Monday 10/10/16: Florence Pre-Tour, Day 1
An uneventful overnight flight to Heathrow connected with a short flight to Pisa from where we were bused straight to Florence. Our hotel was a block from the Arno, a couple of miles from the city center. The weather was not good, so we rested in the hotel, being sure not to sleep (!), and went to the first event of the trip, a rooftop reception with a wonderful view of the city and the lighted dome of the Duomo. The finger food was good. The McCreadys, our fearless leaders, always do a fabulous job of picking the perfect spot for receptions, lunches and do an excellent job of balancing cost, location and quality of the pre- and post-tour hotel accomodations.
Up-and-at-‘em on the first of many mornings of up-and-at-‘ems. Our official guided tour started after lunch, so we walked ourselves to the Basilica di Santa Novella, a lovely church started in 1279 and consecrated in 1420. It’s a Dominican church and made us think of our lovely Dominican priests who celebrate with us sometimes at NOVA. Lots of frescos, stained glass and chapels (as usual). From there we were hoping to go to the Bascilica de San Lorenzo, burial site of the principal members of the Medici family and REALLY old: consecrated in 393. Unfortunately the church itself was closed, but the reliquary museum was open, so for 5 Euro each, in we went. Even after first being exposed to what a reliquary even IS on our first trip to Italy, it’s a weird concept and still kind of macabre to me. Real, human bones encased in what look like to me elaborate gold and silver trophy-like objects. And this place was crammed with them; many very special keepsakes of high ranking members of the Medici family. Crazy.
We grabbed some pasta at an osteria not far from the plaza of San Lorenzo; our first of the trip. House wine and Bolognese for me; penne with mushrooms for Joe. Fortification for the near 4-hour afternoon trek that awaited us with the top-notch tour guide (another signature move by the McCreadys—get the very best tour guides available). So after sticking a single blue bud in our ear and tuning the device on the lanyard, off we went, sometimes struggling to hear our excellent guide. This was all the highlights of Florence, even if it kills us. We zoomed through the baptistery (where Dante, among others) were baptized, with its famous bronze doors depicting all kinds of stuff in graphic fashion. We zoomed through the Duomo itself, another small church that shall remain unnamed, the Uffizi courtyard, across the Ponte Vecchio, over to the Pitti Palace to look at the outside, back across the river on a different bridge with terrific views of the Ponte Vecchio, down the fancy shopping street, ending, exhausted and near dark at the Piazza del Republica to find our way back to the hotel and a nice “welcome dinner” there. It was nice to greet some folks we had been with on one or both of our two previous October trips with Santana. We fell in bed sore and tired!
Tuesday 10/11/16: Florence Pre-tour, Day 2
Up-and-at-‘em, baby! Meet the tour guide at 8:30 AM in front of the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see our beloved David. After some chaotic organizing of groups and guides, we walked right in with our Firenzi Pass and into the sacred hall of art. The statue is still indescribably magnificent and miraculous, emerging as he did out of the marble as Michaelangelo chipped it away. Something new I learned is that this pose is him sizing up his Goliath target, with the rock in his hand, the slingshot over his shoulder and (this was the revelation) the absolute focus in his eyes. Wow. New to me; missed it last time. Maybe it was his huge hands that distracted me.
Never enough time to gaze at the David, and this was no exception. We were soon hustled out and put on a forced double-time march to the Uffizi Gallery. Once again, easy entry with passes and tour guide. We ZOOMED through, pausing at a few famous paintings by Michaelangelo and Da Vinci including “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring.” It really feels like we weren’t even there.
Lunch was at the cavernous Pizzaria Funiculi, with three long, long tables for us. We were served beer as fast as the wait staff could balance the tall glasses on their trays; the arrival of the pizza was a different story. It’s not easy to feed almost 200 people at the same time with one wood-fired oven. When it came to our section, it was delicious.
After a much needed rest in the afternoon back at the hotel, we walked back toward the city center for a fabulous, fabulous meal at Bistecca Toscanna. The McCreadys weren’t going to feed us two meals that day, but somehow Robert Bauer (the hotelier that is on the Santana staff for these trips) heard of this place just opening up (the second location in Italy) and they were eager for business on a day they would normally have been closed. We had wonderful appetizers and loads of bread and wine followed by HUGE T-bone steaks (maybe 5 inches thick) cooked over an open flame in the traditional Florentine manner; don’t you DARE ask for medium or well done!! Then it was sliced and served at each of our tables. Oh my goodness, I have never had such delicious steak in my life. Thoughts of becoming a vegetarian simply cannot stand up to that kind of sensory assault. Soooo much better than I expected (we had “Florentine Steak” the last time we were in Florence and it was a completely different experience). What a way to end our days in Florence.
Wednesday, October 12: Pisa
The day began early as usual with a crazier than usual scrum to get ourselves, and our luggage, onto a tour bus. Imagine a small hotel lobby and a narrow sidewalk out front with 200 people and their luggage trying to get onto the three correct buses, when there were 5 buses out front with other (normal) people also trying to find theirs, too. Thanks to Joe’s superiorly assertive travel and baggage handling skills, we found ourselves on the first bus on the road from Florence to Pisa.
During the hour’s ride, we stopped in a small town for a quick-fast latte, croissant, and bathroom break, then back on the bus to meet our next excellent professional and native Pisan guide. Pisa was so much more beautiful than I expected. The entire compound including the tower was sparkling in the sunlight. We took another short break for coffee (gelato in my case), then the march back to the bus and in another 40 minutes we were at the port at Livorno. There security made us all get off the bus, along with all of the luggage, put them through a scanner and then back on the bus to the ship. Good thing there was a restroom in the terminal security building; it had been a long ride and a long wait! With an easy embarkation, we were onto the ship where we enthusiastically greeted some familiar faces among the crew from our two previous trips on La Belle de L’Adriatique. After settling in to our stateroom, we sat down to the first of many three-hour shipboard dinners with four of our fellow passengers at our table.
Thursday, October 13: On La Belle
Our original route had us cycling at a couple of locations up the coast toward France, and later a day at Cinque Terra. However, the weather was not cooperating and the ship’s captain and Bill decided to make a dash for safe harbor in Nice overnight and anchor there for two nights. On this day, there was an opportunity to take a bus to Monaco, but we decided that we would take it easy on the ship. That became partly true and partly not true. On this day, we became voluntarily entangled in what, for the rest of the narrative, I will call The Great Garmin Gambit, or GGG for short. It all started as we were sitting in the lounge trying unsuccessfully to get some internet to work on the blog, email, etc. A couple of people started talking to us and asking questions about the routes we would eventually load onto our Garmin bike navigation devices. I think we helped them some. Exhausted (as usual), we went to our room for a morning nap. Upon returning to the lounge after lunch, we met with the lovely Linda Black (wife of our friend Larry, the principal mechanic on this trip), who was hired on as the “Garmin person” for these two cruises. Her responsibility was to load electronic routes onto chips, and then distribute them to people who had pre-ordered said chips, as well as help people who did not order chips get their routes on their devices. It looked to us like a pretty big job for one person, but doable with a little help, and since we love Lovely Linda, we offered to help. Little did we know what we (especially Joe) were getting into for the rest of the next two and a half weeks. It turns out that Bill, probably in his efforts to stay flexible and skirt around weather as well as this being the first time for these trips, did not have all of the routes ready to load onto chips at the beginning. In fact, as it turned out, routes would only be transferred from Bill to Linda on a day-by-day basis. She would sometimes get them at 10 PM, with ride-ready chips promised to the eager beaver riders at breakfast on the morning of the ride. There were actually several days when Bill did not get the route to Linda UNTIL breakfast the “day of.” But more on that madness later.
On this day, we worked with Linda in the afternoon to make sure we all knew how to load the routes properly. This process involves handling teeny tiny barely graspable little computer chips, putting them correctly into a chip reader, making sure that the chip has the correct map loaded, then the correct route. This proved to be trickier than anticipated as when some chips were loaded and eventually handed out, they were missing routes and/or maps. This makes people about to embark on a ride in unfamiliar territory in a foreign country understandably anxious. In any case, we stayed up with Linda and Vicki, the wife of another mechanic/van driver, until 11 loading the sketchy chips (we would not find out how many were truly sketchy until the next morning).
Friday, October 14: Cannes and St. Paul De Vence, France
Which was very rainy. After loading the chips for the crazy people who decided to ride in the rain, we boarded a bus (hereafter known as “Sergio’s Coach” the Santana name for any tour bus that carries non-riders to sights; I think because a long time ago they had a driver they really liked named Sergio. Not sure, but it’s now part of the Santana Adventures inside- culture lingo.)
