Travel Day – Rome to Riccione (on the Adriatic)

But first, our last-night-in-Rome dinner: We had a table at the edge of the roof garden with a perfect view of the Roman Forum. As we finished dinner lights came on for all the antiquities adding an additional dramatic touch. The food was good, but the highlight was the service. Our starter was shrimp and guacamole. For the main, Lauve had the tornados and I had the veal with ham. Both served with nice grilled vegetable medley. We don’t seem to have the capacity for the three-course routine. The dinner, the sites and the walk back the hotel were a perfect ending.

The train ride from Rome changing in Bologna was routine at least for Europe – a 300 mile trip in roughly three hours downtown to downtown. Actually, Riccione doesn’t really have a downtown. Sarah Evans arrived about the same time we did from Florence. (Lauve here) It’s a beach town, reminds me of Delray Beach in Florida - loads of people out on the sand, gobs of chairs, cabanas, etc. with little walking area between chairs and water.  Very hot today.  Hopefully we will have a breeze during our rides to cool off.  A very friendly group is departing tomorrow, and some others from Tucson arrive later - so looks like the Tucson “3” will be some of the only riders out tomorrow – a transition day for most hotel guests.  Tonight is a paella night hosted by the hotel owner. 

We got fitted for our road bikes. They are pretty high-end de Rosa’s with Campy components. They road well on our short test around the block. Our hotel, the Belvedere, was recommended to us by Gwen Hyatt and, so far, is everything she told us it would be. The food (lunch so far) is great and included with the room price. They also wash your riding clothes after the guided daily rides. There are four different levels of rides each day.

Some pictures of the hotel and food.

Mike