July 31, 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

                We headed down to the centre to arrive at our bike rental place for 8:30.  After talking with the hostel, we decided cycling to Sienna was not an option, but we could definitely cycle on some quiet roads to visit a few little towns en route.

                We had a rocky start.  I had a basket on my bike, but Shawn didn’t, so I put all of our stuff, water, cameras, and maps in my basket and every time I stopped to get off of the bike it fell over!  It all got better after we stopped for a chocolate croissant, however!

                It was hot.  Like, I mean really, really hot.  It was probably pushing 35 degrees by the time we got started on road s222 towards Greve in Chianti.  And, no joke, the entire ride once out of Florence was uphill!  We cycled through a couple little towns before deciding to stop for lunch around 
 
the 15km mark in Strada in Chianti. 

                I am awful at going up hills to start with…then add the heat…and the “old lady bike” and I am surprised Shawn just didn’t go there and back without me!  I was slow!  All the better to observer the scenery with, however!  It was beautiful.  Beautiful homes tucked away in the hills all surrounded by vineyards and olive trees.  Despite going uphill, it really was pretty.

                Strada in Chianti was a really nice break from Florence.  There was no English being spoken anywhere.  The little shops were very inexpensive and quaint with no lines.  It was excellent.  After parking our bikes outside of a restaurant we thought we would go to for lunch, we walked around the town to find a carbonated water dispensing machine out in the park as well as the town square.  Here we found a nice little café “bar” and we both had our best gelato to date!  Before heading out, we bought some beautiful little cherry tomatoes to eat at the park.  It was a great destination!

                Cycling home was a breeze because it was actually all downhill.  And thank goodness because it was well over 40 degrees by the time we got back into Florence.  It was our hottest day in Florence by far!  (Makes sense considering we decided to go cycling up hills!)

                Because of my awful cold I had a long nap in the hot tent once we got home…I figure it’s like back in the day when they used to “sweat out illnesses”!  It was a tad bizarre!  Aside from the napping, however, we had a relatively relaxed, albeit warm afternoon and evening.

                Early day tomorrow as we are off for a marathon train-train-hike day!

-Allison