The bus took us first to a wonderful tiny walled city, St. Paul, were we walked on beautiful cobblestone streets in the POURING rain. We took temporary refuge in a bar for a cup of coffee and a French ham and cheese sandwich, which of course you know consists of warm brie and thinly sliced ham on a baguette. No frills. We returned to the bus completely soaked through, in the legs at least, for a long bus ride back into Cannes where the rain of the morning (pic taken from the bus) had calmed down. We lunched in our soaked pants in a pretty brasserie called “Gaston Gastounette” on Quai St. Pierre in Cannes, with a view of the harbor. Never really imagined being in Cannes, but there we were and I didn’t see any movie stars at all. Humph.
Back on the ship, we rested, had dinner and then sat with Linda and Vicki at one table in the forward lounge while we all breathlessly (literally because Bill needed to focus) waited while Bill finished the next day’s routes. So Bill then turned his computer over to me, Vicki and Linda each had hers, Joe had his and we worked until 11:45 or so cranking out 150 chips. Day (night) 2 of the GGG.
Saturday, October 15: First Ride – Monaco, French and Italian Riveria and the …. Tunnel of Doom!
This was our first day of sun since boarding the ship and we were ready to ride! Bill had arranged for the ship to move to Monaco for just enough time to get us off the ship to start our ride. Consequently as Joe was desperately helping Linda load routes onto GPS devices for an uber-anxious line of bikers who had been itching to ride for the last two days, Bill is on the loudspeaker at 8:30 yelling, “OFF THE BOAT!!! OFF THE BOAT NOW!!! So I ran and dumped our gear on the dock and then went back up and got our bike off the deck and down the spiral staircase, of course with the ever-present help of the wonderful Pilipino crew. This is always the job of the tandem captain, but these were special circumstances. Joe and Linda and Vicki got off the boat and it immediately pulled away, headed for our pick-up spot in Imperia, Italy.
We had quite a day of cycling adventures! We took off into Monaco and immediately got the “off course” message on our bike computers. I felt pretty certain that we were going parallel to the prescribed route and that they would merge before leaving Monte Carlo. Which was true, but I think we climbed a few unnecessary hills on the way. Also, a trusting newbie couple was riding with us…oops. They were fine. We passed, as you would expect in Monte Carlo, some magnificent villas and gardens. Once back on track, we found ourselves on a wonderful rail trail that would take us all the way into Italy through the French Riveria.
We went through several short tunnels on the route, and then shortly after crossing the border into Italy we entered a tunnel we assumed would be like the others. NOT! There were overhead lights for the first two-thirds of the tunnel and then there weren’t. As we rode, it got darker and darker until it was absolutely pitch, can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face black. For some unknown reason, we kept on riding as we were, with only a red back light. While Joe assumed that the light at the end of the tunnel would be just ahead, I was beginning to imagine that we were going to crash head-on into a literal brick wall in front of us. Just then, we went over into the gutter, crashed into the sidewall and went down. Joe was lying there laughing while, “get the bike off of me!” A lovely German couple (we could tell by their accents) stopped and shined their smartphone light on us (what an concept!), helped us up and walked with us for the rest of the way. We finally did see the light at the end of that tunnel, but what an experience. It turned out that Joe had badly scraped his right forearm and elbow and was bleeding. We wiped it off and saw that it wouldn’t continue to bleed, badly anyway. We re-positioned Joe’s off center handlebars and made whatever other adjustments we could see were needed. Back on the bike in the lovely Italian sunshine and in view of the beautiful Mediterranean, we started to hear a slight thudding as the front wheel turned. Joe adjusted the brake but shortly after the thudding came back. Ride on! While headed up a hill, now on a two-lane highway, BANG! I had never experienced a blown tire while riding before, and it was loud. We were able to stop safely, find a spot to pull off the road and begin the process of changing the tube and tire (which we had been carrying in our bag for years, never thinking we would need it). Very fortunately, our friends Larry (the mechanic) and Linda Black soon came upon us. A sight for sore eyes. Larry jumped off their bike, grabbed the wheel and said, “This is my job.” Of course he can change a tube and tire in a fraction of the time we could, and Linda is an awesomely comforting presence.
We took off and rode through a couple more adorable seaside towns and rolled up to the ship in Imperia at about 2:15. Lunch and rest. Another looong dinner that was rewarded with a wonderful view of the huge Harvest Moon over the water.
Sunday, October 16: “Our Super Tuscan Day”
Early start as usual from the Port of Piombino, south of Pisa and the port of Livorno, from which we started several rainy days earlier. After the usual GGG madness with Joe helping to load rides onto everyone’s devices, we started out with our friend Steve on his single. Here is a picture of the hand-drawn map that Bill has been doing for the last couple of trips, showing the options, mileage of each, elevation and landmarks. It looks like a mess, but it has become essential in giving us the big picture that you just can’t get on the Garmin map. The first part of the ride was about 17 miles through some flat farmland. Then some long, steep hills toward the village of Suvereto, where we met other riders and those on Sergio’s coach. After a quick, quick, stop, we loaded onto the bus and truck for a ride (to avoid a horrible set of switchbacks and much climbing) to the village of Castagneto Carducci. We took a nice walk through the hilly town and then a short bus hop to our pre-arranged lunch at the Chiappini winery in Bolgheri. We had a fabulous lunch of anti-pasti, ravioli Bolognese and papardelli with rabbit sauce, all accompanied by tastings of the winery’s super-Tuscan variety of wines. As soon as we could move (and were encouraged to so that the second seating of hungry tandemists could eat), we trundled back onto our bike and rode a pleasant 20 miles through San Vincenzo, along the coast and back trough the Tuscan countryside to the ship.
After dinner, the lovely crew presented us with their fun talent show, complete with a Ju-Jitsu demo, Pilipino folk dance, a “boy band,” a Bollywood number and an awesome tumbling routine with a human bicycle depicting Larry and Linda on their unique tandem. The Big Finish was a crowd dance with a little twerking by our most effervescent fellow traveler (thanks, Julie), a line dance and ending with a sweaty raucous rendition of “YMCA.” What a great crew who obviously find ways to enliven their sometimes 8-month stints on the ship, far away from home and families. By the end of that evening, passengers and crew alike felt like one big party of friends.
Monday, October 17: The Agony and the Ecstasy - Gaeta
Today we had a rare “late” start, as we had to travel from the north, near Pisa, down to Gaeta, a port city between Rome and Naples. The ship wasn’t due to arrive in Gaeta until 11:AM. Joe and Linda had to wait for Bill to finish the routes, and then endure the usual GGG scramble to get them loaded so people could get off the ship at the appointed time. We decided to avoid what seemed to us to be ridiculous climbs and took the bus to the featured stop of the day, the Caves of Pastena. The bus ride was 2 hours long. UGH. We had an opportunity to ride 15 miles from Point A to Point B (the caves) but were again scared off by the map and indications of “steep!” climbs. So we got to the caves, decided we didn’t want to go in, which turned out to be a longer wait than we expected for the bus or van to the “lunch” spot. Another strategic error. It would have been better to get the heck on the bike and take our chances with the climbs. As we waited, I looked at the scenery and snoozed on the blankets in the back of the truck while Joe talked bikes with the mechanics. All that was the “agony” part of the day.
In any case, we got to lunch around 4:PM at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Come to find out, gas stations in Italy serve outstanding pre-arranged lunches!
OK. 4:45 PM. Time to ride!!!! We set off, again with Larry and Linda Black. Up we went, 770 ft. in four miles (a LOT of elevation for us). The bus passed us and we heard later that Bill was concerned about folks getting back to the ship, but said as they passed us, “Oh, that’s Joe and Barb; I’m not worried about them.” Felt good later to hear that. Then from the summit at 2,200 feet, we wheeled down to sea level in 10 miles. It was a challenge for Joe, as always, when we descend at that rate (20-35 mph in this case in twilight), but for me, it was just a beautiful ride through the hills as sunset approached. Right around sunset itself, we rode through the busy town of Itri, and Joe had to be on his toes even more as we rode through traffic, following the GPS for sudden and sharp turns. As my computer screen turned from day to night mode (never happened before) we rode 3.5 more miles into the port city of Gaeta and along the water. As we headed down a short industrial road, our new young acquaintances Julie (the twerker) George came up behind us, calling out how happy they were to see us. As we rode into Gaeta together, it was some kind of happy hour busy time there with two lanes of traffic passing rows of front-in parking, and folks trying to find a space, pulling in, pulling out. And we’re riding by the lights of the restaurants and shops and cars. In earlier times, I would have been hysterical, but I have become magically relaxed on the back of that bike in whatever circumstances. Joe is doing the hard work of navigating through whatever mess, keeping us safe, and he does a super job at that. I was so elated at the lovely down hill we had experienced, and somehow also elated that we, as a team, had the capability to ride through that crazy foreign city traffic successfully, I was able to actually enjoy riding after dark in a city environment. We reached what we thought was the gate to our dock and were met with 3 guys with whom we tried to communicate for five minutes in Italian/English, until one guy finally said in unaccented American English, “I’m from Tennessee” (or wherever). So further down the street we rode and wheeled up to the ship.
