12 May,

Back on the road again… eventually.

We wake early, well vacation early, to tidy up and pack. The usual coffee and yogurt on the balcony.

We are ready by 9:30am, we are supposed to check out at 10:00. The cleaning lady, Marisa, is sitting on the bench in the entrance hall when I start taking things out to the car. I tell her that she can go on up and get started but she refuses until we are done.

Now every rental arrangement is different, especially if there is designated parking included. Parking is precious in Italy and so there are always gates and codes and keys and procedures. In this case, when you leave you are supposed to open the gate which only works with a key, pull into the street, double park in the street then go back into the apartment and either give the key to Marisa or leave it under the mat.

So, what doesn’t work is if you give Marisa the keys before you pull out of the parking area because there is also a gate to get into the building which requires one of the keys on the ring you don’t have any more. So you and all your stuff are stuck in the parking area… you can’t leave and you can’t get back in the building. What do you do? Well duh, you stand under the window like Brando’s Stanley K in Streetcar Named Desire and call up to the apartment window… “Marisa?!” until the guy in the apartment above pokes his head out and buzzes you in so you can get the key. Not embarrassing at all right?

Well, it’s not really, I’ll never see any of these people again… what do I care if they think I’m a few sticks short of a campfire.

Off we go.

The route that google picks is right along the coast. Ever so pretty in the sunshine with the mountains on the right and the sheer drops to the left. A typical very twisty 1-1/2 lanes wide, two way road. Fun!

The thing that I find a little different this time is the quantity of bicycles. Italians LOVE their bicycles. They get all suited up in their spandex with team names and fancy biking shoes that actually mechanically attach to the pedals of their fancy bikes and off they go. Alone or in packs, they ride on every kind of road except the largest highways. One must be always aware that you might come up on a cyclist as you round a blind corner in the skinny twisty mountain roads. The Italian drivers seem to take this all in stride and the cyclists obviously are not expecting the five foot passing rule. Cars pass bikes with a foot of space or even less on a regular basis. But everyone seems to be on the same page so it seems to work. For me, it’s all rather disconcerting.

So as we enter one of many kilometers long tunnels through the mountains, yes, there are bikes cruising along in the right lane… no lights, no reflectors, not even single file sometimes. I refer to these folks as suicyclists.

We stop for lunch at a roadside place called Pitstop. Maybe 6 tables, no ambiance but LOADS of character. Mostly in the form of Gaetano, the single server, bartender, busboy, entertainment, etc.

D orders what turns out to be a very large bruschetta. A piece of fresh baked bread the size of a plate covered in tomato, oil, herbs etc. I order a panuozzo… another version a panini. Oh, and a plate of “French fries” to share. (We have both been craving French fries for some reason…) Both were delicious. But before we go we “absolutely MUST try the fresh every morning deserts” the best of course being the Tette della Monache… Ok ok, one to share… it was very tasty.

“Thank you Gaetano“

“How about a limoncello? Is house made… is very good… is free”

“Oh no… thank you, we have to drive still.”

“pfff.”

Two glasses are presented… two glasses are raised and, it WAS quite good.

Off we go fat and happy.

Google doesn’t seem to know where this next place is so we enter a spot we know is close and figure we can follow our paper maps when we get to that point. Yup… nope.

Between roads being restricted for school traffic and detours for construction we only get lost twice-ish. We finally find our way and the map looks right and the google lady seems convinced but the ROAD does NOT look right. We turn around and study the map and the google and turn back around and just go for it. It is STEEP and twisty and narrow and two way. All the best things about Italian driving.

Sure enough we find the place just as they cleaning folks are finishing up.

The view is as stunning as the pictures. The place is perfect for two people even though it has beds for 6! There’s a cool outdoor fireplace for cooking and an outdoor dining area.

One of the bathrooms is a little scary in that it is a wet bathroom, no designated space for the shower so the water can basically go anywhere. Not that unusual but the toilet paper is hanging on the wall right in front of the shower and there are two outlets within about 36 inches of the shower head. Not to mention the electric water heater hanging over your head… I think I’ll use the other shower.

We settle in comfortably however. We have our leftovers from Pitstop for dinner and fade out dog tired after another fun travel day.

Tomorrow it’s back down the mountain for exploring and groceries. Ooh boy.