A Windless Day - Marano Luganare to Monfalcone

​Today was another fifty mile day but the first one with little to no wind.  It was fast going all day and most of the day was on beautiful paved cycle paths.  


We passed through a few small towns. This peacock was guarding his property.  However most of the day was out in wide open country along the usual waterways.  

Early in the day we passed through an extensive archeological park.  The town was called Aquileia.  In the early Ad years it was one of the biggest towns in the Roman Empire with a population of over one hundred thousand people.  It was a prosperous port city on the Adriatic.  Unfortunately, it’s prosperity caught the interest of Attilla the Hun.  This became one of the first cities he ransacked in the Roman Empire.  His army so annihilated the city that it was barely recognizable.  The survivors of the city and nearby towns fled in masse into the marshlands and they eventually started building the town which became Venice. 


One of the more spectacular cycle paths was the one into Grado.  About a four mile causeway with stunning Adriatic views in both directions.  




We ran into a couple on the path that had been at the same hotel the night before. We had a lengthy conversation of sorts getting to practice my Italian. They were from Rimini Italy and were doing some of the same route as us including the paranzana through Slovenia into Croatia.   


Then the cycle paths brought us right along the main cycle path with a view of Trieste in the distance. This was a delightful ride along the built up causeway right on the Adriatic shoreline.  


We cruised into Monfalcone and checked into our hotel in the historic center.  Tomorrow we meet my brother Al and my sister-in-law Diane to start some adventuring together.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Solitude and Destruction - Pioraco to Visso to Norcia

Image
​The roads from Pioraco and for most of the day to Visso are very quiet and remote.   We are deep into the earthquake prone part of Italy and the powerful earthquake of 2016 which this day happens to be the anniversary of reveals the magnitude of what the residents of this area have lost.   The ride out of Pioraco involved a lot of gravel and broken pavement roads and nary a car to be seen with the exception of a farm vehicle or two.   A long gravelly climb puts us at this atmospheric spot with an ancient church and watering trough.    The other side of the mountain takes us into deep forest with the occasional verdant green farm field.  We check into our bnb which seems oddly new and wooden or so it seems in this land of stone and antiquity!  The town appears to be a newly built town to house the displaced residents and businesses of Visso which were totally destroyed in the earthquake.  It feels a little strange but also you can feel the sense o...
Read more

Another Voice Heard from Castelluccio

Image
​ Hello, this is Doug and I'm writing in the hope that Betsy will "publish" this as a guest entry to her blog. If you've been reading the blog you will know that Shawn and I have been traveling with Betsy and Jim on this amazing trip for the past 5 weeks. Today is our last day together, and I want to tell everyone how great it's been to be here. Tomorrow, Shawn and I part ways with our dear companions to ride to Spoleto where we will catch a train to Rome. There, we reverse the process from the start … go to Jim and Betsy's rented storage bin (EasyBox) disassemble and pack the bikes, get a ride to the airport … then fly home. What could possibly go wrong? One thing that stands out about this month-long trip is how little has gone wrong! Yes we've been VERY fortunate with the weather (although today's hailstorm was not ideal), but besides that the smooth flow of things has been because of our tour guides. The routes that Jim has been planning (literally...
Read more

Another Croatian Seaside Port- Rovinj to Pula

Image
​We reluctantly say goodbye to picture perfect Rovinj.  After leaving the city limits we reach a pedestrian cycling only path that clings to the sea.  The Adriatic Sea is so inviting and the path is lined with what looks like some kind of red pine giving us cool shade for many miles.  Most of the day is right on the sea’s edge with a few deviations slightly inland.   We take a dirt road that is very pleasant with a few puddles from yesterday’s deluge.  We come across a rider who tells us it is too muddy to continue.  He looks at Diane and I and says , I don’t want to insult you but I think the path ahead is too muddy.  It is probably alright for you ( then looking at Al and Jim) but you (looking at the females again) might lose your balance in the mud and fall.  We chat a bit further and waiver on whether to push onward into potential danger or to turn back and find another route.  We agree let’s try it. It turned out to be nothing and we had...
Read more