Tuesday, October 18: The Amalfi Coast Road
On this day, the ship docked at Castelmarre, south of Pompeii. Up at 6:AM, breakfast then more GGG madness with loading the routes. There was a rush to get off the ship at 8:30, as it was leaving then to meet us at the other end of the Amalfi Coast in Salerno. I got the stuff on the dock, and Joe brought the bike down—the very last off the ship. Very anxiety producing. We took the bus and truck to mile 14, at a busy intersection in a village whose name I don’t think we ever knew. The day was gray and spitting a little rain. We climbed a couple of “painful hills” to the famous tourist town of Positano. So congested on the arrow single lane street, cars, motor scooters and so many tour busses! My anxiety was definitely up as we negotiated all that on the wet brick street. I asked Joe to please stop, so we got off and went into a café for a lovely cup of coffee and a pastry with Larry and Linda. After I felt better, we headed back out and the rest of the ride was great. Oh, except for that time when we met the front end of a huge red tour bus looming above us taking up the entire road on a sharp turn. We quickly grabbed the wall as the bus made the turn literally inches away from our limbs. I have to say, however, that riding in traffic is very different over there. As we were told by our experienced leaders, almost all the drivers there are also bikers, have smaller cars and narrower roads and absolutely know where their bumpers are. They will come close, but almost never hit a cyclist.
More hard hills and curves into the town of Amalfi and VERY hard hills after the town. We had to take a couple of momentary rest breaks after a couple of them. After a bathroom stop in a restaurant in a little town, we rode our final descent into Salerno and an ugly approach to the ship. We were sore and tired. That was a good day’s ride for us: 31 miles, 2,000 ft of climbing, 3,000 ft of descending. And it must be said, the scenery was magnificent, even on a cloudy day.
Wednesday, October 19: Sorrento and Herculaneum
The ship sailed overnight back around the peninsula to Castellamare, where we began our ride on the day before. We had decided to take a day off from riding, and so took a long bus ride up to Sorrento. Crazy traffic in the city center! There was confusion about where the bikes would be parked for those who had ridden the punishing ride up to the town. I was feeling overwhelmed again, and in that state, there’s only one thing to do: cappuccino and pastry! We sat in the middle of the crazy square with cars and motorcycles zooming all around us peacefully sipping and eating. The Blacks were in charge of guarding the bikes while the riders toured the city. I walked with Linda to where we thought bikes we being parked, but there were only 3 bikes there. Joe was in the process of helping Larry move all the bikes to the correct location in front of the Cathedral, NOT in front of the first large yellow church we came to. That straightened out, Joe and I walked into the old city with nice pedestrian streets and loads of touristy shops. We walked down to the water wall past the church of St. Frances with a pretty square and a beautiful view of the water below.
Back on the bus for a lunch, quick rest at the ship and then back on the bus for a tour of Herculaneum, the “other” ruins from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. We had excellent guides as usual. It was a warm day and the advantage of going to Herculaneum rather than Pompeii is that the size is much more manageable and there are no crowds. It was a fascinating tour through the amazingly well preserved ruins.
We had a magnificent view of Mt. Vesuvius as we rode back to the ship on the bus. As we approached the Belle, we were told that the yacht parked next to us was the 28th largest in the world, owned by an Indian magnate of some sort. It was called “Sunrays” from Georgetown.
Thursday, October 20: Pit Stop in Rome
Left the ship with a small overnight bag for basically a rest stop in Rome between the two different Santana tours. We said goodbye to some of our traveling companions and, at a dinner in the hotel, hello to our new friends. Previously had a nice lunch on the same street as the hotel, then rested and caught up on Internet activities.
Friday, October 21: Embark Day for the Corsica Leg
Got up in the hotel, packed up, left the bags in the lobby and visited the Basillica S. Maria de Vittorio, a super ornate church, to see an “Ecstasy of St. Theresa,” this one with an angel and a sword. We walked back in time to wait in the lobby with others for the bus. There were words with the bus driver who was refusing to allow people to take carry on bags into the bus. Strange, but this is Italy.
After checking back into the lovely Belle, went up top to see the bike-building process of the new arrivals, glad we didn’t have to do that. Then a rest before the 6:30 safety drill and dinner.
Saturday, October 22: The Italian Island of Elba – My Favorite Day of the Trip
The ship docked at Portoferraio, the largest city on Elba. Joe as usual was loading routes onto computers with Linda, so I get the bike and head to the dock. The bike gets loaded onto the truck, I go to the bus, put my stuff in a seat and the bus starts to leave. I yell, “No!” The bus driver said “Si!” Bill came on board and I told him we needed to wait for Joe and Linda. Bill said, “No, they can take a cab to the starting spot” (on the side of some road). I was definitely not going to leave them not knowing where I was with our stuff and the bike, so I huffily grabbed our gear and stormed off the bus. Back on the dock, I see Jan and fuss at her. Ever calm, she settles me down and gives us 25 euro for a cab.
Sure enough, we meet our bike on the side of the road being guarded by our loyal Dan and Vicki. We get on it. We ride. The best ride of the trip, in my opinion. With the McCreadys, you just have to go with the flow and trust. The roads are always flat (on average) and the weather is always almost perfect.
The scenery was beautiful. We stopped for coffee with the couple that is organizing the Northwest Tandem Rally next summer. Big job. We rode on to lunch for a total of 24 miles and 2300 ft. of climbing.
After another meal of yummy pasta and a glass of wine, I leaned on Joe, who understandably was ready to get back on the bus, (as we had already ridden two and a half hours and all that elevation), to do the ride through countryside back down to the ship. I don’t know what they call that, but it amounts to irresistible stoker pressure. It’s common wisdom that a happy stoker means a happy life for everyone. Not sure why that would be true, but there you go. The ride was very technical for Joe with lots of very tight switchbacks and a couple of hard hills (700 ft gain and 1600 ft descent in 13.5 miles) to boot. I LOVED it. Thank you, Joe, for four hours of beautiful riding on almost flat roads in almost perfect weather!
Sunday, October 23: Calvi, French Island of Corsica
After the long ride of the day before, we were tired but wanted to see Corsica. 6:30 breakfast as usual. The GGG was calming down, as Bill was starting to get the routes to Linda earlier, so she could pretty much handle the exchange of chips. We decided to go on the 27-mile option. Getting out of the port right off the bat was a ridiculously steep, but short climb. We could tell right away that it was going to be long and hard by how we felt, and by looking at the elevation page on the Garmin. As we struggled up the first 5% grade, about 3 miles from the ship, Joe said he was done and I was fine with that. As usual, Larry and Linda were just coming up behind us and Joe said, “It’s just not our day,” as we turned around. We had a nice mini-adventure of a ride through a sweet park with a light rail station and stopped on the coastal road in town for a deeee-licious quiche (tarte de jour). We were back in France!!!! After a couple of “graci”s, I eventually remembered to say “merci” again.
Back at the ship, Joe decided to take a morning nap before lunch and I headed out on foot to explore the fort. It was a beautiful walk in the old city, which claims to be the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, because at the time Corsica was part of the Genovese state, so it could still be said that he was born in Genoa. Nobody knows for sure, but the locals are sticking to their story. The views around the perimeter of the fort were fabulous. I wandered through narrow streets over ancient cobblestones, stopped into a working church with candles aglow, passed a couple of chic looking restaurants and gazed down upon the town, our lovely ship in port, and the ever-sparkling Mediterranean.
The rest of that day was spent eating (lunch and dinner) and resting, so we could ride again another day.
Monday, October 24: Calvi to Porto
Cray-cray morning! Bikes had to be off the ship by 6:AM to get on the trucks so Joe got up at 5:50 and took care of that. The plan was that the ship had to pull away from the dock at 6 so that another ship could dock, then riders would be carried back to shore aboard tenders (those orange closed capsule-looking vessels). So at our 6:15 breakfast, the ship was pulling out of the port with the bikes safely on the dock. Suddenly the dining room began to pitch sharply. Dishes fell and broke while the crew scrambled to lock and hold cabinet doors. People got scared. We never really knew what that swell was all about. Bill then announced that tenders could not be used to get riders off the ship as planned, so the ship that was supposed to take our place at the dock kindly waited while we re-docked and all grabbed our stuff and got off the ship lickety split. In the semi-dark dawn, the long riders took off up the same steep pitch that we had climbed less than 24 hours earlier. We short riders (only 20 miles today as opposed to their 50 or 44) waited for the buses in the light of the Corsican sunrise and watched the Belle move out and the polite other ship move back in. After much discussion between Pierre (our Italian/French staff member) and the bus drivers, we boarded and rode for an hour to an overlook called “Col de Palmarella.” Before sifting through the bikes, everyone needed to pee, so one by one the women picked our way behind some rocks to an expanse of ground littered with tissue and other unmentionable substances. Obviously a popular place for a pit stop.
