Page 5     Giro d'Italia

DON AND GERALYNN ON THE GO IN ITALY
REPORT 5

MAY 19, 2001  SATURDAY

Well, we ended up renting a car for the weekend.  This gave us some flexibility for expanding our trip south. 

Saturday morning we got up and drove down the coast to Montesilvano Marina, near Pescara, for the prologue of the Giro.  We decided to take the coast road for the scenery, and because we were not in any hurry as the race didnt start until afternoon.  The coast road was a mistake!  It took us into every little town for 75 miles, bumper to bumper traffic, stop and go.  It took us almost 3 hours to get to our destination, and the scenery was scenic, I guess, but it was just more of what we have near our apartment every day.

Things were happening when we pulled into Montesilvano.  The polizia and carabineiri were out in force, directing traffic and blocking access to places we all wanted to go.  There was a handy McDonalds right at the entry to the race staging area, and Don was getting to that frantic, its lunchtime and I have no food state, so we pulled in, slipped into the last parking spot, and got our Big Macs and Cokes.  After we ate we decided to stroll down to the race area to check out the lay of the land before we went in search of a parking place.

 

We got to see all of the fancy vans and trucks and special bikes the racers use for this kind of race.  Many of the racers were warming up and riding around the area or riding rollers.  Don was excitedly snapping photos and couldnt be dragged away, so I went to check the car and move it.  Things looked fine in the McDonalds  parking lotno tow trucks, no one patrolling around the lot looking for unauthorized carsso I just left the car there and went back to the race.

In preparation for the race about 50 motorcycle cops and 10 police cars paraded out onto the track, stationing themselves along the course.  Then some boss whistled and motioned, and they all turned around and paraded back with great show of pageantry.  When they got to the start area, the boss disgustedly said, No! not you!  Go back to your stations!  I only wanted Marco.  So they all regally turned around again and paraded, with much ceremony, back to their stations.  It was entertaining and amusing for those of us who were waiting for something to happen.

We watched about 5 racers start off, and then decided that was enough.  We drove out the course for the next days road race.  This took us up into the hills on some very steep, scenic roads.  We decided to follow the course for awhile, because it was all designated scenic route.  That took us out into the countryside and we had a pleasant trip home on twisty winding roads, through Treno to Ascoli Piceno.  Then we jumped onto the tollway and whizzed back to Porto Recanati.

 


Sunday we took another driving tour, and went out the route for our bike trip.  I was a bit concerned about getting out into the mountains and not being able to find lodging for the night.  As it turned out, Don had picked the perfect spot to end the first day of our bike tour.  There was a small town with two nice hotels.  We stopped at the Villa Fiorita Hotel and Ristorante and made arrangements to leave our suitcases and come back by bike on Monday.  The proprietor and his assistant were very nice and cooperative about the luggage.  They speak no English, but I had typed out my questions on the computer and used our translation program to get the correct Italian.  Then I just showed them my written questions and they understood our requests and were very accommodating.
 


We finished up our Sunday drive, going up the hill to Camerino.  Don had read in our guidebook that there would be a festival (actually there is some kind of festival every SundayFish Festival, Spinach Festival, etc., and of course religious festivals).  The festival would include traditional medieval games and costumes.  Unfortunately, when we got there we learned that this festival is scheduled for next weekend this year.

 

After Camerino we followed the little roads through the countryside and in one small village, San Gregorio,  we had to stop and wait 15 minutes while the townspeople, lead by altar boys and the priest under a canopy, marched up and down the road in some kind of religious ceremony.  The local polizia politely stopped the few cars passing through, so we got to watch the service and hear the ritual chant, while overlooking beautiful green valleys.


After we left San Gregorio we ended up in a wonderful place, Cingoli.  This town, as usual, is high on a hill.  The thing that makes Cingoli special is the view.  From the fortress walls there is an enormous, spectacular 270 degree view of the patchwork quilt countryside.  This is the most notable view we have had for the trip, and we spent about 45 minutes walking around the town and enjoying the view from many points.  This town has my recommendation.  It is worth the drive.

