Italy's Wild West - Maremma

Today we arrived in Maremma - the southwestern region of Tuscany along the Mediterrranean coast. We are staying at a fabulous hotel, L'Andana, outside the seaside town of Castiglione della Pescaia.

Several months ago we purchased a four night stay on Luxury Link, knowing that we'd want to spend some time elsewhere in Italy after our bicycle trip. Check out the hotel's website to see details about this place - L'Andana. We figure this is the fifteenth travel package we have purchased at auction on Luxury Link in the past six years.

We have appointments to visit several of the local wineries. No bus tours stopping at the wineries here like they do on Highway 29 in Napa. Here it's by appointment only.

We also plan on spending a day in the nearby Natural Park of Maremma and renting bicycles to tour the countryside (we haven't had enough bicycling yet?). And of course, we plan on having some great Italian meals and sampling the local wine output.

On our way from Rome, we ventured off the main highway and drove up to the small town of Pitigliano. This is an amazing town - you read about places like this and doubt you'll ever see one in person. It was built in the 10th century atop tufa stone - volcanic rock. The street are unbelievably narrow.

Located in Pitigliano is one of the oldest synagogues in Italy - founded in 1598. It was destroyed during WW II and restored during the 1990s. There are no longer enough Jewish people in the area to sustain a congregation, so it's primarily used as a museum and meeting place. There's Jordan wearing a yamulke to take a picture of the sanctuary.

This is a picture of the congregation from 1936.

We ate lunch at a fantastic restaurant in this town - Il Tufo Allegro. The wild mushroom soup was to die for. And Caren had gnocchi made out of cheese, no pasta. A good meal in Italy is not cheap, but it can be a great gastronomic experience.

Now we can't wait to try out more small trattoria throughout the Maremma region.

I Have an Urge to Pee

WE FOUND IT!!!!!! We actually found Villa d'Este and have proof. See the pic.

What a magnificent Renaissance villa it is. The gardens are beautiful and there are dozens of fountains. So much water! The guys that built this place really knew their engineering.

All the water kinda gives you the urge to go to the bathroom. Good thing the restrooms are easy to find - the universal symbol is always a relief when you spot it.

Tivoli is a compact city - we walked to Villa d'Este from our hotel. How come we couldn't find Villa d'Este five years ago? Because the train station is above and on the eastern edge of the city. Without a map or directions, you'd never know where to go.

Oh well, now we can say "been there, done that."

Now we're heading off to Villa Gregoriana which is next to our hotel.

Will We Ever Find Villa d'Este?

We left the city of Bari in Puglia earlier today and drove several hours to the hills outside of Rome. Caren was really upset that we didn't stop to take pictures of Monte Cassino (site of the famous WW II battle). You can see it from the highway - it's obvious why the hill was such a strategic target - it overlooks everything for miles.

Driving on the autostrada takes a certain mentality. Stay in one of the right lanes unless you want to pass. If you dare hang out in a left lane, be prepared for impatient Italians or Germans flashing their lights and honking to pass. They come up on you in a flash - 200 km/hr (120 mph) is a typical cruising speed.

We are now in the town of Tivoli - famous for Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este gardens. We're staying at the Hotel Sirene right in the center of town.

Driving here is not for the faint of heart - they haven't heard of two lane roads, stop lights, or parking lots. To drop off our luggage, we drove down a steep, one lane street, and then backed up the street to the main drag (Jordan's great with the manual transmission). No one pays any attention to parking signs - find an open spot anywhere and stick your car in it.

Our room looks out at the Temple of Vesta, a tiny, Corinthian-columned temple, and the Villa Gregoriana gardens. This hotel was originally built as a villa in 1865 - fortunately it has been updated quite a bit, including indoor plumbing and electricity. The view from our room is spectacular.

The last time we visited Tivoli was in 2001 when our son Bryan was spending a semester in Rome. Unfortunately, we didn't allocate enough time on our day trip to Tivoli and only visited Hadrian's Villa (we'll leave that excursion for another posting). We wandered around and couldn't find Villa d"Este. I doubt it exists. Maybe tomorrow we'll finally find it.

"I've Been to Rome, but Where is Tivoli?"

Good question..... Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Rome each year, but not many venture out of the city. Tivoli is a small town in the hills east of Rome. (For you geography buffs, we're not talking about Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark.)

For hundreds of years, the rich, famous, politicians, and religious leaders have escaped to the hillside communities outside of Rome to avoid the summer heat. Tivoli is the home of Villa Adriano (Hadrian's Villa) and the Ville d'Este with its extensive gardens.

Click here to see a Map of Tivoli

Time to Dust Off My Italian Driving Skills

It was hard saying goodbye yesterday to all our new bicycling (and drinking) friends. But now it's off in our rental car (a Ford Focus small SUV with a peppy engine - this model is NOT sold in the U.S.) along the autostrada from Bari (on the Adriatic coast) to the eastern outskirts of Rome (on the west coast).