On the first leg of this ride, the scenery was gorgeous and the terrain no too challenging. We stopped at a café as usual, and then zoomed down some switchbacks, climbed almost 500 ft in 2 miles (a challenge for us) then zoomed down to sea level in the next two miles. A fun, fun ride. In the lovely seaside town of Porto, we turned in our bike to be babysat overnight in town, stopped in a crowded restaurant for a beer, then wandered the streets. Running into Jan, Vicki, Libby (who had broken her hip on the first trip but didn’t know it until they got home two weeks later), Matt (Libby’s husband who also suffered injuries from their previous run-in with a truck), Mary Tedd and her husband along with Robert Bauer (our German hotelier, responsible for all our on shore accommodations) who talked a restaurant into staying open just for us. We had a great schmoozy, raucous lunch with plenty of wine while we waited for the tenders to ferry us to our ship, anchored ten minutes out in the Golfe de Porto.
Tuesday, October 25: Porto to Piana to Cargese to Sagone
Today Bill promised us the most beautiful two miles of our lives. He was not far from wrong. This was a relatively leisurely morning as we didn’t have to board the tender until almost 9:AM! Which we did. Leland, our youthful mechanic who is a world ranked mountain bike racer from Hawaii, California and Colorado (he is NEVER seen in any footwear other than flip flops) had literally slept on blankets with the bikes that had been left on the terrace of a restaurant in Porto overnight. After we retrieved our bike, there was about an hour wait for the van and bus that would carry us up 1500 feet to start our ride on a UNESCO Heritage road. Bill was true to his word. The view was spectacular, complete with a heart rock formation.
The ride down to meet the ship involved a descent of 1500 feet in 6 miles and then a series of hills for the last 13 miles. It was exciting and eventful. We were stopped by a herd of goats heading for a water fountain on the side of the road, who didn’t care a bit that they were impeding our progress. On the way down one steep hill with a sharp turn we passed one of our favorite couples, Alvin and Gail from Manhattan. He is in his mid-80’s and she is a 70 year old archivist for the NYC Public Library. They tandem all over Manhattan. Right before our trip in August up the Columbia River, Gail had broken her wrist in a fall. They came on that trip anyway and other captains volunteered (and stokers volunteered to stay behind) to take Alvin on rides. He is a genial, super-New Yorky guy. Their joie de vivre is inspiring and contagious. In any case, apparently shortly after we took this picture, they had a bad fall on one of the downhill turns and were taken to the hospital. Bill was concerned especially about Gail whom he feared might have suffered a concussion. They spent one night ashore and then returned aboard the ship the next morning to the cheers of riders assembled to debark for the day. Gail said she was fine, no concussion, and we were all relieved and grateful.
Mid-ride, we had a good pasta lunch and then continued down for more descending and climbing to catch the tender in a tiny little fishing village. During the wait to board with our bike I had some time to finally get a few good shots of my favorite but most elusive crew officer. You’re welcome.
Wednesday, October 26: Porto Vecchio to Bonafacio, Corsica
The ship sailed overnight around the bottom of the island, from the tiny town of Sagone (where we were anchored off shore, hence the tender ride above), to Porto Vecchio, on the eastern side. After an uneventful, normal morning, at 8:30 we rode an easy exit from the harbor through the city. We had a good warm-up for awhile on a 2 lane main road south toward Bonifacio, on the very southern tip of the island of Corsica. We stopped for a “natural break” pretty much out in the open on the side of the road (we pretended we were riding in a reallllllly slow Tour de France). Our fellow traveller “John the Hawaiian” (full blooded as was his wife Georgette), stopped for a break, riding by himself on their tandem. They had never ridden a tandem before this trip and Georgette had decided that she didn’t like it. Preferred the bus. So we rode on with some pretty good climbing further on down the road. The approach into Bonafaccio was a dramatically steep uphill into the old town and the ramparts of the fort with a spectacular vista over the cliffs. After a breath-break, we continued up through the town, took a wrong turn UP through a tunnel, turned around and then a short but intensely steep downhill right into the official port dock.
No more riding for us that day, so we walked with Jan and Vicki up ancient steps into the old city. We walked along a footpath around the city walls and through a lovely old and modern cemetery at the top of the old town. Tired and hungry, we walked into the fancy yacht harbor part of the town and had a great lunch of pasta with tomatoes basil/pasta with clams. Back to the ship around 3 for a shower and a nap.
That evening on the ship was the “Gala Dinner” where everyone including the crew dresses up in their finest. Bill cleverly took advantage of the Captain’s 6:15 pre-dinner cocktail event to do his upcoming events promotional talk (we have heard many of these and they really do get pretty darn tedious). It went on until 7:30. I was literally crawling out of my skin by the time he stopped and we could stand up and go in to dinner. Which was another loooooonnnnnggg one, maybe even longer because of the gala part, the saving grace being the delicious meal.
Thursday, October 27: Bastia
The ship sailed overnight north along the eastern coast to Bastia, at the base of the “feather” peninsula at the very top of the island. The rides were to take place on the western side of the feather. We decided to stay on the ship rather than take a 90 minute bus ride for choices of rides with varying lengths, but all with crazy elevations and then a long bus ride back. We missed more spectacular riding and views, according to those who went, but hey, self perseveration sometimes takes precedence. We spent some sleepy (for me) time in the lounge vainly trying to get Internet, then decided to take a walk from the port into the old town. We stopped into two churches and then took a spin through the “muse municipal d’art e d’histoire de Bastia.” Not entirely memorable, I’m afraid. A couple of large, empty dungeon-y looking spaces, some old furniture and paintings. But the view from the fort was wonderful, as usual, and we had an adventurous walk from the summit down to the old port/harbor. Had another yummy French lunch watching the people and the boats.
We took a leisurely walk back to the ship past shops, had ice cream across from a park and then a nap back on board. Nap and dinner with instructions for debarkation in Nice.
Friday, October 28: Nice, France
We spent a gently rocking night on the ship as it sailed from Bastia north to Nice. There was no rush in the morning getting off the ship for our ride. It was a cool and breezy, but perfectly wonderful ride along the promenade west. We went straight through the Promenade des Anglais where 89 people were killed on Bastille Day by a crazy person in a truck. We continued on past the airport to the ambiguous end of the path in a random parking lot 10 miles later. We stopped for a café au lait and pastry (what else?) and went to a public WC in a little building. After doing your business, you step out, the door closes and locks and then the inside is sprayed down with I guess some kind of disinfectant. It’s hilarious. Heading back to the ship, the crowds were really building up and it was tricky riding back, weaving among the strollers, walkers, and other bikers. But the sun was out, even if it was a little chilly and the sun still sparkled on the Mediterranean. The afternoon was spent packing and getting ready to disembark on the next day.
Saturday, October 29:
After many hugs and good-byes, we checked in to our very white room at a lovely hotel several blocks north of the promenade. Walked our feet off for a while, then had a nice lunch on a side street. A visit to the make-shift memorial to the victims of the Bastille Day tragedy was definitely sobering.
In what may have been a fatal move that evening, we stopped at a stall in the pedestrian eatery district and got a couple of sandwiches for the hotel. At 5:AM, I awoke to the terrible consequences (or a coincidental intestinal flu). In any case I had the shakes, vomiting, stomach pain, etc. for the next 36+ hours. Yuck! We huddled in our room, slept and watched TV. What a waste; a lost day in Nice. By Monday, I was ready to venture out again. We took the bus to the Matisse Museum and a nice antiquities museum connected by a park that paid tribute to American Jazz legends.
Monday, November 1:
Monday took us home on an uneventful flight. (If you call having your flight cancelled and having to run and catch a shuttle to another terminal to catch your alternate—but earlier—flight uneventful.) It seemed like a very long trip, so once home we were pleased to see that no disasters had befallen Joe’s dad in our absence. We had successfully escaped essentially the last month of the horrible presidential campaign with just a week before voting, our hope still (barely) intact. It was a rough night and a rough couple of weeks following Election Day. So now we start the New Year with a sense of uncertainty but with some lovely memories and trips to look forward to in 2017.
