… also a bike path leads along the river Tiber into the middle of the city. David navigated us confidently here and through the hustle and bustle. Yesterday we arrived in Rome and were lucky to spend the night a little outside the city with a host from Warmshowers (platform for bike travelers).

Since the last report from Mantova, we got a lot of what we had been missing in the Po Valley: Hills and highlights.

The first highlights still happened in Mantova… When we went to a café to publish the last blog entry, Campari, white wine, beer and Apérol were already flowing there in streams on Saturday morning. The spirits at the next table were accordingly high. We didn’t seem to bother anyone, on the contrary: The barista and a guest – not quite sober anymore;-) – were very interested in our trip and asked us a lot of questions. Our cafés were “of course” on the house.

Despite rainy weather forecast, we didn’t want to spend a second night at the dingy campground in Mantova, as originally planned. With the goal of camping somewhere along the Po River, we left the city after midday. The difficult search for a suitable spot led us down an entrance road to the river. Three elderly gentlemen stood there in front of a small hut and we asked them if we could camp here. They insisted that we should pitch our tent on the veranda, so that it would be protected from the predicted rain. We gratefully accepted the offer and also followed the invitation for dinner: “Magiamo tutti insieme”. So we were invited to have dinner with 10 members of a cooking club from the neighbouring village. It’s nice that eating is so important in Italy and that we understand each other despite the language barrier.

The geographical highlight of our trip through Italy followed after the visit of Modena. It was the pass Croce Arcana, over which a dirt road leads. The route choice was scenically very rewarding, but cold and very windy. I wonder how that will go when we cross really high passes… ?

Siena and Cortona were other stops on the beautiful ride to Todi. The conquest of the long 18% slope up to the town, has admittedly cost a lot of convincing. For the café with pasticceria on the town square, the hassle was worth it ;-)

At the moment we allow ourselves and our bikes a break in Rome. The sightseeing in the tourist crowds is quite a contrast to camping somewhere in the woods. We have renounced the adventure of a boat ride in Villa Borgese Park and instead amused ourselves about those people who risked it :-D

If the weather cooperates, we would like to visit the Amalfi Coast as the next highlight.