Friday morning we finally met Antonella Tucci, the owner/operator of Gira l'Umbria (http://www.giralumbria.org/) who we planned and booked our cycling trip with seven months ago. She showed up right on time at 8:30 at our hotel in Assisi with her husband?, Simone.
As Simone got our bikes ready, Antonella briefed us on our day's route with detailed maps and a written itinerary with descriptions and distances between waypoints. She even provided a Garmin GPS loaded with the day's route. We had been bit apprehensive about getting lost, since everything is so foreign over here, and were relieved that she had everything so thoroughly covered.
Once the briefing was complete, we were off and on our own. First thing - figure out how to get out of Assisi! After a few wrong turns (damn sun makes it hard to see the GPS screen) and riding the wrong way down a one-way street, we were outside the medieval walls and cruising.
Only one problem, the bike computer wasn't working so the detailed turn by turn itinerary was not so detailed. Oh well, might as well just march on with the GPS.
We spent the first hour stopping frequently to make small adjustments to out seats. Funny how difficult it is to ride a different bike after riding the same one for a decade.
We eventually figured it all out by our first stop - a wine tasting at Di Filippo Winery outside of Cannara at 11AM. A bit early for wine tasting, but while in Italy... Here we met Valaria, who would be our guide through the tasting of Montefalco wines for the next hour. Molto buono!
 |
| Valaria |
With the weather heating up and a nice buzz, we mounted our bikes and headed south to Bevagna. A couple of miss steps along the way only added to the adventure, and we cruised in to Bevagna hot and famished.
Bevagna is a beautiful, small, medieval walled town, but we were starving, and had one thing on our minds - food! We eventually found a small Trattoria on a deadend lane - oh what the hell, we need to eat. Turns out La Trattoria di Oscar had some phenomenal food. Though the waitress didn't want to take no for an answer, we decided to skip the wine. After all, the majority of the day's climbing lay ahead.
Stuffed to the gills with great food, we once again saddled up and headed out. Only to be greeted with a slow and steady climb. Glad we didn't have that wine at lunch!
After a few ups, downs and arounds, we eventually entered Montefalco's gates.
Ahh, time for a shower and some rest. Rather than have a sit down meal, Tamara and I visited a small store in the main piazza and stumbled through communicating with the proprietors in Italian. The local bread, cheese, prosciutto, and vegetables all paired well with the local wine we had while sitting outside the hotel situated on the street seen in the above photo. Another Gelato made for a great finish to the night.
Tomorrow, on to Spoleto.
No comments:
Post a Comment