We decided to ride directly out of Rome instead of taking a train further out into the country. Not sure it was the best decision. Riding out of a major city can be stressful and hectic, and that is exactly what it was. In all honesty, we probably overromaticized and underestimated those first couple of days, which weren’t the beautiful rolling hills we expected but the typical industrial and suburban areas that you would expect outside of a big city. And it was our first taste of the tough hills to come, so we had some harsh realizations those first couple of days about how this “ride to florence” was going to go. Despite praising the non-planning aspect of our travel in the previous post, sometimes not doing enough research can result in some unpleasant surprises.

That being said (because honesty is good), there were several bright spots those first couple of days. The first being our time spent at the Bracciano castle and our first night camping at Lake Bracciano. It is a large and gorgeous castle overlooking a large and gorgeous lake. We found a really cool craft beer place right in the shadow of the castle and enjoyed checkin out the neat town. Definitely what you would think of as the quintessential Italian castle and old town. We biked a little further around the lake to the campsite later that evening and spent some time hanging out at the campsite’s beach looking at the eerily lit castle on a hill underneath the full moon. Definitely made the tough ride worth it.

The next day, another bright spot (hint: not the ride) was ending up in this random town called Civita Castellana with virtually no tourists and a little food festival going on. We had some amazing food truck paninis and picked up some local spicy goods. We have been eating amazing food, but sometimes we crave that extra kick that seems to be missing in the European countries we’ve visited.

Then, we had a choice to make. We knew that at this pace, because of the intense hills, we wouldn’t make it to Florence in time. We didn’t want to miss Tuscany so we decided to take a train ahead to Cortona and wind our way to Florence from there. This turned out to be the best decision because if we thought the few hills out of Rome were tough, it was nothing compared to Tuscany. We had heard it was difficult, but because we had just biked over huge MOUNTAINS we thought we were golden. But instead we were humbled. The relentlessness of the climbs, which were not rewarded with the long coastal downhills but depressingly short ones, was a shock. But…. the views. They make it worth every drop of sweat.

Tuscany is incredibly picturesque, just like you imagine and in fact better. Everywhere you look there are green and golden hills dotted with beautiful trees, homes, and farms. And in between are these magical-looking hilltop towns with medieval stone castles, walls, and churches. It’s almost unbelievable. Fortunately for our cardiovascular health but unfortunately for our legs, we were dead set on visiting several of these hill top towns. The climbs were brutal for sure, but the reward is what every traveler to Italy wants. Strolling peacefully along the stone streets of these ancient towns, drinking wine, eating delicious pizza and pasta, checking out the views of the countryside, people watching (Italian people-watching is amazing), and just enjoying life.

Cortona, Pienza, Siena, Chianti, then finally Florence. The moments in those places, and in between them, were just a constant stream of YES. One night we camped at a farm with a nice restaurant, and splurged on our one full Italian 5 course meal. It was the best meal we have had in Europe by far. Another time, Laura was so enchanted by Siena that she started imagining living there forever. Yet another major moment was gliding serenely into Florence after a sweet gently-sloping 10k downhill. Biking the Italian countryside was the most awesome way we could have seen this place. Nine straight days of cycling (including the two days after Rome). And we are so grateful for such a badass yet graceful experience.

That being said… we decided to ditch the bikes in Florence. More on that next.

The ferry from Split to Ancona, Italy was our third overnight ferry, the first two being to and from Crete back in early August. Those previous ferries had been at the peak of the season for tourists and both of them were packed to the gills. Our friend Christine was on the first one with us, and she smartly got a dedicated chair whereas we were stuck with whatever space we could find. On that first ferry, we didn’t realize how cutthroat the declaration of space would be, and we ended up (not) sleeping on our mats on the outside deck. There were people sleeping EVERYWHERE, in the hallways, on stairwells, literally everywhere. Despite not sleeping a wink, it was a really interesting and fun travel adventure, particularly because Crete tourists, especially those taking the ferry, are mostly Greek and it felt like an authentic local experience. One the way back from Crete we ended up getting a chair, which was a bit nicer but still more like trying to sleep on a larger airplane or train seat.

