Lamberg Travel: Bike Ride in Puglia (you know, the eastern side of the boot) Oct 2016

Eleven Baltimoreans so no trouble with accents, all from the Baltimore Bike Club, using a company, Randonne'e, which specializes in "self-directed" bike rides. The hotels were fine, transfers of bags from one to the other went well, but the cue sheets were outdated (roundabouts now where there were T junctions on the sheet, traffic signs to watch for were no longer there, distances to go in km when no odometers were supplied on the rental bikes) so there were challenges. I saw it as a scavenger hunt and had a good time anyway. Most days I have arrived, showered, changed, and settled in the lobby or nearby coffee shop before the rest of the group comes in. Sometimes it's because others stopped an hour for lunch and sometimes some just got lost.

The typical day is breakfast at 8, gone by 9:30 and in by 4 pm. The roads are often potholed and roads are curvy and hilly.

I am showing just a few pictures:

One of 6 million olive trees in the region.
This one is about 300 years old.

A couple of old streets.

Trullis, made of slate laid horizontally as a cone.

Alberobello, a town that is a Unesco World Heritage site with
over 1500 trulli. This is also where I had lunch in a 2 star
Michelin restaurant.

We were to turn left at Sevarono

A brass drinking water tap.

Twisty road with trulli.

There were many more like this

A tiramisu break on the ride

These are from the first 5 days. The rest of the trip was more of the same: Good weather, minimal car traffic on rural roads, a few wrong turns, one flat tire, but nothing major. I finished the bike ride on Mon, Oct 24, took the 5 hour fast train to Rome the next day and returned to Baltimore on Sat, Oct 29.

Rome: Three full days of sights: Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, many more, and pasta, gelato, and miles of walking. If you go, get a Roma Pass which gives unlimited metro/bus, and free or reduced admissions to everyplace with a quick entry past the crowds. I left the day before an earthquake led to temporary closing of St. Peters and the subway.