Bici, Amici and Italy

​We wake up once more to an ominous weather forecast and threatening skies. We decide to forge ahead despite the current thunder we are hearing.  The radar looks like we will have about a three hour window which could get us most of the way to Tolentino.  The two people at the desk beg us to stay as it is too dangerous to go. We tell them, siamo pazzi (we are crazy) and our limited Italian prevents us from explaining our analysis of the weather radar we have carefully studied.  Off we go.  Things go well for awhile.  Only an occasional spritz of rain.  However, there are some hills which slow us down so we aren’t moving as fast as hoped for.  Then we are undertaking a long climb over a pass and we face our first obstacle.  There is a mudslide on the road which is actively being cleared.  We have a turn ahead which will drop us back into the valley where we would follow a river most of the rest of the way.  However the very kind road work...

​Our final day in Croatia feels kind of like being a homeless person. We had to check out of our lodging and wait around till the 8 pm departure that night.  It was a long day and rainy and cool to boot.  Here is the Marco Polo, our ship to take us from Split to Ancona Italy.   It is a joy to hear Italian voices as the passengers start to queue up. There was even a slew of Italian motorcyclists waiting and there was a lot of friendly trash talk happening most of which I couldn’t follow but it wasn’t hard to get the gist!  Finally we get aboard a couple of hours before departure time.  This is a very old ship and it doesn’t appear to have had any aesthetic upgrades. We are talking retro here.  I even read that it had gone aground on one of the islands in the early 2000’s and there was some debate whether it would even be repaired and returned to the fleet.   They did repair it and here it is.  However it is rather cool and certainly functional. ...

​Our Dalmatian Coast island hop ends with a ferry ride from Korcula to Dubrovnik.   A two hour ferry ride ends at the Dubrovnik ferry terminal and Jim and I have to run through a couple of kilometers of a traffic gauntlet to get to the old town.  When entering the harbor from the ferry we see several cruise ships.  The press of humanity upon entering the city is a bit overwhelming.   It is more crowded than anywhere we have been on this trip.    We get to our lovely apartment which is a beautifully restored old house at the top of the old town.  The old town is only pedestrian traffic and it required carrying bikes up many a stone staircase.   After a brief respite we head out to see this incredible city some more. The city gates are especially dramatic.  The architecture is breathtaking.  The views of the sea are none too shabby either.  We are here for three nights and we do a day trip to Ston on our first day.  Climbing the ...