For the 11 hour ferry to Ancona we were much luckier, and given the time of year we had a ton of empty rows of seats to choose from, and were able to luxuriously stretch out across a row. We had met a badass German student and bike tourer named Susanna, and after several beers and a couple of hours of story swapping, we all got a pretty decent night’s sleep and woke up in Italy. We had decided that we would head straight to the train station after the ferry and book it straight to Rome. Ancona, we hardly knew thee.

Since we originally planned to take a ferry to Venice, and we knew we would end up in Genoa, we had a tough time trying to figure out the best route. But we chose to start in Rome and go up to Florence by bike, then just train to Venice and train again to Genoa. Given we wanted to spend two or three days in each city, it didn’t leave us a ton of time on the bikes, just about a week (because we had booked a ferry to Morocco from Genoa on Oct. 21). But we figured it was enough to explore Umbria and Tuscany by bike a bit, so we thought it was a reasonable decision (little did we realize the Tuscan hills are BRUTAL, more on that in the next post).

So we headed to Rome from Ancona and after 11 hours on a ferry and a few more on a train, we were in Rome. We had two full days and were damn sure going to make the best of it. We made a plan: first day would be all of the ancient sites, the next day the Vatican and art. We woke up that first morning and hit it hard, going all day long and seeing so much neat stuff it made our heads spin. Laura had never been to Rome so it was especially fun for her to see everything for the first time – the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and some additional sites like Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was literally walking through history and Laura’s previous incarnation as a student of ancient philosophy back in college added an extra layer of time warp. For Javi, revisiting all these sites brought back fun family memories from previous trips years ago. For both of us, our tour of ancient sites contributed so much to our ever-growing well of knowledge, awe, and sometimes dismay at the evolution of human culture, politics, and expression.

The next day started at the Vatican. It was a Wednesday, and we didn’t realize until we were there that the pope has a public appearance and speech every Wednesday morning. As lapsed Catholics, we figured we should check it out as a nod to our roots. It was a bit of a madhouse but worth seeing the scene, which was celebratory and full of excitement. We then did a tour of the Vatican’s vast collection of art and climbed to the top of the famous basilica for an incredible view of Rome. St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel were all worth the crowds and hectic atmosphere, and we were thrilled that we accomplished all of our “tourist” goals in Rome, AND had time to chill, ride bikes, and walk around cool neighborhoods like Trastevere. For Laura, Rome was a delightful surprise, given that she hadn’t expected to like it so much (because of preconceived notions about tourism, large cities, and the Catholic presence). For both of us, it is a vibrant and just plain cool city that ended up being one of the best experiences of Italy.

And now…. back on the bikes.

We’ve mentioned this before, but one of the favorite aspects of our travels abroad (and to some extent in the states) is that we don’t really plan too many details ahead of time. We generally have a vague idea of our route, some bigger spots we would like to hit, but rarely book any accommodations or do any research before we end up somewhere. We just sort of figure it out as we go along, which makes for an interesting and often surprising traveling life. So many times we have rolled up on a place and been like “Whaaaaaaaat?! We had no idea!” Not knowing where you’re headed can be stressful sometimes to be sure, but we’ve never ended up stranded and the magic outweighs any anxiety. Laura especially had not envisioned the trip like this but found that her type A-ish tendency toward trip planning melted away fairly easily, replaced by more flexibility and a more acute sense of adventure.

Which is all to say it’s a good thing we’ve developed that flexibility, because there are invariably curveballs thrown at us along the way.  Originally we had plans to cycle up to Zadar and at some point we thought we would even make our way to Pula and then ferry to Venice, Italy around the beginning of October. But when we were in Korcula we realized there was no way we would make it to Pula by then. Even using ferries to  hop through the northern islands, it would  be far too expensive  and likely take far too long.  Additionally, we spoke to the ferry company and were informed that Zadar ferries to Ancona, Italy stopped running in September. So our only option to ferry to Italy was from Split. Given our generally relaxed attitude towards planning, this was obviously news to us but no biggie, we would just bike around for a week and then come back to Split.