An uneventful overnight flight to Heathrow connected with a short flight to Pisa from where we were bused straight to Florence. Our hotel was a block from the Arno, a couple of miles from the city center. The weather was not good, so we rested in the hotel, being sure not to sleep (!), and went to the first event of the trip, a rooftop reception with a wonderful view of the city and the lighted dome of the Duomo. The finger food was good. The McCreadys, our fearless leaders, always do a fabulous job of picking the perfect spot for receptions, lunches and do an excellent job of balancing cost, location and quality of the pre- and post-tour hotel accomodations.
Up-and-at-‘em on the first of many mornings of up-and-at-‘ems. Our official guided tour started after lunch, so we walked ourselves to the Basilica di Santa Novella, a lovely church started in 1279 and consecrated in 1420. It’s a Dominican church and made us think of our lovely Dominican priests who celebrate with us sometimes at NOVA. Lots of frescos, stained glass and chapels (as usual). From there we were hoping to go to the Bascilica de San Lorenzo, burial site of the principal members of the Medici family and REALLY old: consecrated in 393. Unfortunately the church itself was closed, but the reliquary museum was open, so for 5 Euro each, in we went. Even after first being exposed to what a reliquary even IS on our first trip to Italy, it’s a weird concept and still kind of macabre to me. Real, human bones encased in what look like to me elaborate gold and silver trophy-like objects. And this place was crammed with them; many very special keepsakes of high ranking members of the Medici family. Crazy.
We grabbed some pasta at an osteria not far from the plaza of San Lorenzo; our first of the trip. House wine and Bolognese for me; penne with mushrooms for Joe. Fortification for the near 4-hour afternoon trek that awaited us with the top-notch tour guide (another signature move by the McCreadys—get the very best tour guides available). So after sticking a single blue bud in our ear and tuning the device on the lanyard, off we went, sometimes struggling to hear our excellent guide. This was all the highlights of Florence, even if it kills us. We zoomed through the baptistery (where Dante, among others) were baptized, with its famous bronze doors depicting all kinds of stuff in graphic fashion. We zoomed through the Duomo itself, another small church that shall remain unnamed, the Uffizi courtyard, across the Ponte Vecchio, over to the Pitti Palace to look at the outside, back across the river on a different bridge with terrific views of the Ponte Vecchio, down the fancy shopping street, ending, exhausted and near dark at the Piazza del Republica to find our way back to the hotel and a nice “welcome dinner” there. It was nice to greet some folks we had been with on one or both of our two previous October trips with Santana. We fell in bed sore and tired!
Tuesday 10/11/16: Florence Pre-tour, Day 2
Up-and-at-‘em, baby! Meet the tour guide at 8:30 AM in front of the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see our beloved David. After some chaotic organizing of groups and guides, we walked right in with our Firenzi Pass and into the sacred hall of art. The statue is still indescribably magnificent and miraculous, emerging as he did out of the marble as Michaelangelo chipped it away. Something new I learned is that this pose is him sizing up his Goliath target, with the rock in his hand, the slingshot over his shoulder and (this was the revelation) the absolute focus in his eyes. Wow. New to me; missed it last time. Maybe it was his huge hands that distracted me.
Never enough time to gaze at the David, and this was no exception. We were soon hustled out and put on a forced double-time march to the Uffizi Gallery. Once again, easy entry with passes and tour guide. We ZOOMED through, pausing at a few famous paintings by Michaelangelo and Da Vinci including “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring.” It really feels like we weren’t even there.
Lunch was at the cavernous Pizzaria Funiculi, with three long, long tables for us. We were served beer as fast as the wait staff could balance the tall glasses on their trays; the arrival of the pizza was a different story. It’s not easy to feed almost 200 people at the same time with one wood-fired oven. When it came to our section, it was delicious.
After a much needed rest in the afternoon back at the hotel, we walked back toward the city center for a fabulous, fabulous meal at Bistecca Toscanna. The McCreadys weren’t going to feed us two meals that day, but somehow Robert Bauer (the hotelier that is on the Santana staff for these trips) heard of this place just opening up (the second location in Italy) and they were eager for business on a day they would normally have been closed. We had wonderful appetizers and loads of bread and wine followed by HUGE T-bone steaks (maybe 5 inches thick) cooked over an open flame in the traditional Florentine manner; don’t you DARE ask for medium or well done!! Then it was sliced and served at each of our tables. Oh my goodness, I have never had such delicious steak in my life. Thoughts of becoming a vegetarian simply cannot stand up to that kind of sensory assault. Soooo much better than I expected (we had “Florentine Steak” the last time we were in Florence and it was a completely different experience). What a way to end our days in Florence.
Wednesday, October 12: Pisa
The day began early as usual with a crazier than usual scrum to get ourselves, and our luggage, onto a tour bus. Imagine a small hotel lobby and a narrow sidewalk out front with 200 people and their luggage trying to get onto the three correct buses, when there were 5 buses out front with other (normal) people also trying to find theirs, too. Thanks to Joe’s superiorly assertive travel and baggage handling skills, we found ourselves on the first bus on the road from Florence to Pisa.
During the hour’s ride, we stopped in a small town for a quick-fast latte, croissant, and bathroom break, then back on the bus to meet our next excellent professional and native Pisan guide. Pisa was so much more beautiful than I expected. The entire compound including the tower was sparkling in the sunlight. We took another short break for coffee (gelato in my case), then the march back to the bus and in another 40 minutes we were at the port at Livorno. There security made us all get off the bus, along with all of the luggage, put them through a scanner and then back on the bus to the ship. Good thing there was a restroom in the terminal security building; it had been a long ride and a long wait! With an easy embarkation, we were onto the ship where we enthusiastically greeted some familiar faces among the crew from our two previous trips on La Belle de L’Adriatique. After settling in to our stateroom, we sat down to the first of many three-hour shipboard dinners with four of our fellow passengers at our table.
Thursday, October 13: On La Belle
Our original route had us cycling at a couple of locations up the coast toward France, and later a day at Cinque Terra. However, the weather was not cooperating and the ship’s captain and Bill decided to make a dash for safe harbor in Nice overnight and anchor there for two nights. On this day, there was an opportunity to take a bus to Monaco, but we decided that we would take it easy on the ship. That became partly true and partly not true. On this day, we became voluntarily entangled in what, for the rest of the narrative, I will call The Great Garmin Gambit, or GGG for short. It all started as we were sitting in the lounge trying unsuccessfully to get some internet to work on the blog, email, etc. A couple of people started talking to us and asking questions about the routes we would eventually load onto our Garmin bike navigation devices. I think we helped them some. Exhausted (as usual), we went to our room for a morning nap. Upon returning to the lounge after lunch, we met with the lovely Linda Black (wife of our friend Larry, the principal mechanic on this trip), who was hired on as the “Garmin person” for these two cruises. Her responsibility was to load electronic routes onto chips, and then distribute them to people who had pre-ordered said chips, as well as help people who did not order chips get their routes on their devices. It looked to us like a pretty big job for one person, but doable with a little help, and since we love Lovely Linda, we offered to help. Little did we know what we (especially Joe) were getting into for the rest of the next two and a half weeks. It turns out that Bill, probably in his efforts to stay flexible and skirt around weather as well as this being the first time for these trips, did not have all of the routes ready to load onto chips at the beginning. In fact, as it turned out, routes would only be transferred from Bill to Linda on a day-by-day basis. She would sometimes get them at 10 PM, with ride-ready chips promised to the eager beaver riders at breakfast on the morning of the ride. There were actually several days when Bill did not get the route to Linda UNTIL breakfast the “day of.” But more on that madness later.
On this day, we worked with Linda in the afternoon to make sure we all knew how to load the routes properly. This process involves handling teeny tiny barely graspable little computer chips, putting them correctly into a chip reader, making sure that the chip has the correct map loaded, then the correct route. This proved to be trickier than anticipated as when some chips were loaded and eventually handed out, they were missing routes and/or maps. This makes people about to embark on a ride in unfamiliar territory in a foreign country understandably anxious. In any case, we stayed up with Linda and Vicki, the wife of another mechanic/van driver, until 11 loading the sketchy chips (we would not find out how many were truly sketchy until the next morning).
Friday, October 14: Cannes and St. Paul De Vence, France
Which was very rainy. After loading the chips for the crazy people who decided to ride in the rain, we boarded a bus (hereafter known as “Sergio’s Coach” the Santana name for any tour bus that carries non-riders to sights; I think because a long time ago they had a driver they really liked named Sergio. Not sure, but it’s now part of the Santana Adventures inside- culture lingo.)
