Bike Paths, Vino, Pizza and Juliette

The skies were back to grey as we gathered in the crowded hotel restaurant for breakfast. This modern hotel was full of older American tourists from Annapolis Maryland and it is always interesting to see our fellow USA residents attempting to navigate some of the European nuances. Uh, no you don’t get unlimited cups of coffee (unless you pay for each), ice is not part of the beverage delivery and no, we don’t get normal breakfast food (although every place we

have been this week has had bacon and scrambled eggs).
Most of us were saddling up for a ride, but Al, Victoria, Ashley and Jan gave their regrets due to various reasons. Ashley was in pure suffer mode from allergies, which we were attempting to control with both Italian and US meds, with little success.

Don, Shaun, Katelyn, Ken and I were led by Mellissa out of town and were soon winding our way past and through villages, back on the bike paths and after about 20k ended up at Borghetto where the vans (and Ashley) were waiting for us to refuel and grab a coffee.

Borghetto is ranked one of the most beautiful little villages in Italy and we quickly understood why. Flowers, river and old picturesque buildings gave it a wonderful feel and we wandered, got some pictures and enjoyed a coffee before hopping back on the bikes to our next stop…LUNCH!

We biked to Peschiera del Garda a small town on the shores of Lake Garda. Ashley was there to meet us and Giordano, Melissa and Berta took our bikes so we could walk around and enjoy some pizza to fuel us for the last leg. We sat by the canal bank, ordered three yummy pizzas for the 6 of us and relaxed while watching the kids, people and pets wandering past. One of my favorite parts of travel is just hanging and watching the people.

Soon we were back on the bikes for the last 13 miles of the 42 mile day. Don had called it a day and headed back with the vans, Ashley, Berta and Giordano. Katelyn, Shaun, Ken, Melissa and I were now on the roads heading to Villa Cordevigio a beautiful mansion and vineyards where we will spend our last two nights.

We pedaled through the vineyards, up small roads and passing tractors and farmers out tending to the vines. We are now at the foothills of the Alps, so instead of flat farmland it is now rolling hills heading into the mountains. This so far has been the best biking of the week and felt the most like a true Backroads trip!

We arrived to our gorgeous room, showered and relaxed until our 4p shuttle to Verona (about 30 mins away). As we got out of the shuttle in Verona, I pulled up my handy Rick Steves ebook to help with a walking tour. We started at the large Piazza where the huge Roman colosseum dominated the square. Elton John was playing tonight and there was a significant security presence as well as attendees starting to queue up to enter.

Katelyn on the other hand was more interested in the magnometer used to screen people which we all teased her about (they use those

for her work). We did agree that it would be an awesome venue to see EJ! With Rick as our guide, we wandered through the narrow pedestrian streets and more than once commented “geez these stores are all the same no matter where you are in the world”.

We found Juliette’s balcony and courtyard, along with the love notes stuck with gum covering her courtyard wall and hordes of tourists attempting to take pictures of the balcony. Interestingly, there is no proof that Juliette even existed, and the courtyard was not in existence until the 1970’s when a clever tour guide decided it would be a great way to attract visitors. But, we went…what the heck. We DID NOT post love letters with gum, nor did we leave a “love lock”. We do have some standards (not many actually).

From there Ken and Shaun found their way to a bike shop where

some good biking jerseys were supposed to exist. Katelyn, Ashley, Don and I wandered through the Piazza Erbe, where a market with lots of little tourist stalls exist, all overlooked by more cool old buildings from the 1600s. After wandering the square, we found our way to Enoteco Oreste, a divey wine bar just off the main pedestrian alley where we joined a bunch of North American’s lubricating themselves for the EJ concert.

We enjoyed a great Italian valipoccella from the dusty Enoteca shelves and chatted with our new Canadian and US compadres. Shaun and Ken found us, but didn’t have any luck with the finding the jerseys. Found the store, just no jerseys worth the 85euro.

It was time to walk back to the van and go to the hotel for our Michelin star dinner. We were joined by Melissa, Jan, Al and Victoria in the

beautiful hotel restaurant for a wonderful selection of foods fresh from the area. And, of course awesome Italian wines!

Tomorrow, last full day on the bikes and from all reports supposedly the best. Ciao!