Author: sanborn

Yesterday we rode through earthquake country. One town in particular, San Ginesio, which is full of braces and scaffolding and steel cables holding buildings together. And we ended the day in a Catholic convent.The day started fine, with coffee in sunshine. Marnie had a perfect caffe macchiato.Gorgeous scenery, filled with foreboding.We rode a long uphill into San Ginesio, a lovely brick cobbled town. There was a market finishing up in three main square answer I bought a pretty scarf.Noticed that many buildings are bolted together with cables and lumber. Finally I asked someone. Ah yes, in October of 2016 was a terrible earthquake. The buildings haven’t been reconstructed, just supported.And there are two banners asking about reconstruction: when will it happen? It’s been three years!And at night, we were in a convent. Several nuns were Filipino and I’ve was from Indonesia, so they spoke English. A simple night but quite comfy.

Day before yesterday was a good ride. Bits of rain but nothing serious.

First we got coffee from a tiny bar in the town wall.

Then we trundled on until it was lunch time. We tried one hotel restaurant, but the English lady who owned it told us they weren’t open quite yet. So we ended up at the tiny pizza place in town. We got there only ten minutes before he closed, but had a great lunch. Turned out it was Jim’s birthday!

We’ve seen so many buildings here with reinforced doorways and scaffolding. Here are two common examples.

Saw these two on the way. I like the juxtaposition of the two photos…

I rode with a group of friends into Ascoli Piceno.

We stop for coffee, we stop for views, we stop for a long lunch with wine. Excellent company and great food!

We rode into the town right through the main center, past beautiful churches and wide piazzas.

Here’s my roommate, Kelli, in the main piazza.

This province, Le Marche, has plenty of mountains and wild countryside.

And very green everywhere!

Check out this palazzo. It’s in “Egyptian” style.

Amazingly tasty lunch in the parking lot at a truck stop.

At the bar where we had coffee, there was a sign “It is severely prohibited to disturb the card players!” !!!

Here’s the gang at coffee outside:

We seen so many buildings held together with cables and scaffolding. So many!!

Just a bit of artwork in an old wall.

Yesterday was a long and hilly day: 90km with 6,000ft elevation. It didn’t rain but was chilly and overcast all day. It was hard. Endless ride.

Also, worth noting: I only took 4 photos. Just wanted to be done!

Here we are at our first coffee break.

Another walled town.

How’s this for a cool water tower?!

We started the day in a positive space, which sustained us all day!

Today we rode a real point-to-point ride, across hill and dale. Lots of walled towns, but here everything is brick. No marble or stone facades.

Every town is surrounded by a thick brick wall with round towers.

Almost the first thing we saw when we got out of our village was a sign for Sacramento, not the California one though. 🙂

Later in the morning, we came around a corner and saw a Disneyland town in the distance: Corinaldo.

The towns here have been in perfect condition. Well maintained, no trash anywhere, almost too immaculate. But lovely, each one.

Two unexpected sights: a huge mural. I think that this area might be a communist or socialist stronghold. This mural makes me think of the ones I’ve seen in Russia and China.

And, at the very end of the day, I ride up into the town of Iesi and discovered an excellent exhibit of Tina Modotti’s photography. She was very active politically, using her photography to show poverty and oppression. She was involved with Edward Weston for a while and was pals with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Here’s one of her photos.

It rained too much to ride, so I spent the day in Ravenna looking at ancient gorgeous mosaics. This is an ancient city, dating back to Roman times: It was the seat of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and then of Byzantine Italy until the 8th century. There are 8 buildings from the 5th and 6th centuries with incredible mosaics. According to Unesco’s World Heritage list description, these show “a wonderful blend of Graeco-Roman tradition, Christian iconography and oriental and Western styles.” 

From the floors to the vast ceilings, it was quite awe inspiring! At the risk of overwhelming you, here are my best shots.

Let’s start with this one. It’s a side arch in a small chapel. simple cross, good shadows. 

I found my eyes pulled upwards time and again. The mosaics looked as though they were constructed yesterday. So detailed, so colorful!

        

       

 

        

         

And the floors were amazing too. My head whipped up and down, side to side, then up and down again… 

         

It was always about Christ. There were crosses and figures in every archway and ceiling. 

       

Yesterday it rained heavily all day and the winds were whipping the trees, so we hired a bus and traveled to Montemaggiore al Metauto in style.

As we drove up through the village, I saw signs with Winston Churchill on them. What’s up with that? We’re in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Well, it turns out that Winston came here in 1944 to scout out how to attack the Gothic Line. This town is right on the top of a hill, so they had 360° of view. A huge battle was fought here and the Germans ran away afterwards.

A local church has been converted into a museum to commemorate this event. How cool is that?! Here’s the poster with Winston on it.

We stayed in a great restored house. This is some of the bike group at dinner last much. Roast guinea fowl and succulent lamb chops.

Looking up from the restaurant towards the main town church…

[Sorry for uploading so many posts all at once. It takes me a long time to prepare the photos and the posts and I haven’t had time or psychic space to do any for a while. It will slow down…I promise!]

Our first day of riding was up to the Republic of San Marino. I’ve always wanted to go there, ever since I collected stamps as a kid. San Marino, like Lichtenstein, was a big producer of fancy stamps. And anyhow it’s a cool place: an independent country inside Italy.

The town is a series of castles perched on the top of a ridge of cliffs. I wouldn’t want to live there. Too high, too vertical.

Built right out of rock. Lots of stairs. Here I am carrying my bike down from one of the towers/castles.

Oh yes, the Giro comes here too. They have a time trial that ends up here. The signature color of the Giro is pink, so they have painted several streets and bike paths bright pink. It’s kind of alarming. But fun. 🙂

I took the train across Italy with my bike, so instead of paying €185 for a car, I paid €19 plus a €3.5 bicycle ticket. Yay!! You just hang your bike up.

We’ve stayed at a bike hotel. It’s been great: huge bike room downstairs, all the other guests are cyclist groups from Germany, Holland, France. They serve a second lunch in the afternoon so you can ride all morning and then come in and eat (until 4:30!).

This year the Giro D’Italia comes through here, so all the towns are celebrating.

I’m loving being here. This trip I know other people in the group, so I’ve got pals. It’s comforting to have friends when I meet so many new faces.

We decided we would ride together the next day, up to San Marino.

Before I dive into blogging about my bike trip in Italy, here’s a few shots from when I escaped the wedding activities…

I fit in a short glimpse of two shows at the Tate Britain. They have the largest collection of Turner’s in the world.

And the next day, I went to the Van Gogh exhibit. Did you know he spent three years in London? The Tate made it an excuse for a show. I had never seen any of his sketches. Very cool.

…and The Shard…

And this final shot, plastered on a random utility box on the sidewalk.