A look at my apartment on the coast south of Tarquinia. I’m under a canopy of pine trees. They have tall trunks and the pine needles start about 50 feet up.  The pine cones are the size of softballs; so far, my tent has only been hit twice. The sunlight in the photo is the sea. Rome is 82 kilometers to the south. I’m going to stay here for the day and explore the ancient town which was built before the Romans.

I am not alone in my challenges with mapping in Italy.

Jans

Ran into an exasperated biker named Jans. He hails from Denmark and has been on the road for six weeks. Today he could not make his way from Grosseyo to Rome. “I’ve spent two hours going nowhere,” said Jans as we stood on the side of a busy highway.

I believed him.

The roads in Italy are somewhat marked, but what it says on the map is not what a depiction of reality. I pedaled with Jans to the train station. We were headed in the same direction and I wasn’t about to retrace his mistake. There’s a bit of comfort in 2’s. Jans, 63, is married, speaks perfect English and is headed to Rome. A retired teacher, he will be meeting his wife in Rome this weekend.

In the meantime, we explored historic Tarquinia together, found a seafront campsite, and enjoyed a cozy grocery store dinner of cheese, tomatoes, baguette and tuna….and a celebratory beer for getting through the day.

Running a little late this morning.

Tried to go to morning Mass at the cathedral by the Leaning Tower of Pisa and security gave me grief about my bike. I’ve already had a water bottle pinched while I was at the grocery store. Security at church gave me Italian grief right out the door.

On a good note, I got a close look at the church keys for the cathedral. They were very heavy; nothing you could attach to a clip on your belt because they’d pull your pants right off.

AMEN.

Off to work today; leaving Pisa.

Stayed at a very nice campground, and that’s code for “they had toilet paper.”

As I was packing, two little blonde-haired boys walking through camp on a hunting expedition with their butterfly nets. The older one with the blue net was a more serious study. The younger one with an orange net dawdled. Older brother would bark and the little one would run to catch up. He then used the pole end to prod his brother in the back of the knee.

Free entertainment as I readied to go.

Taking route SS1 to Livorno and then on to Rome.  The route is referred to as Aurelia south. For some reason I say it ‘arugula’ – like the vegetable. Happy someone wrote it down for me, and now I just point to the note.

Standing outside late last night watching the lightning with a 25 year old from Munich named Marcell. Big guy. He sets up roller coasters and carousels at festivals; it’s the family business. “My mother was an artist,” he said. He talked about how she walks the wire and sings on the trapeze.

“My grandfather worked with animals. He trained the monkeys for the TV show Daktari,” he told me.

Marcell had lots of stories. “Paris Hilton came to the big German festival to market her champagne. I gave her a big candy shaped like a heart. Then she said she wanted to ride the roller coaster and I told her I’d give her a ticket for free. She declined, went up to the booth, and only had a $100 bill.”

Melanie Bastin from Buckingham, and Gemmajean Jones from London are sisters and the campground partiers. Amazing the difference in dialects and slang terms.

They asked me about my bike tour and I said I had a hard day and had bonked about five miles out of town at a gas station.

“You bonked at a gas station?” said Gemmajean.

I said I did, and after 15 minutes I felt better.

“Well, of course you did,” she said.

I was not catching on, but older sister, Melanie, was the one who deciphered that bonking did not mean the same in English.

OMG, I feel like I’m getting a real education on this tour!

Have you heard of The Sun Trip 2015? Me, neither. But I happened upon them today. The team of Anita Burgholzer and Andreas Hubl passed me today just outside of Forte de Marmi, and they were flying.

The couple from Austria are part of a 20-team tour that uses the sun to power their electronics on the tour. “We’re going to Milan, Italy to Turkey, and back to Milan, but we’re going on to Kazickstan,” said 39-year-old Andrea.

The couple, both self-employed, paid $400 to take part in the tour. Andreas leads mountain bike tours over the alps and Anita, 34, is a graphic designer.

The couple rides a 16-speed tandem. Anita is a recumbent in front, and Andreas is in the back. They average 160 miles a day, which is a pretty fair clip.

The tour started Saturday, June 6. They expect to finish in August. Neither are fluent in Italian. “We understand it; we just don’t speak it. We speak Spanish, so that helps,” said Andreas.

Their bike is decked out with sponsor logos, a generator for solar power captured from their roof, an industrial pump, spare tire, and they’re both dressed in spandex racing jerseys. The race is taking full advantage of social media and all teams are tracked live on YouTube, Facebook and via GPS.

So far, the couple have crossed the alps. “We did not just want to ride the coast,” said Andres. The couple anticipate more hilly/mountain challenges in Greece and Turkey.

Although part of an organized tour, the couple are on their own to find camping nightly and fix problems along the way.

“It’s a great adventure,” said Anita, “And it only just started.”

TIDBITS:
–Interesting to note that while we were pulled over and chatting, another pair of travelers joined the conversation. Paul, 22, was from Croatia and had been on the road seven months with his friend, Flavien.
–Writing by the bathrooms where there are no flies. :-/

A whirlwhind day of touring, wrapping up in Pisa with a visit to the famed leaning tower. Lots of tourists; more entertaining to watch their goofy antics during photo shoots.

Wonderful Reverend Andre volunteered to watch my bike as I snuck into the cathedral. “I’m a priest,” he said, “You can trust me.”

Rev. Andre

Rev. Andre was from Brazil. I asked him what my chances were of tucking myself into the Vatican for a night. I told him I had a heavy donation to Alzheimer’s riding on it. He laughed. I actually don’t think he understood, but it’s still on my bucket list.

Secured a campsite for the night. Set up my apartment next to Jochen and his wife from Munich. He introduced me to his neighbor, Katia.

“Do you all have a fridge I can put this in?” I asked, holding up a pair of 16-oz. Birre Moretti Maltis. Katia not only had a cooler, it was a primo cooler…. Think a little red Igloo jobbie on wheels. What luck! She opened the industrial latch and a cloud of frigid coolness escaped.

Katia had thick German arms and meaty fingers. “Hold the dog,” she said, as we swapped our treasures. I spied several quarter barrels. Katia knew how to travel, and my luck on the road continued.

Guess where I was today? 

Seriously biked at least 50 miles. Laid down at a gas station about 5 miles outside Pisa and took a quick nap. No newts ran across my face, so that was good. 

Refreshed, I spun into Pisa and was overwhelmed by tourists and the gauntlet of vendors selling their wares. 

The leaning tower was amazing but more so the tourists and their antics. Hoping to get back for 8 a.m. Mass tomorrow at the cathedral.