The bus took us first to a wonderful tiny walled city, St. Paul, were we walked on beautiful cobblestone streets in the POURING rain. We took temporary refuge in a bar for a cup of coffee and a French ham and cheese sandwich, which of course you know consists of warm brie and thinly sliced ham on a baguette. No frills. We returned to the bus completely soaked through, in the legs at least, for a long bus ride back into Cannes where the rain of the morning (pic taken from the bus) had calmed down. We lunched in our soaked pants in a pretty brasserie called “Gaston Gastounette” on Quai St. Pierre in Cannes, with a view of the harbor. Never really imagined being in Cannes, but there we were and I didn’t see any movie stars at all. Humph.
Back on the ship, we rested, had dinner and then sat with Linda and Vicki at one table in the forward lounge while we all breathlessly (literally because Bill needed to focus) waited while Bill finished the next day’s routes. So Bill then turned his computer over to me, Vicki and Linda each had hers, Joe had his and we worked until 11:45 or so cranking out 150 chips. Day (night) 2 of the GGG.
Saturday, October 15: First Ride – Monaco, French and Italian Riveria and the …. Tunnel of Doom!
This was our first day of sun since boarding the ship and we were ready to ride! Bill had arranged for the ship to move to Monaco for just enough time to get us off the ship to start our ride. Consequently as Joe was desperately helping Linda load routes onto GPS devices for an uber-anxious line of bikers who had been itching to ride for the last two days, Bill is on the loudspeaker at 8:30 yelling, “OFF THE BOAT!!! OFF THE BOAT NOW!!! So I ran and dumped our gear on the dock and then went back up and got our bike off the deck and down the spiral staircase, of course with the ever-present help of the wonderful Pilipino crew. This is always the job of the tandem captain, but these were special circumstances. Joe and Linda and Vicki got off the boat and it immediately pulled away, headed for our pick-up spot in Imperia, Italy.
We had quite a day of cycling adventures! We took off into Monaco and immediately got the “off course” message on our bike computers. I felt pretty certain that we were going parallel to the prescribed route and that they would merge before leaving Monte Carlo. Which was true, but I think we climbed a few unnecessary hills on the way. Also, a trusting newbie couple was riding with us…oops. They were fine. We passed, as you would expect in Monte Carlo, some magnificent villas and gardens. Once back on track, we found ourselves on a wonderful rail trail that would take us all the way into Italy through the French Riveria.
We went through several short tunnels on the route, and then shortly after crossing the border into Italy we entered a tunnel we assumed would be like the others. NOT! There were overhead lights for the first two-thirds of the tunnel and then there weren’t. As we rode, it got darker and darker until it was absolutely pitch, can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face black. For some unknown reason, we kept on riding as we were, with only a red back light. While Joe assumed that the light at the end of the tunnel would be just ahead, I was beginning to imagine that we were going to crash head-on into a literal brick wall in front of us. Just then, we went over into the gutter, crashed into the sidewall and went down. Joe was lying there laughing while, “get the bike off of me!” A lovely German couple (we could tell by their accents) stopped and shined their smartphone light on us (what an concept!), helped us up and walked with us for the rest of the way. We finally did see the light at the end of that tunnel, but what an experience. It turned out that Joe had badly scraped his right forearm and elbow and was bleeding. We wiped it off and saw that it wouldn’t continue to bleed, badly anyway. We re-positioned Joe’s off center handlebars and made whatever other adjustments we could see were needed. Back on the bike in the lovely Italian sunshine and in view of the beautiful Mediterranean, we started to hear a slight thudding as the front wheel turned. Joe adjusted the brake but shortly after the thudding came back. Ride on! While headed up a hill, now on a two-lane highway, BANG! I had never experienced a blown tire while riding before, and it was loud. We were able to stop safely, find a spot to pull off the road and begin the process of changing the tube and tire (which we had been carrying in our bag for years, never thinking we would need it). Very fortunately, our friends Larry (the mechanic) and Linda Black soon came upon us. A sight for sore eyes. Larry jumped off their bike, grabbed the wheel and said, “This is my job.” Of course he can change a tube and tire in a fraction of the time we could, and Linda is an awesomely comforting presence.
We took off and rode through a couple more adorable seaside towns and rolled up to the ship in Imperia at about 2:15. Lunch and rest. Another looong dinner that was rewarded with a wonderful view of the huge Harvest Moon over the water.
Sunday, October 16: “Our Super Tuscan Day”
Early start as usual from the Port of Piombino, south of Pisa and the port of Livorno, from which we started several rainy days earlier. After the usual GGG madness with Joe helping to load rides onto everyone’s devices, we started out with our friend Steve on his single. Here is a picture of the hand-drawn map that Bill has been doing for the last couple of trips, showing the options, mileage of each, elevation and landmarks. It looks like a mess, but it has become essential in giving us the big picture that you just can’t get on the Garmin map. The first part of the ride was about 17 miles through some flat farmland. Then some long, steep hills toward the village of Suvereto, where we met other riders and those on Sergio’s coach. After a quick, quick, stop, we loaded onto the bus and truck for a ride (to avoid a horrible set of switchbacks and much climbing) to the village of Castagneto Carducci. We took a nice walk through the hilly town and then a short bus hop to our pre-arranged lunch at the Chiappini winery in Bolgheri. We had a fabulous lunch of anti-pasti, ravioli Bolognese and papardelli with rabbit sauce, all accompanied by tastings of the winery’s super-Tuscan variety of wines. As soon as we could move (and were encouraged to so that the second seating of hungry tandemists could eat), we trundled back onto our bike and rode a pleasant 20 miles through San Vincenzo, along the coast and back trough the Tuscan countryside to the ship.
After dinner, the lovely crew presented us with their fun talent show, complete with a Ju-Jitsu demo, Pilipino folk dance, a “boy band,” a Bollywood number and an awesome tumbling routine with a human bicycle depicting Larry and Linda on their unique tandem. The Big Finish was a crowd dance with a little twerking by our most effervescent fellow traveler (thanks, Julie), a line dance and ending with a sweaty raucous rendition of “YMCA.” What a great crew who obviously find ways to enliven their sometimes 8-month stints on the ship, far away from home and families. By the end of that evening, passengers and crew alike felt like one big party of friends.
Monday, October 17: The Agony and the Ecstasy - Gaeta
Today we had a rare “late” start, as we had to travel from the north, near Pisa, down to Gaeta, a port city between Rome and Naples. The ship wasn’t due to arrive in Gaeta until 11:AM. Joe and Linda had to wait for Bill to finish the routes, and then endure the usual GGG scramble to get them loaded so people could get off the ship at the appointed time. We decided to avoid what seemed to us to be ridiculous climbs and took the bus to the featured stop of the day, the Caves of Pastena. The bus ride was 2 hours long. UGH. We had an opportunity to ride 15 miles from Point A to Point B (the caves) but were again scared off by the map and indications of “steep!” climbs. So we got to the caves, decided we didn’t want to go in, which turned out to be a longer wait than we expected for the bus or van to the “lunch” spot. Another strategic error. It would have been better to get the heck on the bike and take our chances with the climbs. As we waited, I looked at the scenery and snoozed on the blankets in the back of the truck while Joe talked bikes with the mechanics. All that was the “agony” part of the day.
In any case, we got to lunch around 4:PM at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Come to find out, gas stations in Italy serve outstanding pre-arranged lunches!
OK. 4:45 PM. Time to ride!!!! We set off, again with Larry and Linda Black. Up we went, 770 ft. in four miles (a LOT of elevation for us). The bus passed us and we heard later that Bill was concerned about folks getting back to the ship, but said as they passed us, “Oh, that’s Joe and Barb; I’m not worried about them.” Felt good later to hear that. Then from the summit at 2,200 feet, we wheeled down to sea level in 10 miles. It was a challenge for Joe, as always, when we descend at that rate (20-35 mph in this case in twilight), but for me, it was just a beautiful ride through the hills as sunset approached. Right around sunset itself, we rode through the busy town of Itri, and Joe had to be on his toes even more as we rode through traffic, following the GPS for sudden and sharp turns. As my computer screen turned from day to night mode (never happened before) we rode 3.5 more miles into the port city of Gaeta and along the water. As we headed down a short industrial road, our new young acquaintances Julie (the twerker) George came up behind us, calling out how happy they were to see us. As we rode into Gaeta together, it was some kind of happy hour busy time there with two lanes of traffic passing rows of front-in parking, and folks trying to find a space, pulling in, pulling out. And we’re riding by the lights of the restaurants and shops and cars. In earlier times, I would have been hysterical, but I have become magically relaxed on the back of that bike in whatever circumstances. Joe is doing the hard work of navigating through whatever mess, keeping us safe, and he does a super job at that. I was so elated at the lovely down hill we had experienced, and somehow also elated that we, as a team, had the capability to ride through that crazy foreign city traffic successfully, I was able to actually enjoy riding after dark in a city environment. We reached what we thought was the gate to our dock and were met with 3 guys with whom we tried to communicate for five minutes in Italian/English, until one guy finally said in unaccented American English, “I’m from Tennessee” (or wherever). So further down the street we rode and wheeled up to the ship.
