We're leaving on a Jet Plane!

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!!

Another Bike tour with Yorgos

I'm busy planning another trip with Yorgos. We're off to Italy Sept. 9-19.  There will be 8 of us. We'll meet Yorgos in Spoleto, Italy and he'll guide us around Umbria for 9 days. We're all so very excited!!!

It's easy to imagine myself as a grand seniora in my country villa this afternoon. I've just finished biking a very hilly Spanish countryside, with very little traffic, forested and only a few cyclists from guess where???? Surprise, surprise Clarkston, Wa , Lewiston I'd and two from Anchorage Alaska.

We biked 61 k fron Figueres today. It was a beautiful ride over rolling steadily rising elevation. Mostly country lanes with very little traffic.

Figueres was a layover day and offered many sights. This is where David lives so he offered a great extra ride yesterday towards the foothills of the Pyrenees, some old ruins and a beautiful secluded waterfall. After our ride most of the group toured the Salvadore Dali museum, full of interesting and strange things . I spent the afternoon shopping and going to the other art museum in off the city square. I saw a wonderful showing of the Spanish painter Maria Vil???.  We had a wonderful meal with fish, the owner brought us a plate of fish caught that day... hmmm, Ill have that one, yummy.

A Hotel by the sea

Geronimo to Toss a de Mar

We had a fun ride today through fields and countryside. We navigated around abouts at every intersection. They work like a charm. Not much climbing until the last15 k. We had a long assent over the coastal mountain, then a long glorious ride to the sea. OMG beautiful!! We ride into the city of Toss a and our hotel is very cool. Old, looks like turn of the century house, with a parlor, long staircase, patios and Windows to the sea. 

We shop, drink sangria and figure out dinner. First the dip in the Mediterranean Sea!!! Truly heavenly. What fun. My room mate for this trip will be Anita. She's quiet (except for brief periods of swearing at herself) very organized, keeper of all the extra bike stuff, takes the best pictures and manages to get the best pics on Facebook! Thanks Anita.

Mediterranean beach

Marika, Mike, Rita and Kelly

Hotel Diana

Anita, the Facebook wiz!

Catalonia and Costa Brava tour begins

Yorgos and David explain the details of our tour

Our tour began today after our train ride, what a clean efficient train system.  We could learn a lot about efficient high speed rail from Europe. Half an hour to Gerona from Barcelona.

Yorgos meets us and we all walk to our hotel. We have to wait abit to check in but Anita and I go off up the streets of Gerona, and I do mean up!!! Ancient steps all leading to the Cathedral. Gardens, small shops with elegant n t fashionable clothing etc. Little outdoor cafes, even book shops...only Spanish of course. Maybe Ill have to get one for Ellie

Walking up the city streets of Gerona

We're not in Lewiston, guys!!!

Pouring rain. Thank God we're not biking today!

Shared Familia, Barcelona

Barcelona: We arrived safe and sound, minus Anitas bag that didn't make the connection, but should arrive tonight. We've spent the last few days exploring the city on foot and via the metro. What a contrast from Paris, let alone Lewiston. Barcelona, a truly old gothic city. Huge old buildings, decorated iron railings and colored shutters everywhere. People crammed everywhere. All cultures all ages, all walking. The streets seem to go in every direction. Thankfully our group is blessed with two great trip trackers. Anita strides off, determined and confident. Managing the confusion like a native. Lori h a s her map and a bit slower but just as aware.

Barcelona Last Rambles market

 Our apt is perfect for a large group. There are three bedrooms, two full baths, a kitchen and sitting room. It's very clean and situated perfectly. We're walking distance to most of the attractions, the metro and small grocery shops. Everyone slept great, despite Marika waking up at 1 am, showering and wondering why no one else was up. Anita bluntly informed her to go back to bed!!!!
We celebrated Helens birthday today at a great little family restaurant, we all sampled the traditional Spanish menu with help from our waiter. The meals where wonderful, including a beautiful banana chocolate cake for all. I was unable to include pictures today, but will include them later.

Happy birthday Helen!! Thanks for putting this all together.

A fat tire ride around Versilles

    Versailles bike tour. Sorry this is not very finished blog. It's hard to navigate pictures around the text. My story is after the pictures. I'm off to Mass this AM at Notre Dame. 

The Hall of mirrors

Linda in Marie's garden estate

Palace

Palace gardens

Marie's play village

Meeting place , getting fitted with for our bikes

Friday: We navigated by motocross the Champ Dr Mars field in front of the Eifell tower to the Fat tire Bike office. It was a lovely walk. We joined a group of 20 from mostly the U.S.. Our tour guide, I can't remember his name ( very cute, history major) Onto the Versilles train, about 30 minutes to Versilles. It was perfect day! Our bikes where big and clunky, about 50 lbs, but really functional on all the cobblestones and hard dirt roads. We now made our way to the market, wow. Huge market, managed a snack of banana, nutella crepe and bought our lunch. Helen and I picked a baguette sandwich fruit, coke, and managed to get back to the square, then off to the palace. We had a short ride but OMG are there ever a lot of tour buses, but our super kiwi guide had all his charges in line.

We first visited the pastures, fields and Marie Antoinettes country village. She was only 14 when she married Louis, and an awful life, really. She came to the village to play being a peasant. The excess was unbelievable. The King spent billions in today's money building the palace and grounds over 40 yrs. (Louis the 14..or the Sun King? Remember we had a history major) After our visit to the village....like 16 century Disneyland.We ride to the canals and had lunch. We only rode about 12 k but what a fun ride.
 We finish off with a tour on our own (easily done with an audio guide) We probably wandered all together for 3 hrs in palace and grounds. The story of this family of royalty, a bit of American history ( remember the John Adams series, Corrie) and of course the French revolution, ( Tale of Two cities and Les Miserables tells it all... We heard the grisly details of Marie Antoinette and her son's death... awful)

Helen and I navigated home exhausted. I love Paris, especially at night. Tomorrow the Louvre!