This is not a picture of our rental car (on the right) - but we liked the photo op.

The Masseria San Domenico was truly a ***** hotel. It must be where wealthy Italians from the north come to chill out. Swimming pool, tennis, golf, beach club, bicycling, spa, gourmet restaurant, great weather, and lots of quiet.

Now it's time to try out my driving skills on the Italian motorways - can I hit 180 km/hour and not get passed?

The Last Days of Puglia

Yesterday was our last full day in Puglia. It was a jam packed day (and night) of activities and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

But the night before, we had a very special treat. During dinner, Lewis (one of our intrepid B&R tour leaders) sang a beautiful Italian ballad. It brought tears to everyone's eyes. Alright, maybe it only brought tears to Lewis' eyes , but we all gained a lot of respect for him and his effort.

The Masseria San Domenico was fabulous (and pricey). On a slope overlooking the Adriatic, it is part of a large estate. From the rooftop, you can make out the hills of Albania across the sea.

We bicycled thru the "Land of the Trulli" around Alberobello. Trulli are small houses built with conical stone roofs. There are thousands of them in the area and they are now protected as national landmarks. So much for doing a "gut job" and renovating a new vacation home in Puglia.

We also stopped in to a small family-run cheese factory. We never knew that you could carve little animals out of fresh mozzerella. Go figure. The cheese tasted great - no more packaged crap from the grocery store.

We met a lot of great people on this bicycle trip: PJ and Rick, Dave (helmet cam man) and Sharon, DeWitt and Glory, George and Donna, Jim and Deb, Franc and Nancy, Brad and Barbara, Hugh and Sally, Celeste, Janet, and Bill and Patti. A lot of fun to ride with, eat with, and of course, drink with.

Here are some photos from our last day in Puglia and the folk entertainment at our "goodbye" dinner:

We Meet A Nice Single (Rich) Italian Woman

The bus, the bus!!! We actually rode a bus yesterday from Lecce to Ostuni (don't worry, more bicycling later on). It was Sunday so everything was quiet and peaceful.

Ostuni is a walled, whitewashed, hillside town that looks down on the Adriatic. This place looks more like picture postcards of Greece or the medinas of Morocco than an Italian city.

Our guide for a walking tour of Ostuni was a lovely young woman, Paola. (A few surprises about her later on.) We visited a convent of cloistered nuns and Caren bought some holy medallions to send to Carol Hallock. I bet the nuns aren't watching the NFL on their big screen plasma TV today. Walking the cobblestone streets of Ostuni is for mountain goats, not Americans in their biking clothes.

We turned a corner and there they were - our trusty steeds all tuned up for another day of bicycling. We said goodbye to Paolo (or so we thought) and started our ride - straight uphill into the countryside. Caren decided to ride the van, but Jordan made it all the way to Villa Massari.

What a place! This is a huge family farm estate - and there is Paola! It has belonged to her family since the 12th century. We toured the grounds, including her father's extensive collection of antique carriages, and then had a bountiful picnic (with lots more wine). Everyone in our group with an unmarried son asks Paola for her phone number to try and play cupid. Fortunately, for Paola, she has a boy friend in Rome.

Then came the real excitement - Caren got LOST. We rode back down the hill towards Ostuni and then thru the coastal country towards Masseria San Domenico, our final hotel on the tour (more about it in another posting).

Jordan stopped to take a picture for Al D'Amico (see photo) to show him his Italian relatives' business empire, and Caren sped off with another woman, not to be seen for the next three hours. No cell phone, no trip notes, no money, no idea where they were..... Where they went wrong, no one knows. Finally, after Jordan's cell phone calls to our tour leaders and the support van retracing the bicycle route, there they were - only 15 kilometers from the hotel. SO what happens next - Francesco cleans off Caren's hands (because they were covered with grease when she had to fix her bicycle chain) and tells them to pedal on. I think she learned a lesson.

Olive Oil Tasting and Dozens of Churches

Lecce has SO many churches, and most of them are in this extravagent Baroque style. The priests must have a real competition recruiting parishioners for their respective churches. You could attend mass at a different one every day and still miss a couple.

Check out an assortment of pictures from yesterday's ride looping the countryside outside of Lecce and then hiking around the walled city. We cycled thru a wetlands nature preserve, along the coast (chilly and windy), ate lunch at a masseria with an ENORMOUS olive tree orchard, did an olive oil tasting, and drank a LOT more wine. We found out that there are about 40 MILLION olive trees in Puglia (they produce about 40% of Italy's total olive oil). I would have never guessed - I think we bicycled past all 40 million trees.

Cookies and Lecce?

I guess that should be Leche (Spanish for milk). Anyway, yesterday we said goodbye to Otranto and headed north and inland to the city of Lecce. Kilometer after kilometer of olive groves. Great weather for bicycling.

