Sud Tyrol Roll Day 8 (16)

Day 8: Farewells

We said our goodbyes at breakfast this morning and began our journey home.

Dave and Molly, Suzanne and Rich, and Jeri and I piled into a van with Silvia (our Italian guide) for the 40 minute drive to Roverto. We got to glimpse the steep long downhill we had taken 2 days before to get to Riva del Garda. It was pretty impressive! What was also impressive was the traffic coming to the lake. There is only one main road from the north, and it seemed like all of Europe was on it at 10 in the morning. Traffic was backed up several miles and just barely crawling.  Fortunately, we were driving in the opposite direction.

We made it to the train station in Roverto with plenty of time to spare. Silvia was traveling to Verona with us (our next stop), but then we had to take another regional train to Bologna, followed by a high speed (not sure the Italians actually know the meaning of the words) train to Rome, then finally a train to the airport. Silvia had a direct train to Rome on another rail company. 

Our train was delayed 5 minutes, the 10, then 25, and finally 45 minutes.  This had the domino effect on our plans causing us to miss one train after the other. 

The train to Verona had no AC and no air movement.  Combine this with 90+ degrees and screaming kids (who seem to have been following Molly everywhere since she boarded  a plane to Zurich two weeks ago) and you had the makings for a very unpleasant trip. Silvia was a lifesaver. We finally got to Verona, but found out the trains to Rome from Bologna were fully booked until after 5 which would have gotten us into Rome after 8 and then to the airport well after 9. She was able to get our tickets refunded and rebooked on her train to Rome direct from Verona even with seats together.  When we reached Rome, she even got us tickets to the airport and got us on the right train. We tried to convince her to take us home with her, but she wasn't bitng.

We got to the hotel at a reasonable hour thanks to Silvia, and had a nice dinner at the hotel. 

The ordeal, though, was not over for our friends.  Molly and Dave's flight was cancelled by Lufthansa and supposedly rebooked on AlItalia.  When they got to the airport, AlItato  told them the booking had been cancelled.  They then spent a couple of tense hours fighting with Lufthansa and Al Italia, finally able get  a flight a flight home. They arrived in Miami shortly after we landed at JFK.

Rich and Suzanne had a direct train to Munich, but some technical problems caused them to have to evacuate the train and to take a bus from Innsbruck to Munich.  There was a German couple who took pity on them, and helped them navigate the murky waters of travel in a foreign land. I guess they had their own Silvia.  Their flight the next day was delayed sufficietly that they missed the earlier bus and had to take a 9pm  (that's 3 am in Italy) bus.  Haven't spoken yet, but my guess is that they didn't get to bed until after midnight (6 am Italy).  A long couple of days was had by all!

Sud Tyrol Roll Day 7 (15)

 Day 7: Final Ride

Today's ride is our big climbing day with 1400' over about 14 mi. The ride is 28 mi. but all the climbing is front loaded.  It includes a 20% grade-think Eastman Hill in Lebanon.  The description of the ride unfortunately scared Molly off, and she decided to sit this one out (after doing the ride, wise decision on her part).

Before we set out, we had a big breakfast that we shared with the birds.

Short break before the hill climb in the small town of Dro.

Top of the world.  Had to do a little hike-a-bike, but overall we did admirably.

After the climb, we were treated to a visit to a family winery for a tour and lunch with wine tasting.  We elected to skip most of the wine since I was the designated driver ( and neither of us are big wine drinkers anyway.

The winery was in the family for generations and their specialty was a liqueur type wine, Passito, made from dried out grapes, ie. raisins. After about 8 months of drying, the grapes are exceptionlly sweet, but each grape only yields a drop of liquid. On top of that, they age it a minimum of 10 years before consumption. Not sure, but I'm guessing Passito is very expensive.

We did get to sample it as part of our wine tasting. We had a tiny taste, but avoided enough to effect our ability to safely descend.

The ride down back to Riva del Garda was beautiful

The last part on local bike trails in town with hundreds of tourists walking, riding e-bikes, and teaching their kids to ride in this chaos was no fun.  We were happy to get back and turn in our bike.  

Today was some kind of record.  Jeri in the pool 2 days in a row! You can imagine how hot it was for this weather phenomenon.

Speaking of weather phenomena, just when we got into the pool, we heard thunder and saw menacing rain clouds ove the adjacent mountains. Rain was evident at the higher peaks.  So we decided to bail on the pool and went back to the room.  Minutes later, the sun was back out and the weather was again beautiful.  We decided that this was an opportunity to pack for tomorrow and enjoy the AC.

Tonight we had a farewell dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Riva del Garda, Al Volt. It was a 20 minute walk along the shore of Lake Garda, giving us an opportunity of catching Molly and Dave together.

I even got a photo I think I can use for my photoshopping.

Suzanne and Jeri did some windowshopping on the way to the restaurant.

The main square i Riva del Garda was bustling with diners and tourists.

Dave noticed a Plaque on the side of a building that turned out to be a memorial to the Jewish Ghetto that lasted here from 1496 to the end of the 1700's.

Jeri and I are generally not all that fond of very fancy foods, but this restaurant was amazing.  Options for dinner included a small butternut squash soup that was almost as good (but not quite) as Jeri's, then either a fish ragout with pasta or pasta with cheese and truffles (I'l have to take Rich's, and Molly's word for it that it was excellent), followed by a local fish, or beef cheeks in a wine sauce, both of which were great.  But the "piece de resistance" was dessert.  The waitstaff delivered multiple bowls of "fruit" filled with sherbet the flavor of the outside.  We had peach, banana, kumquat, walnut, pear, strawberry and plum. They were all outstanding. This was followed by a chocolate lava cake, and limoncello. It was now about 10pm, way past my witching hour. 

We strolled back to the hotel, hoping we could find it in the dark.

Tomorrow, farewells.

Sud Tyrol Roll Day 6 (14)

 Day 6: Riding to Lake Garda

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather. Blue skies and warm

Warm enough taht Molly actually removed her jacket.  We had no idea that she had such lovely arms!

We actually had our first climb of the tour, the Passo San Giovanni.

We stopped for lunch at a cyclist friendly restaurant where we got our first glimpse of Lake Garda.

Lake Garda — Lago di Garda — is Italy’s largest lake, sitting where Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino meet. It was carved by glaciers during the last Ice Age, and it’s long and narrow: about 51 km / 32 miles long, with mountains pinching the dramatic northern end and softer, sunnier resort towns spreading around the south. It is reminiscent of the Norwegian fjords, but hotter and sunnier.

After a hot 35 mi. ride, the hotel pool was very inviting, even for Jeri.

Our hotel sat on the shore of Lake Garda, and the dramatic scenery was begging photos.

Molly was absent, so I will photoshop her in later.  Check back.

Our guide, Sylvie, gave us an Italian lesson before dinner, and we then ate at one of the restaurants at the hotel that specialized in Pizza.  It was the best we've had on the trip.

Tomorrow, our last cycling day with some real hills!

Molly and Dave, together again!