Sicily Cycle Trip, Catania, Day 18

Today was our last morning with the Backroads group and, rather than taking the bikes out for a final spin, a group of us visited a Greek/Roman archeological site right outside the city (you'd think we'd have seen enough ancient ruins!). It was a small site, with the remains of a Greek theatre, a Roman amphitheatre, and a Greek sacrificial altar. Our guide was very informative, though, so Rich and I were glad we went.

Later in the morning, we said goodbye to Siracusa and were then bussed to the Catania airport where we said our goodbyes to each other. All in all, it was a fun group of people this week and our trip leaders were exceptional. Rich and I are spending the night in Catania and then heading to the airport at 4:30 AM tomorrow morning (groan). There was another couple overnighting in Catania so we met up with them for one final dinner together, which was fun. We even talked about doing the Backroads trip through Puglia next year, which we had heard was absolutely beautiful, with most of the rides following the Adriatic coastline. I understand from Ashley that our 2012 Backroads catalog has just arrived in the mail. I wonder if they planned it that way?

See you all next week.

Sicily Cycle Trip, Siracusa Route, Day 17

Today was to be our last full day of riding as we traveled from inland Ragusa to Siracusa on the sea. Our guides suggested we shuttle past the busy roads and traffic of Ragusa and start our ride just east of the town and then stop just west of Siracusa and shuttle to our hotel (again, because of heavy traffic). A few hearty souls decided to brave the Ragusa traffic, but Rich and I opted for the shorter 37 mile route. This was a beautiful, although mostly uphill ride to Palazzolo, where we stopped for lunch. The countryside was much more scenic, with blue lakes and groves of lemon and orange trees. Like the rest of the week, the day was blisteringly hot.

When we reached Palazzolo, we parked our bikes near the vans and headed uphill into the old part of town. We found a nice restaurant with outdoor dining on a lovely side street and sat down to lunch with a number of our fellow riders. As we waited for our lunch, the skies started to cloud up and I thought I heard the distant rumble of thunder. All of a sudden the skies opened and a deluge of rain came down. There were large umbrellas covering our tables and initially, we thought we could just stay outside and eat and it would blow over. Before long, however, we decided we needed to run for cover indoors and wait out the storm.

When it finally stopped, the streets were like rivers. Most of us decided to forego the rest of the day's ride as it was primarily downhill and we didn't feel comfortable riding that kind of terrain with wet, slick roads. All in all, we only rode @ 23 miles today. With all of the hills, though, it felt more like twice that distance.

Siracusa is a charming town on the sea and Rich and I spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering down by the water and through some of the smaller streets and alleys. We had our farewell dinner at a lovely restaurant down the street from our hotel and, as I've done this entire week, ate way too much (although it was sooo good).

Sicily Cycle Trip, Scicli Loop, Day 16

Today was Rich's birthday (true to form, I hadn't initially remembered) and when we came down to breakfast this morning, our tour leaders, Jill and Tony, immediately wished him a happy birthday (which of course, belatedly jogged my memory). Then, when we met to review the day's ride and get our bikes ready to go, they had strategically hidden his bike on top of the one turrets so he had to search for it before he could ride. Tony also led us in the Italian version of Happy Birthday.

Once we retrieved Rich's bike from the turret, we set out on our ride to Scicli for a tour of the town and lunch and then on to the beach town of Donnalucata for a gelato. Today was a much easier cycling day than yesterday, although I could tell on the first uphill climb of the day that my legs were still tired from yesterday's ride. I could also tell that Rich's legs were tired, because he was riding much further behind me than he did yesterday. Total miles traveled via bike today was @ 27. At Donnalucata, we had the option of continuing our ride back to our hotel (another 13 miles, 95% uphill) or taking the shuttle back. Today, only 5 opted for the grueling ride back.

Until today, the scenery in Sicily has been brown mountains and hills with a few groves of olive and citrus trees. Today, however, when we reached Donnalucata, it was almost magical riding into town toward the sea. I've included a few pictures here but they really don't do the view justice.

Sicily Cycle Trip, Eremo Route, Day 15

Today was an awesome (but very tiring) day. I have no idea how much elevation we got under our belts, but we had a couple of very long hill climbs that left me practically falling asleep at the dinner table tonight.

Our ride started off mildly enough with some nice downhills and an easy ridge ride. We had a few uphills before lunch, but nothing major. We stopped for a picnic lunch at an agriturismo where they make olive oil and sampled some of their product. True to form, our Backroads picnic lunch was one of our meal highlights.

The afternoon ride started off with a 6+ mile uphill climb over the mountains, which Rich and I (along with the majority of the group) decided to forego. (The temperatures here have been in the mid to upper 90's all week.) Six out of the 20 of us set off to climb the mountain, while our guides "vanned" us to the top of the hill to continue our ride from that point. That being said, we still had a 3.5 mile uphill climb (in the baking sun) and, at the very end of the ride, another 2.1 mile climb to our hotel for the night. All in all, we rode @ 47 miles today, which made it the longest ride Rich has ever done (and it wasn't his rear end that he was complaining about tonight!).

