Italy

I saw my first National Geographic Traveler magazine in a doctor’s office waiting room.  There was an article about a guided biking trip and it caught my interest. But let’s be honest-just about every story about travel catches my interest.  Years later, I came across a company, Duvine, that offered guided bike trips all over the world.  I had always wanted to go to Italy, and the bike trips in Italy looked amazing. My friend, Amy, and I signed up for the trip, and then COVID hit and the trip was put on hold. A couple of years later, when travel opened up again, we made plans to go.  We were going on a four day bike trip, and our families were meeting us in Italy after the trip so we could each go on a vacation with our families. 

Maybe this is a good time to say that I am not an avid biker.  I enjoy riding my bike, and I will ride it on the country roads and around my town or on some of the bike trails in the area, but I would not call myself a “cyclist.”  I do not have a fancy, expensive bike. My bike is from Walmart. Years ago, when I was picking out my bike, I chose the smallest one, since I am under five foot.  When I asked the salesperson if the seat would lower, he said, “no, but she will grow.”  I didn’t tell him the bike was for me.  I picked a purple bike, because, well, I like purple.  This bike has served me well for several years.  However, I did not realize that it might be a source of embarrassment to others.  One time, when my son was in his snotty teenage years, I came in from riding my bike around town and told him I saw one of his friends.  I said I had waved at him, but I didn’t think he had recognized me.  Ryan said, “Good.”  I said, “Ryan! Are you embarrassed by me?”  He said, “Mom.  You’re riding around town on a little purple bike.” 

We traveled to Italy the summer of 2022.  Our bike trip was called Tuscany 4-Day Bike Tour.  Amy and I flew into Rome and took the train to Chiusi.  We had booked a hotel in Chiusi near the train station, which was where we were supposed to meet our group from Duvine the next day.  We got on the train, rode for a while, and then discovered that we were on the wrong train.  We got off the train in a little town where no one at the train station spoke English. We were finally able to communicate that we wanted to go to Chiusi, and they indicated that we needed to be on the train going the opposite direction. We got on the train, hoping we had made ourselves clear enough to be on the correct train.  We did manage to get on the correct train and successfully made it to Chiusi. 

When we arrived, the door to the hotel was locked.  There was a phone number to call so that someone could come and let us in.  We called the number, and in a little while, a man came over and checked us in. We had booked a room with two beds.  When we arrived at our room, the room only had one bed.  We went back down to the lobby and called the number again.  Apparently, this man worked at both the hotel and the restaurant behind the hotel, so he was running back and forth between the two. The man came back over. He told us we had, in fact, booked a room with two beds, and he gave us a different room. This room had a regular small bed and a rollaway bed, but at least there were two separate beds. I went into the bathroom in our hotel room and shut the door. When I tried to open the door, it was stuck.  I tried a little harder, but the door would not open.  I continued to try to open the door, but no luck.  Amy started trying to open the door from the other side.  Still no luck. I decided to go Chuck Norris on the situation. I started kicking the door and hitting the door with my shoulder.  I mean, I did it tough guy style-standing back and punching the door with my foot with all of my strength. The door did not open.  It was starting to get hot.  There was no window in the bathroom and our room did not have air conditioning.  I was a little concerned, but Amy was panicking.  She went down to the lobby and called the poor man over from the restaurant for the third time.  He did not speak English very well, and our Italian was even worse, but she finally convinced him to come to the room. She managed to make him understand that the door was stuck and I was on the other side of the door.  It probably helped that I was yelling “I’m in here!” while banging on the door in the bathroom. He called a maintenance man to come to our room.  He took the doorknob off the door, and I was able to escape from the bathroom.  He held up the doorknob, looked at us, and said “it is broken.”  I was not trying to be ungrateful, but I may have rolled my eyes. Mr. Obvious took the doorknob and the two men left the room. We could not completely shut the door the rest of our stay, but that was really ok with me.  I’m not sure I would have been brave enough to shut the door even if it had a doorknob.

The next morning, we were met at the train station by the Duvine staff. We were taken to the village of Montofollonico to have lunch and to get our bikes.  Let me just say, Duvine is not a company that expects you to “rough it.”  I’m talking about five course meals and fancy hotels.  Amy and I quickly realized that this particular group of people on this tour would probably not be on a trip that required them to “rough it.”  During the week, we often heard conversations about high finance, personal chefs, health retreats. That is not our world.  We had nothing to add to those conversations. We just took pictures of the scenery. 