Tuesday, October 18: The Amalfi Coast Road
On this day, the ship docked at Castelmarre, south of Pompeii. Up at 6:AM, breakfast then more GGG madness with loading the routes. There was a rush to get off the ship at 8:30, as it was leaving then to meet us at the other end of the Amalfi Coast in Salerno. I got the stuff on the dock, and Joe brought the bike down—the very last off the ship. Very anxiety producing. We took the bus and truck to mile 14, at a busy intersection in a village whose name I don’t think we ever knew. The day was gray and spitting a little rain. We climbed a couple of “painful hills” to the famous tourist town of Positano. So congested on the arrow single lane street, cars, motor scooters and so many tour busses! My anxiety was definitely up as we negotiated all that on the wet brick street. I asked Joe to please stop, so we got off and went into a café for a lovely cup of coffee and a pastry with Larry and Linda. After I felt better, we headed back out and the rest of the ride was great. Oh, except for that time when we met the front end of a huge red tour bus looming above us taking up the entire road on a sharp turn. We quickly grabbed the wall as the bus made the turn literally inches away from our limbs. I have to say, however, that riding in traffic is very different over there. As we were told by our experienced leaders, almost all the drivers there are also bikers, have smaller cars and narrower roads and absolutely know where their bumpers are. They will come close, but almost never hit a cyclist.
More hard hills and curves into the town of Amalfi and VERY hard hills after the town. We had to take a couple of momentary rest breaks after a couple of them. After a bathroom stop in a restaurant in a little town, we rode our final descent into Salerno and an ugly approach to the ship. We were sore and tired. That was a good day’s ride for us: 31 miles, 2,000 ft of climbing, 3,000 ft of descending. And it must be said, the scenery was magnificent, even on a cloudy day.
Wednesday, October 19: Sorrento and Herculaneum
The ship sailed overnight back around the peninsula to Castellamare, where we began our ride on the day before. We had decided to take a day off from riding, and so took a long bus ride up to Sorrento. Crazy traffic in the city center! There was confusion about where the bikes would be parked for those who had ridden the punishing ride up to the town. I was feeling overwhelmed again, and in that state, there’s only one thing to do: cappuccino and pastry! We sat in the middle of the crazy square with cars and motorcycles zooming all around us peacefully sipping and eating. The Blacks were in charge of guarding the bikes while the riders toured the city. I walked with Linda to where we thought bikes we being parked, but there were only 3 bikes there. Joe was in the process of helping Larry move all the bikes to the correct location in front of the Cathedral, NOT in front of the first large yellow church we came to. That straightened out, Joe and I walked into the old city with nice pedestrian streets and loads of touristy shops. We walked down to the water wall past the church of St. Frances with a pretty square and a beautiful view of the water below.
Back on the bus for a lunch, quick rest at the ship and then back on the bus for a tour of Herculaneum, the “other” ruins from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. We had excellent guides as usual. It was a warm day and the advantage of going to Herculaneum rather than Pompeii is that the size is much more manageable and there are no crowds. It was a fascinating tour through the amazingly well preserved ruins.
We had a magnificent view of Mt. Vesuvius as we rode back to the ship on the bus. As we approached the Belle, we were told that the yacht parked next to us was the 28th largest in the world, owned by an Indian magnate of some sort. It was called “Sunrays” from Georgetown.
Thursday, October 20: Pit Stop in Rome
Left the ship with a small overnight bag for basically a rest stop in Rome between the two different Santana tours. We said goodbye to some of our traveling companions and, at a dinner in the hotel, hello to our new friends. Previously had a nice lunch on the same street as the hotel, then rested and caught up on Internet activities.
Friday, October 21: Embark Day for the Corsica Leg
Got up in the hotel, packed up, left the bags in the lobby and visited the Basillica S. Maria de Vittorio, a super ornate church, to see an “Ecstasy of St. Theresa,” this one with an angel and a sword. We walked back in time to wait in the lobby with others for the bus. There were words with the bus driver who was refusing to allow people to take carry on bags into the bus. Strange, but this is Italy.
After checking back into the lovely Belle, went up top to see the bike-building process of the new arrivals, glad we didn’t have to do that. Then a rest before the 6:30 safety drill and dinner.
Saturday, October 22: The Italian Island of Elba – My Favorite Day of the Trip
The ship docked at Portoferraio, the largest city on Elba. Joe as usual was loading routes onto computers with Linda, so I get the bike and head to the dock. The bike gets loaded onto the truck, I go to the bus, put my stuff in a seat and the bus starts to leave. I yell, “No!” The bus driver said “Si!” Bill came on board and I told him we needed to wait for Joe and Linda. Bill said, “No, they can take a cab to the starting spot” (on the side of some road). I was definitely not going to leave them not knowing where I was with our stuff and the bike, so I huffily grabbed our gear and stormed off the bus. Back on the dock, I see Jan and fuss at her. Ever calm, she settles me down and gives us 25 euro for a cab.
Sure enough, we meet our bike on the side of the road being guarded by our loyal Dan and Vicki. We get on it. We ride. The best ride of the trip, in my opinion. With the McCreadys, you just have to go with the flow and trust. The roads are always flat (on average) and the weather is always almost perfect.
The scenery was beautiful. We stopped for coffee with the couple that is organizing the Northwest Tandem Rally next summer. Big job. We rode on to lunch for a total of 24 miles and 2300 ft. of climbing.
After another meal of yummy pasta and a glass of wine, I leaned on Joe, who understandably was ready to get back on the bus, (as we had already ridden two and a half hours and all that elevation), to do the ride through countryside back down to the ship. I don’t know what they call that, but it amounts to irresistible stoker pressure. It’s common wisdom that a happy stoker means a happy life for everyone. Not sure why that would be true, but there you go. The ride was very technical for Joe with lots of very tight switchbacks and a couple of hard hills (700 ft gain and 1600 ft descent in 13.5 miles) to boot. I LOVED it. Thank you, Joe, for four hours of beautiful riding on almost flat roads in almost perfect weather!
Sunday, October 23: Calvi, French Island of Corsica
After the long ride of the day before, we were tired but wanted to see Corsica. 6:30 breakfast as usual. The GGG was calming down, as Bill was starting to get the routes to Linda earlier, so she could pretty much handle the exchange of chips. We decided to go on the 27-mile option. Getting out of the port right off the bat was a ridiculously steep, but short climb. We could tell right away that it was going to be long and hard by how we felt, and by looking at the elevation page on the Garmin. As we struggled up the first 5% grade, about 3 miles from the ship, Joe said he was done and I was fine with that. As usual, Larry and Linda were just coming up behind us and Joe said, “It’s just not our day,” as we turned around. We had a nice mini-adventure of a ride through a sweet park with a light rail station and stopped on the coastal road in town for a deeee-licious quiche (tarte de jour). We were back in France!!!! After a couple of “graci”s, I eventually remembered to say “merci” again.
Back at the ship, Joe decided to take a morning nap before lunch and I headed out on foot to explore the fort. It was a beautiful walk in the old city, which claims to be the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, because at the time Corsica was part of the Genovese state, so it could still be said that he was born in Genoa. Nobody knows for sure, but the locals are sticking to their story. The views around the perimeter of the fort were fabulous. I wandered through narrow streets over ancient cobblestones, stopped into a working church with candles aglow, passed a couple of chic looking restaurants and gazed down upon the town, our lovely ship in port, and the ever-sparkling Mediterranean.
The rest of that day was spent eating (lunch and dinner) and resting, so we could ride again another day.
Monday, October 24: Calvi to Porto
Cray-cray morning! Bikes had to be off the ship by 6:AM to get on the trucks so Joe got up at 5:50 and took care of that. The plan was that the ship had to pull away from the dock at 6 so that another ship could dock, then riders would be carried back to shore aboard tenders (those orange closed capsule-looking vessels). So at our 6:15 breakfast, the ship was pulling out of the port with the bikes safely on the dock. Suddenly the dining room began to pitch sharply. Dishes fell and broke while the crew scrambled to lock and hold cabinet doors. People got scared. We never really knew what that swell was all about. Bill then announced that tenders could not be used to get riders off the ship as planned, so the ship that was supposed to take our place at the dock kindly waited while we re-docked and all grabbed our stuff and got off the ship lickety split. In the semi-dark dawn, the long riders took off up the same steep pitch that we had climbed less than 24 hours earlier. We short riders (only 20 miles today as opposed to their 50 or 44) waited for the buses in the light of the Corsican sunrise and watched the Belle move out and the polite other ship move back in. After much discussion between Pierre (our Italian/French staff member) and the bus drivers, we boarded and rode for an hour to an overlook called “Col de Palmarella.” Before sifting through the bikes, everyone needed to pee, so one by one the women picked our way behind some rocks to an expanse of ground littered with tissue and other unmentionable substances. Obviously a popular place for a pit stop.