Our accommodations tonight and tomorrow night are in a restored convent, so most of the rooms are very tiny. Rich and I, however, seem to have gotten the cream of the crop. We have a large downstairs living area with a comfortable sofa and chairs, dining room table and a couple of large armoires. Upstairs is the bedroom and bath. I'm not sure how we lucked out with the accommodations, but we're not complaining (although each time we climb the stairs our legs let us know they're not happy).

Sicily Day 14 Caltagirone Loop

Day 2 of our ride and our route today took us through a number of small Sicilian hill towns (the operative word being "hill"...we climbed up and then back down before climbing to the next town). Our first climb was to a town called Mineo. That wasn't too bad as it was still fairly early in the morning and not too hot out yet. We had a few more long descents and ascents (@ 2 miles at a stretch) before starting our final ascent into Caltagirone (our lunch destination). At this point, the road was fairly heavily traveled with cars and trucks, so the van was available for those who didn't want to make this ascent into town. Rich opted for the van, but I decided to make the climb. By this time it was at least 11:30 AM and the day was getting VERY warm. The ascent into Caltagirone went on for 3.5 miles!!!! The van passed me halfway up and Rich said my face was pretty red. When I finally rode into Caltagirone, Rich was waiting for me on the side of the road and rode the rest of the way up to the historical center of town (which of course was at the tip top of the hill). We had a little bit of flat road and then a STEEP (at least 11% or 12% grade) 1/2 mile climb. Rich and I both ended up walking this stretch (even walking, my calves were hurting like h...).

After lunch, it was another 16 miles back to our hotel. Even though it was at least 95 degrees at this point, Rich and I decided to give it a go. At least a third of the group opted for the shuttle to the hotel. This time we climbed @ 2.5 miles (over the course of a 9 mile stretch) to a little town called Grammichele. When we reached the piazza, there was a little cafe serving gelato and granitas. The support van was also there for those who were done riding for the day. Rich and I each got a lemon granita and climbed into the van for the last 7 miles back to the hotel.

All in all, I think we climbed @ 2500 feet over the course of @ 37 miles. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to be a little cooler, but it looks like we're riding further with more elevation gain. I'll let you know how we do.

Sicily Cyle Trip, Vizzini Route, Day 13

Today started our long awaited Sicily bike trip! We've been carting a third suitcase around Turkey and Greece and today we were finally able to make use of its contents. Rich and I got dressed in our bike clothes and went down to breakfast where we immediately met another couple who were on the tour with us (they said our clothes were a dead giveaway...ya think!).

We ended up sharing a cab to the airport (with suitcases on laps and wedged everywhere) and met up with Backroads soon after. From the airport they shuttled us to an "agriturismo" an hour and a half away where we had an awesome lunch (antipasti and two kinds of fresh pastas). The good news was that the agriturismo was at the top of a large hill, so our ride started off downhill (a nice, pleasant downhill...not too steep). The weather had started off VERY warm in Catania, but we had a nice cloud cover for our ride so it made it very pleasant. We rode 25 km or @ 15+ miles...a perfect warm up ride.

This seems to be a very nice group of people. There are 20 of us, a little smaller group than last year's Loire Valley trip. We have a number of couples (as typical), but also a father and his two grown sons, and a group of 3 men from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Sue, Linda is awesome and her friend Maddy is a hoot! She suggested we get together for some rides when we get back to Portland, but it sounds like her typical ride is up through Washington Park and along Skyline and Germantown...@ 4500 feet of climbing!! Today is our long 67 mile (4500 foot elevation) ride, so I'm going to see how I do on this one before committing to Linda's ride!

Dinner tonight was a 4 hour affair...from aperitifs at 6:30 continuing to dessert at 10:30. But the company was enjoyable and the ambience unforgettable.

Athens to Catania Travel Day 12

As I write this, it is now 6:30 PM in Catania, Sicily (7:30 PM in Athens) and we have been traveling non-stop since 9:15 AM (Athens time). Taxis are still on strike in Athens so we made our way to the airport via the Metro and got to the airport a little before 11:00 AM. From then on, we've either been sitting in airports or on a plane. We only had 3+ hours of actual flight time, but where did the day go?

We're now sitting in our hotel room trying to decide if we have the energy to do any sightseeing and where we might go for dinner. This is a lovely hotel in the middle of downtown Catania, but it cost us $75 in cab fare to get here and we have to do this 3 more times!!! We meet our Backroads tour at the airport at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning. I thought I was so smart to arrive a day early and spend a little less on a hotel room than if we were in Rome. I think this is another live and learn lesson.

As we flew into Sicily, I was looking at the topography of the area and, other than the airport strip, I swear everything else was hills or mountains. I'm beginning to worry as to what we've gotten ourselves into!

P.S. These pictures are about it for today, other than the picture of the ruins of a Roman Amphitheatre in downtown Catania.