There's Jordan in his Tour de Vietnam cycling jersey - it's a real hit among our fellow cyclists. They all want one.

Several kilometers before lunch at Masseria Copertini, this "stray?" dog joins us. He keeps up with us all the way. We have a new companion.

Another big hit was Dewitt's cycling shorts. Check them out! I've got to get me a pair.

It's More Fun to Drink Wine Than to Make Orecchiette

Yesterday's bicycle ride took us thru a zillion olive groves and then along the coast south of Otranto. They have these lovely narrow paved roads thru the olive groves - great for bicycle riding, but they go every which direction. How anyone can find their way without directions is beyond me. They say it was to confuse invading armies - I believe it.

Every so often we come to a small town - cappucino break! Each small town looks alike - a central plaza, a main church, city hall, a combo bar/coffee shop/convenience store, and lots of old men sitting around drinking espresso and talking politics. A nice, peaceful, low stress lifestyle.

We ended up at the town of Castro Marina for lunch, but our restaurant was closed. For what reason? Who knows? So we found another restaurant, but had to schedule our meal around a wedding reception at the restaurant. Only in Italy - a wedding reception on a Thursday afternoon.

After lunch (everyone takes at least an hour and a half for lunch), not many of us were in the mood for a long, uphill ride back to Masseria Montelauro. So Lewis crammed a bunch of us into the van and rode us up the steepest hill before we got out and pedalled the rest of the way. What a guy!

Before dinner, we had an cooking class - making homemade orecchiette, Puglia's famous pasta shape. Caren claims they are shaped like penis caps - how would she know what a penis cap looked like? What exactly is a penis cap? Something you wear in cold weather?
These two women were able to crank out the little pastas very quickly. After several glasses of wine, not many in our group could tackle the pasta making anyways. We left it for the kitchen staff to do the cooking and we settled in for eating and more drinking.

Do we really have to bicycle ride again tomorrow? Perhaps it will be raining when we get up tomorrow morning.

Everyone Conquered This Area at Some Time

Last night we stayed at the Masseria Montelauro. A "masseria" is an old fortified farm. They built walls around the farm compound to try and repel invaders. It seems like every ancient civilization invaded this area at least once. Hundreds of years ago, Otranto was overrun by the Turks and they slaughtered thousands of local people. The Pugliese people still remember.

In recent years, people have been buying up these old farms, rebuilding the ruined buildings, and opening small, luxury hotels. This place is gorgeous - on a hillside overlooking the coast, surrounded by olive groves and farmland. The rooms are ultra-modern design (very Italian).

We ate dinner at a 12th century castle that has been restored by the original family. Quite a building, but it must be terrible to heat in the winter. Lots and lots of Puglia wine to drink - good thing we're not driving the van home. We're headed off now on our second day of bicycling. The next post will cover our coastal ride and pasta making class.

Otranto























This is where the bicycle tour begins - along the Adriatic coast near the town of Otranto (see the far right side of the map). This is the heel of the boot of Italy.

We spent the night in Brindisi after a LONG flight from LA (LAX-Cincinnati-Rome-Brindisi). An hour after we checked into our hotel by the harbor, the airport was closed. A couple of Albanians (with NO weapons) hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane and it was forced to land where???? In Brindisi. There we are watching "Breaking News" on CNN and the pictures show the plane landing where we just landed not an hour before. Caren always wanted to be on CNN, but this was cutting it a bit close.

Our bicycle group numbers 22, but one woman got delayed on business in London and will catch up in a day or two. She needs to get her priorities straight - Italian food, good wine, and gorgeous landscapes take precedence over a little work.

Our tour guides are Lewis (a Canadian) and Francesco (from northern Italy). The first ride is along the Alimini Lakes to the coast, winding up at Otranto harbor for lunch. The weather is PERFECT.

We're Off to Italia

Next week, we're headed off on another exciting adventure. This time we're going to Italy - first for a week long bicycle tour through Puglia (the heel of the boot), followed by two nights outside of Rome (in the town of Tivoli), and four nights in the Maremma region of Tuscany (along the Mediterranean coast). We're looking forward to a lot of great sightseeing, food, wine, bicycling, and making new friends.

The weather should be a lot like it is now in LA - mid 70s during the day and low 60s at night. We think we're staying away from the crowds of tourists, but we'll see.

There was an interesting article about the Maremma region in the NY Times Sunday magazine back in May. Here's a link to it: NY Times Article

For those of you that are geographically challenged, here is a map that shows where the province of Puglia is located in Italy.
Our bicycle trip starts in Brindisi, then goes on to Otranto, Lecce, and finally, Savelletri (outside of the city of Bari).

And here is the Wikipedia article with everything you ever wanted to know about Puglia: Wikipedia article