeat the following day.

 

Chianti Wine bottles without the raffia bases

Castle Brolio

Through the olive groves

Ah the serenity – before we ran out of E 

Church in Castle Brolio

Broken peddle

Grape vines for miles

Hay (refer next photo) what a view

Hay – we sheltered in the shade of a hay stack to have some lunch – it was a hot day.

57 kms travelled today – 1070 elevation gain

Todays journey takes us from Buonconvento to Sienna.

Last night we stayed in a fabulous farm stay hotel – about 4 kms out of town – nothing around.

A great evening meal in the resturant.

An early start to see what the day will bring.

This cycling tour is mainly along roads – secondary roads – so are more quite.

Our first stop is Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore (Abbey). Miles from anywhere – perched on the topped of a hill – with beautiful views of the valleys below.  

Abbey – run by the monks – with beautiful church and fresco painted walls. They also had a wine cellar – the cellar master was just opening up – we were invited to look around the cellar while he opened the passage from the Abbey to the Cellar. I am guessing an Abbey short cut.

We stop at Asciano – your typical italian country town – lots of quaint buildings – a cental piazza – a church with a large bell tower – Asciano – bigger than some of the smaller towns.

Our final stop of the day – Siena.

Traffic getting heavier – so we will need to negotiate our way to our hotel. We have to go on a few roads with quite heavy traffic.

Sienna is a really large city – an old city – so cars and trucks are restricted in the cenral 2 to 3 kms of town.

We arrive fairly late in the day – so quickly decide visit the city duomo. 

Insides of Duomos are starting to blurr – but L & R agree that this is the best we have seen – lets see what Rome has to offer.

We visit the central square, with its extremly large town hall tower. 

This square ‘il Campo’ is the site of the famous Siena bare back horse race – held for many centuries – three times 

around large square – 60,000 people in attendance. 

Abbazia di Monte

Frescoes’ inside the abbey

Abbey

cellar

Asciano

Siena Duomo

.

inside the Duomo

Siena Tower of the Town Hall

Another day under the Tuscan sun

Ebikes are fantastic – giving at least a 20% boast when going up hill.

Enjoying the countryside – 64 kms travelled today – 1300m elevation gain. It is supposed to be the toughest riding day, 3 very large hills each with an elevation gain of over 300m. Without e-bikes a big problem. Don’t let us give you the impression that it was going to be easy with our bikes, we still put in a lot of effort but overall we found the day very manageable.

First stop Bagno Vigno, another quaint town, with thermal waters being it’s claim to fame. The central square is a big thermal pool, that was (but not now) used for bathing. 

First hill achieved to arrive at Rocca d’Orcia huge tower looks a bit like “close encounters” mountain, wonderful views from the top. Actually to scenery all around so beautiful, olive groves, vineyards, rolling hills.

Visit then to Abizzia  Saint Antimo (Abbey) a most beautiful romantic church in Tuscany. Great herb garden for herbal remedies (the ever present gift shop is not far away- selling home grown herbal potions and treats).

We climb again to the gorgous town of Montalcino, known for there Brunello cherries. If we had known this we would have gone for the Brunello Cherry gelato. Don’t worry we didn’t miss out on gelato altogether, so all is ok.

Our journey continues back to Buenconvento to our original train starting point for this cycling journey. Our hotel is about 5km out of town, getting there unfortunately a few more hills, lucky lots of battery left so L tries out the Turbo mode, pretty good. 

Our day ends with a lovely swim, and a magnificent well deserved 3 course meal and vino & beer.

Natural water springs 

Close encounters ???  A fort at the top of hill.

Now which way do we go ?

l

You may question why there has been no reference lately to B & W – they left us in Florence on day 17.

Pienza, Montepulciano & Monticchiello, gorgeous Tuscan villages all up high on mountain peaks and ridges. All so rustic looking, most buildings homes and shop fronts have had there rendering removed,  exposing many differing types of stone work and brickwork, giving a very charming and quaint appearance to the villages.

Today was our first day of our second cycling trip. We are cycling around central Italy (Tuscany).

Today is a first for R & L – we will be using ebikes – electronic or battery powered bikes. The bikes are quite heavy compared to our road bikes. They also have super large tyres. L is very worried about how heavy they are, and potenially running out of battery before the day’s end (and how bad it would be if we had big hills to still climb) and needing to push the damn thing up the hill.

Battery must be charged each night otherwise there might be insufficient charge to last the day.

Also we are warned that battery might not last a whole day – so may need to charge at a coffee stop enroute to ensure the battery will last.

The are four speeds on the the ebike.  Eco, Tour, Mtb, Turbo.

Bikes provide additional boost while you are cycling – you can choose when and where to boost power – great for going up hills.

Today we travel 60 kms with a total elevation gain of 910 metres.  Elevation gain =  vertical rise of uphills.

All was good with the batteries, by the end of the day both L & R still had close to 20% charge left. 

The landscapes of the Val d’Orcia region, one of the most beautiful place in Tuscany and UNESCO world heritage site.

We visit Pienza, the “ideal” city of the Renaissance time, also famous for Pecorino cheese.

A quick stop at Montepulciano, with its winding steets and squares.

Monticchiello, a small medieval and charming town.

60 kms travelled today

Town Hall Pienza

View from the tower at Montipulciano

Chiesa in Pienza

examples of the exposed brickwork 

Chiesa (church) di San Biagio (Montepulciano)