Leaving Cingoli, we made our way down the hill, towards the river.  We took a turnoff to San Vittorio.  This is a little, pockmarked road that you would think no one but a farmer or two would go down.  However, the road was very busy.  There was lots of traffic, all going our direction.  But of course, being Italians, they were in quite a hurry and would roar up on our tail and pass as soon as there was a wide spot to get around us.  This leant a frantic atmosphere to the drive, and I found myself wanting to push down the accelerator and hurry along too.  After awhile of driving through nothing but field after field, we swung around a corner, past a grove of trees and there was a huge parking lot, full of cars.  What could it be?  There were probably 100 cars in the lot.  Maybe a wedding?  No, it was a restaurant, and it must have been packed.  We marked it on our map, because this must be one gooooood restaurant.  As we went past and on down the country road, the traffic in back of us disappeared, but now we had hurrying Italians coming at us, trying to pass the slower cars on the one lane road.  Everybody from miles around was headed to this restaurant.

MONDAY, MAY 21

We woke up this morning to rain.  Not what I was hoping for at the start of our bike trip.  For once all 5 tv weather forecasts were in accordit would be rain.

We turned in the rental car, cleaned up the apartment, and rode our bikes down to the train station.  We decided to take the train to Tolentino and start riding from there.  Our exit from Tolentino was quick and easy, and we were officially off on our bike tour.  The road was good, and as it runs parallel to the freeway, pretty quiet. 

We just got out of town and had started really rolling along, and Don started talking about stopping for lunch.  I was just roaring along to get to Villa Fiorita before it rained.  Of course, nothing is open from 12:30 until 3, so even though we stopped at several possible eating places, no luck.  Finally we found a restaurant that was serving, and went in for lunch.  By the time we finished the rain had started.  The guys at the bar were all taking bets on our departure in the rain.  When we did put on our rain gear and leave, I think several people lost some money. 

Our raingear includes waterproof Goretex jackets and pants, shower caps to put over our helmets, and special waterproof socks for our feet.  When Don bought these socks I was pretty negative because they were so expensive.  Even though it was raining, it was not cold, so I didnt wear my rainpants because they make a distracting swishing sound, and I didnt put on my waterproof socks until after we had started out.  Don got all suited up with all of his raingear.  He put his special socks on with his bicycling sandals.  This was the true test of these special socks.  He sealed up his rainpant legs over the ankles of is socks and his feet were warm and dry when he took them off that night.  On the other hand, because I did not seal up my legs in my rainpants, my socks were waterlogged.  Don felt quite superior with his warm, dry feet.

We rode along the peaceful country road, gently going uphill, in the rain.  It rained off and on for the rest of the day.  Don finally figured out that he had a slow leak in his rear tire, and he stopped to fix it, while I went on the few more miles to our hotel. 
 

Thanks for your interest in our travels.

Links to other reports:      Page 1     Siena

                                           Page 2     Roma

                                           Page 3     Porto Recanati

                                           Page 4     Essay on Italian Television

                                           Page 5     Giro d'Italia

                                           Page 6     Assisi & Montefalco

                                           Page 7     Todi, Etruscan Pottery, Giro d'Italia

                                           Page 8     Orvieto, Missed the last Tram  down,                                                               

                                           Page 9      iChiari,  Castiglione de Lago, Caldo??                                                                

                                           Page10     Fiesole, Florence

                                           Page 11   The Perfect Bicycle Ride

                                           Page 12    Florence, Uffizi, Fiesole

                                           Page 13   CinqueTerre                                                

                                           Page  14  Riomaggiore, Monterossa, Vernazza, 

                                           Page  15  Porto Venere, Lord Byron, Le Grazie

           Link to Don's Art Work should work now. 

                                        Don's Art Work on France and Truckee

           Email to Don & Geralynn

           All pictures and text are copyright of Don & Geralynn Myrah Sr  2001.