Every meal was delicious, but they had some weird stuff on the menu.  As mentioned in previous blogs, I am not an adventurous eater. When they placed the food in front of us, the first thing Amy did was look at me to see my reaction.  Amy, who is a very adventurous eater, often had to tell me what the food was and assure me it was edible.  But I did try most things, so I was very proud of myself. 

Every accommodation was luxurious.  However, they seemed to have difficulty understanding that Amy and I were not a couple.  At the first hotel, Villa Svetoni, we were listed as Mr. and Mrs. John Hall.  At the second hotel, II Falconiere Relais, the two beds were separated by about two inches.  If you look really closely at this picture, you can see the tiny split between the beds.  We called them our “Bert and Ernie beds.” 

II Falconiere Relais was like a castle. It had a beautiful pool and amazing scenery. The doors to the rooms were big and wooden, and we had an antique looking key on a big ring that we used to get into our room.

On the second day of cycling, we stopped at “Barbara’s Farmhouse,” where we learned to make pasta and had a delicious lunch. Our lunch included fresh vegetables from the farmhouse’s own gardens, as well as the pasta we had made. The ladies who taught us to make pasta were mother and daughter. They were so nice and made us feel right at home.

Amy was an experienced pasta maker, so she made it look easy.

My experience with making pasta consists of pouring a box of breakable noodles into a pot of boiling water. My pasta making efforts required much more concentration.

That evening, we went into the town of Cortona, where we wandered around the town, had some gelato, did some shopping, and looked at the beautiful views.

The scenery every day was gorgeous.  On the third day, we biked around Lake Trasimeno.

We stopped and had a tasting lunch at a beautiful winery.

That evening, our final dinner was at the Michelin starred restaurant at our hotel, II Falconiere Relais. The servers placed the plates with covers in front of us, and then they all lifted the covers at the same time. Fancy!

The biking itself was fun, and sometimes challenging. Most of the people in our group had opted for the electric bikes.  I did not, so I was often at the back of the group. Some of the people who had started out on regular bikes switched to electric bikes after the first day.  I was determined to do this trip on a regular bike.  Amy switched to an electric bike, but being a good friend, she continued to ride at the back of the group with me.  On the last biking day of the trip, we had to go up a mountain.  As we were getting ready to go, one of our guides asked me if I would like to ride in the van.  I was somewhat confused and asked her why.  She said because we were going up a mountain and it might be hard for me.  She was trying to be helpful, but I have to admit, I bristled a little. Apparently, she did not know me very well. I told her “NO” and got on my bike. Honestly, the mountain was not as challenging as some of the other days because it was a switchback road, making it less steep than some of the hills we had biked.  We reached the town, and Amy and I were waiting at a stoplight to cross the road.  One of the members of our group came riding up.  He said to me, “You made it! I’m impressed.  I was one of the ones who voted that you would not make it.”  The group took a vote? Who were these people? I just stood there looking at him.  As he rode off, I looked at Amy and said, “I think I’m offended.”  She replied, “I think you should be.” 

Amy and I had not formed any close relationships with any of the members of the group during our trip, which was fine, but I was not having positive feelings after the voting episode.  Let’s just say, there was no hugging or tearful goodbyes with the other members of the group as we parted ways at the end of the trip.  However, I was tempted to take a poll to see which way each of them had voted. At the end of the trip, when Duvine took us to the train station, Amy and I took different trains to meet our families.  She was meeting hers in Cinque Terre, and I was meeting mine in Rome.

Be sure to read next week’s blog about my family’s Italy vacation.

Tips:

1. If you want a luxurious cycling experience, Duvine offers trips all over the world. You can find them at http://www.duvine.com
2. You may want to consider closing the door from the outside of an unfamiliar bathroom first to make sure it opens again. That way, you’re not trapped inside when the doorknob malfunctions.
3. If everyone but you in a group is using an electric bike, you will be the last to arrive. Everywhere.
4. Don’t let it bother you if you are the last in a group. Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and be proud that you are doing the trip your way.
5. Pouring a box of breakable noodles into a pot of boiling water is not considered making pasta.
6. It’s ok to be offended if a group of people you barely know takes a vote about your ability to make it up a mountain on a regular bike, while they’re sitting on their electric bikes.