Rome
This is going to be my third tour with Yorgos and each one has been wonderful. We've been planning all year for this trip and 8 of us will be going. There will be 5 of us from Lewiston/Clarkston area: Myself, Sally, Jennifer, Sarah, and Denise. We've all cycled together over the paths and hills on the Palouse, but are we ready for Italy's hill country and Umbria region? We'll see. We will be joined by 3 other cyclists who have cycled on other tours and with us.
Here's our itenary briefly:
Sept 6-9: Arrive in Rome, recover from Jet lag and tour!! We've set up a tour of the Vatican, and a hop on hop off bus tour. We'll catch a train to Spoleto, to begin our tour with Yorgos on Sept 9
Sept 9: Arrive in Spoleto, meet Yorgos and get our bikes followed by a short ride.
Sept 10: Ride (53km) the beautiful Umbrian countryside around villages, sights and return back to Spoleto.
Sept 11: (43km) We're off to Bevagna and pass through the hill town of Trevi. Picnics etc.
Sept 12: (48km)Via Flaminia a Roman road, lunch in Montefalco.. winery and lunch visit in Montefalco.
Sept 13: (42km) Ride to Assi via a medival walled town of Spello, stop for cappucino before CLIMBING to Assisi along the pilgrimage route "Via degli Ulivi". Optional ride to Mt. Subsio!.
Sept 14: We stay in Assisi today. We can have optional rides today including a visit to the Hermitage of St. Francis. Rest day today.
Sept 15: (45km) Ride to Deruta, famous throughout Italy for classic Italian ceramics. Along the way we"ll visit another winery in Lungarotti.
Sept 16: (45km) Ride to Todi today, another classic hilltop village. I'll have to compare all these hill rides with the MacIntosh grade!!! The toughest grade in our area, for me!!
Sept 17: Up and down more hills and in Orvieto! Orvieto is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Umbria!
Sept. 18 End of tour with Yorgos.
Linda, Jennifer, Sarah, Sally and Denise will head towards Florence!
Sept 18-22: Fun around Florence, including a day tour hiking the Cinque Terra, visit to the Academia to see the David and a city bike tour.
Sept 21-22: Jennifer and Sarah will return home. Linda, Denise and Sally are renting a car and driving to Lake Como! After a night in Lake Como, we'll drive to Biella and our next stop at the Sanctuary Oropa in the Italian Alps!!
Sept 22-25: Sanctuary Oropa and hiking or mountain biking in the Italian Alps! Our stay will be with monestarystays They have monestarys and convents in Italy at very reasonable prices, similar to a hostel cost!
Sept 25-27: Linda, Denise and Sally drive to Turin and who knows what adventures we'll have!! We're open to almost anything, including a nap!
Sept 27: Our group flys home to family and friends and Rumple Kitty!!