We discussed the idea of heading to the Bosnia/Herzagovina border and crushing some mountains, but our leg muscles said “NO WAY!” Instead we opted to chill in a beach town named Makarska a little south of Split.  But before leaving Split the area had one final gem to offer.  The archaeological treasures of Salona / Solin are just north of Split and offered us one more amazing stop before we headed south.

We had a hell of a time getting down to Makarska over the course of two days; those coastal mountains are brutal. We camped near Omis the first night and the next day after another brutal ride we were finally chilling in our tiny Airbnb apartment up on a hill. We absolutely loved Makarska. We had a great time cooking in, looking at the ocean from our little terrace, doing some planning for Italy, and of course exploring the area. We liked it so much we decided to stay an extra night for a total of 5 nights. One day we did our very first paid tour on this trip, a “safari” tour on a sit on top Land Rover to the Biokovo Nature Park, which is the breathtakingly beautiful mountain range behind the town. It was so lovely to hang out in such a neat place and actually stay put for a while. Other than London and Crete, we hadn’t really stayed put anywhere for very long.

On the last morning we reluctantly packed the bikes, started pedaling and made our way back to camp in Omis, which is equally beautiful, where river meets ocean, and a haven for climbers and river rafters. We had an amazing ride along the mountains and river to Omis and another good ride to Split the next day. We camped at a site south of the city and had the best sausage and French fry stuffed sandwiches ever (aka Cevapcici). Then finally the next day we hopped on our (third!) overnight ferry to Italy!

We were on the Dalmatian Coast (which is the name of the region) almost three weeks and loved every minute. It is SUCH a gorgeous place with layers of history and beauty everywhere you go and we hope we get to explore the rest of the country some day. Hvala Croatia!

Croatia Pt. 2

After Dubrovnik we decided to head up the Pelješac peninsula. We camped out at a place near a marina, our first night trying out our new tarp. We took a walk to the marina for a drink and in the course of about 5 minutes it was suddenly the craziest wind storm we have seen, with large 60 foot sailboats on their side and people running all over the place trying to batten everything down. We knew when we returned to camp it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. And it wasn’t…. the tent was basically upside down and the tarp totally wrapped around a tree. But luckily our stuff survived and we moved on the next day a  little windblown and damp but feeling good.

We moved on to our next campsite near a town called Ston, which we had no idea was another walled fortress (there have been a lot of those on our travels), with what the info sheets said was the longest wall after the wall of China. We took a bike break to walk a ways up the wall but gave up after our buns were burning, given that we had a little more to bike. It was a neat town though, and we wish we could have spent more time there.

After camping near Ston we had an awesome downhill, Javi reckons our best so far, right into a town called Orebic. From there we took a ferry right away to the island of Korcula. We spent one night in the old town of Korcula, happily checking out the sights, including a Marco Polo museum (apparently he is from there). We also experienced a crazy two hour blackout on the whole island! It was surreal, tourists finishing their dinners by candlelight, and the only major artificial lights coming from the yachts in the harbor. The stars were beautiful. The next two nights on Korcula were spent camping and biking around exploring local vineyards and rock beaches with crystal clear water.

We left Korcula and took another ferry to the island of Hvar. Another day, another amazing old town. Hvar old town seemed like a more hip scene with more cocktail bars and a younger crowd. We stayed at a hostel and were by far the oldest people there, a jarring change from our Camino hostel days. But since we are still young and carefree at heart, we decided to drink our age insecurities away with the party crowd. We had a great time hanging out at what was surely the only late night dance party, drinking beers well past our usual 10:30 – 11 pm bedtime. It was well worth it, a fun scene indeed and much needed after a party drought in our lives.

After Hvar old town, we spent the next few nights in a little town on the other side of the island called Ivan Dolac. Basically we chose it because it was the cheapest Airbnb we could find, but turned out to be a cute town and awesome apartment. It was tough getting there on bikes, but quite an adventure on a crazy rocky coastal road seemingly still under construction. We caught up on some cooking, reading, and internetting there. After that we rode to Stari Grad and took another ferry to Split.