On the first leg of this ride, the scenery was gorgeous and the terrain no too challenging. We stopped at a café as usual, and then zoomed down some switchbacks, climbed almost 500 ft in 2 miles (a challenge for us) then zoomed down to sea level in the next two miles. A fun, fun ride. In the lovely seaside town of Porto, we turned in our bike to be babysat overnight in town, stopped in a crowded restaurant for a beer, then wandered the streets. Running into Jan, Vicki, Libby (who had broken her hip on the first trip but didn’t know it until they got home two weeks later), Matt (Libby’s husband who also suffered injuries from their previous run-in with a truck), Mary Tedd and her husband along with Robert Bauer (our German hotelier, responsible for all our on shore accommodations) who talked a restaurant into staying open just for us. We had a great schmoozy, raucous lunch with plenty of wine while we waited for the tenders to ferry us to our ship, anchored ten minutes out in the Golfe de Porto.
Tuesday, October 25: Porto to Piana to Cargese to Sagone
Today Bill promised us the most beautiful two miles of our lives. He was not far from wrong. This was a relatively leisurely morning as we didn’t have to board the tender until almost 9:AM! Which we did. Leland, our youthful mechanic who is a world ranked mountain bike racer from Hawaii, California and Colorado (he is NEVER seen in any footwear other than flip flops) had literally slept on blankets with the bikes that had been left on the terrace of a restaurant in Porto overnight. After we retrieved our bike, there was about an hour wait for the van and bus that would carry us up 1500 feet to start our ride on a UNESCO Heritage road. Bill was true to his word. The view was spectacular, complete with a heart rock formation.
The ride down to meet the ship involved a descent of 1500 feet in 6 miles and then a series of hills for the last 13 miles. It was exciting and eventful. We were stopped by a herd of goats heading for a water fountain on the side of the road, who didn’t care a bit that they were impeding our progress. On the way down one steep hill with a sharp turn we passed one of our favorite couples, Alvin and Gail from Manhattan. He is in his mid-80’s and she is a 70 year old archivist for the NYC Public Library. They tandem all over Manhattan. Right before our trip in August up the Columbia River, Gail had broken her wrist in a fall. They came on that trip anyway and other captains volunteered (and stokers volunteered to stay behind) to take Alvin on rides. He is a genial, super-New Yorky guy. Their joie de vivre is inspiring and contagious. In any case, apparently shortly after we took this picture, they had a bad fall on one of the downhill turns and were taken to the hospital. Bill was concerned especially about Gail whom he feared might have suffered a concussion. They spent one night ashore and then returned aboard the ship the next morning to the cheers of riders assembled to debark for the day. Gail said she was fine, no concussion, and we were all relieved and grateful.
Mid-ride, we had a good pasta lunch and then continued down for more descending and climbing to catch the tender in a tiny little fishing village. During the wait to board with our bike I had some time to finally get a few good shots of my favorite but most elusive crew officer. You’re welcome.
Wednesday, October 26: Porto Vecchio to Bonafacio, Corsica
The ship sailed overnight around the bottom of the island, from the tiny town of Sagone (where we were anchored off shore, hence the tender ride above), to Porto Vecchio, on the eastern side. After an uneventful, normal morning, at 8:30 we rode an easy exit from the harbor through the city. We had a good warm-up for awhile on a 2 lane main road south toward Bonifacio, on the very southern tip of the island of Corsica. We stopped for a “natural break” pretty much out in the open on the side of the road (we pretended we were riding in a reallllllly slow Tour de France). Our fellow traveller “John the Hawaiian” (full blooded as was his wife Georgette), stopped for a break, riding by himself on their tandem. They had never ridden a tandem before this trip and Georgette had decided that she didn’t like it. Preferred the bus. So we rode on with some pretty good climbing further on down the road. The approach into Bonafaccio was a dramatically steep uphill into the old town and the ramparts of the fort with a spectacular vista over the cliffs. After a breath-break, we continued up through the town, took a wrong turn UP through a tunnel, turned around and then a short but intensely steep downhill right into the official port dock.
No more riding for us that day, so we walked with Jan and Vicki up ancient steps into the old city. We walked along a footpath around the city walls and through a lovely old and modern cemetery at the top of the old town. Tired and hungry, we walked into the fancy yacht harbor part of the town and had a great lunch of pasta with tomatoes basil/pasta with clams. Back to the ship around 3 for a shower and a nap.
That evening on the ship was the “Gala Dinner” where everyone including the crew dresses up in their finest. Bill cleverly took advantage of the Captain’s 6:15 pre-dinner cocktail event to do his upcoming events promotional talk (we have heard many of these and they really do get pretty darn tedious). It went on until 7:30. I was literally crawling out of my skin by the time he stopped and we could stand up and go in to dinner. Which was another loooooonnnnnggg one, maybe even longer because of the gala part, the saving grace being the delicious meal.
Thursday, October 27: Bastia
The ship sailed overnight north along the eastern coast to Bastia, at the base of the “feather” peninsula at the very top of the island. The rides were to take place on the western side of the feather. We decided to stay on the ship rather than take a 90 minute bus ride for choices of rides with varying lengths, but all with crazy elevations and then a long bus ride back. We missed more spectacular riding and views, according to those who went, but hey, self perseveration sometimes takes precedence. We spent some sleepy (for me) time in the lounge vainly trying to get Internet, then decided to take a walk from the port into the old town. We stopped into two churches and then took a spin through the “muse municipal d’art e d’histoire de Bastia.” Not entirely memorable, I’m afraid. A couple of large, empty dungeon-y looking spaces, some old furniture and paintings. But the view from the fort was wonderful, as usual, and we had an adventurous walk from the summit down to the old port/harbor. Had another yummy French lunch watching the people and the boats.
We took a leisurely walk back to the ship past shops, had ice cream across from a park and then a nap back on board. Nap and dinner with instructions for debarkation in Nice.
Friday, October 28: Nice, France
We spent a gently rocking night on the ship as it sailed from Bastia north to Nice. There was no rush in the morning getting off the ship for our ride. It was a cool and breezy, but perfectly wonderful ride along the promenade west. We went straight through the Promenade des Anglais where 89 people were killed on Bastille Day by a crazy person in a truck. We continued on past the airport to the ambiguous end of the path in a random parking lot 10 miles later. We stopped for a café au lait and pastry (what else?) and went to a public WC in a little building. After doing your business, you step out, the door closes and locks and then the inside is sprayed down with I guess some kind of disinfectant. It’s hilarious. Heading back to the ship, the crowds were really building up and it was tricky riding back, weaving among the strollers, walkers, and other bikers. But the sun was out, even if it was a little chilly and the sun still sparkled on the Mediterranean. The afternoon was spent packing and getting ready to disembark on the next day.
Saturday, October 29:
After many hugs and good-byes, we checked in to our very white room at a lovely hotel several blocks north of the promenade. Walked our feet off for a while, then had a nice lunch on a side street. A visit to the make-shift memorial to the victims of the Bastille Day tragedy was definitely sobering.
In what may have been a fatal move that evening, we stopped at a stall in the pedestrian eatery district and got a couple of sandwiches for the hotel. At 5:AM, I awoke to the terrible consequences (or a coincidental intestinal flu). In any case I had the shakes, vomiting, stomach pain, etc. for the next 36+ hours. Yuck! We huddled in our room, slept and watched TV. What a waste; a lost day in Nice. By Monday, I was ready to venture out again. We took the bus to the Matisse Museum and a nice antiquities museum connected by a park that paid tribute to American Jazz legends.
Monday, November 1:
Monday took us home on an uneventful flight. (If you call having your flight cancelled and having to run and catch a shuttle to another terminal to catch your alternate—but earlier—flight uneventful.) It seemed like a very long trip, so once home we were pleased to see that no disasters had befallen Joe’s dad in our absence. We had successfully escaped essentially the last month of the horrible presidential campaign with just a week before voting, our hope still (barely) intact. It was a rough night and a rough couple of weeks following Election Day. So now we start the New Year with a sense of uncertainty but with some lovely memories and trips to look forward to in 2017.
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