We had been talking about going to Split since the beginning of all of this, so it was so fun to finally arrive. It was a much bigger city than we knew, and had not only the typical old town, but huge block housing and mixed architectural areas way up into the hills. We stayed in someone’s apartment in the block housing area near the university so we experienced a whole range of city areas, not just the touristy parts.  We had a blast exploring Diocletian’s palace and different museums. Most exciting of all, we got to meet up with some San Francisco pals who were doing a bike tour of their own. It was fun to hang with not only other cyclists but folks we knew from back home. Getting to be social with people other than ourselves is always a treat.

After three nights it was time to move on, but we would be returning in a week for our final Croatian goodbye. To be continued….

Croatia Part 1

During our Albanian travels we met a few cyclists who told us they had experienced difficult riding in Montenegro, mostly because of the highways and fast drivers. So we decided to skip some of those parts and take a bus from Shkoder, our last stop in Albania, to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. A friend we met in Gjipe told us we had to go there, that it was very romantic. That’s pretty much all we knew when we got on the bus, and as with so much of our trip, we were happily surprised with an incredible place. First, the bus ride to Kotor was a joyous trip through a beautiful country. Laura especially was taken with Montenegro. Green mountains and gorgeous coastline. We were bummed to have to skip some of it, but definitely want to return to explore more of it someday. 

As we passed Budvah, a surreal looking beach spot beloved by vacationers, we thought about getting off the bus there because it seemed so awesome. But we decided we’d had plenty of beach party time in Albania and stayed on the bus until Kotor. We are happy we did because the Bay of Kotor is magical and we got to spend a few days there. We actually were only planning on one night in Kotor itself but we changed it to two immediately when we arrived. We had no idea it was even a popular tourist spot, but the big cruise ship clued us in right away. Despite the crowds, the old walled fortress and town are a delight. The bay is beautiful and we had the best time walking up the fortress walls, kayaking in the bay, and checking out the old town. We snagged a room with a sweet old lady who spoke no English but was a dear and fed us grapes (that were hanging around her terrace) for breakfast. 

We reluctantly left town after two days, but were stoked to bike around the edge of the bay, a chill coast side ride for a couple of days, and eventually over our first international border on bikes! Albania and Montenegro borders had both happened by bus, so we were stoked to get our first bike border crossing under our belts. It was a brutal ride with some good climbs but as we sailed into Croatia we were beaming. 

The beaming didn’t last long because we had more climbs to conquer. It was pretty rough so we decided to skip the last 10k of climbing and catch a boat  into our next destination – Dubrovnik! 

We were able to catch a boat pretty quickly from Cavtat to Dubrovnik. The guys who worked at the dock hilariously just threw our bikes on top of the boat and went on their way. The sea was rough so everyone on the boat was worried that our bikes would fall off, but we all (bikes included) made it safely to old town. 

We spent four nights in Dubrovnik, an awesome and ancient walled town on the Croatian coast. The first couple of days we explored marinas, parks, and beaches in the area, briefly stopping in the old town to discover what would become an everyday obsession – spinach and cheese bureks, an amazingly delicious pastry we haven’t seen anywhere but Croatia. Another day we decided to forgo the many options for pricey Game of Thrones tours and made our own based on web research. We spent the day visiting sites where the show films, which also happened to be some of the best spots to visit in town anyways, so it worked out. We walked the fortress walls early and checked out some really neat old parts of the town, stopping in several museums and bars along the way. We also learned a lot about the fight for Croatian independence and the breakup of Yugoslavia, including attacks on Dubrovnik itself in the early 90’s.

Dubrovnik is a beautiful place with so much to offer in terms of history, picturesque architecture, and a gorgeous surrounding landscape. But after dealing with throngs of tourists for several days, we were fine with leaving. It’s a place we would definitely go back to though, because there is so much to explore, including several nearby islands and other fun day trips that we missed this time around.

Time to move on to the rest of the Dalmatian coast.

Kotor to Dubrovnik