Our friends David & Marc joined us for the trip. Here they are sampling Aperol Spritzes, a very common drink in these parts. How common? One mid-morning I pulled into a small town and sat at a café for a break. There was a frail, elderly woman with her walker next to her enjoying her Aperol Spritz at 11:00 AM. God bless her!

OK, so those last four days flew by so fast I didn’t have time to put anything up here. Two factors involved. One, after a couple days you’re having so much fun with friends old and new that you don’t want to be writing blogs and editing pictures. And two, there were some intense biking days and getting back to the room I was just exhausted. As in just collapsing exhausted. So here’s the quick summary.

The map on the left (click on it to blow it up a bit) shows our route, though of course the bike paths weren’t quite as straight as those arrows, with the Austrian border and Venice highlighted just to put it all in perspective. On Day 4 we biked from San Candido to Bressanone, just over 50 miles. The next day was short, just 27 miles into the very cool city of Bolzano. Once we got to Bolzano there were options for extending the ride another 15 miles or so by going out to another site and then coming back but at that point we’re like “Why would we do that?” We’d done two 50-plus mile days in a row, which means you have lunch on the road and then get back on your bike to finish the day. The chance to get into town early, clean up, and have a nice lunch (with wine!) was pretty attractive.

Day 6, our last full day, was a particularly great ride. After nearly four weeks in Europe it was the first day – literally, the first day – where there was no sign of rain. The first sunny day from morning through evening. We rode from Bolzano to the little town of Merano and then, after a little break, rode back to Bolzano on a different route through apple orchards. That was a ride for the ages. Finally Saturday was our last little ride, just eight miles downriver and eight miles back.

The bike paths of Italy were universally in great shape and usually well used

Lots of scenery like this

The biking was great and the weather, while not ideal, wasn’t nearly as wet as the forecast had suggested it would be. The food, unfortunately, often had more to do with Germany than Italy, clearly a step in the wrong direction.

I was intrigued with Bolzano’s Monument to Victory, a monument to Italy’s defeat of the Austrians who lived there. Seemed odd, given that the area still seems more Germanic than Italian.

With a population of 100,000 Bolzano is by far the largest city in Italy’s South Tyrol, incorporating all the complexities and conflict of this Germanic region that’s part of Italy. The region, you see, was the price of Italy’s engagement in World War I on the side of the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and the UK). Italy had been part of the “Triple Alliance”, a secret pact between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, but agreed to switch sides if it could have South Tyrol when the war was over. The good guys won and they added these Alpine lands. Under the Italian fascists, Germanic inhabitants were required to change their names; use of the words Tyrol and Tyrolean were punishable offenses and, needless to say, schools used Italian instead of German. Looking at things today it’s pretty clear the Italianization didn’t work so well; signs are pretty much all in both languages though German seems far more prevalent.

The Bolzano cathedral in the city’s central Waltherplatz. Sounds German, huh?

So how do we feel after seven days of biking? Tired, that’s for sure. But we had a great time, so no we’re going to seriously consider a longer trip next summer: there’s a 2,400-mile path from Nantes, France, on the Atlantic coast to Constanta, Romania, on the Black Sea. My last extended bike tour was 30 years ago, so I’m thinking it’s time to try it again.

In the meantime we’re off to Milan for just one night before catching a flight to Dublin to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday. Until then, here are a few more pictures from the Dolomites.

Ten riders and two guides, so we made lots of friends. Here’s Mark with Kerry (one of our guides) and Jeff, from New York.

Tim & Pam from Portland were great traveling companions

Mark and Giacomo, the world’s greatest bike guide

Marc & Mark, with another of those ubiquitous Aperol Spritzes

Kerry showed us that there are other items on the drink menu, too

Mark wanted a selfie with Marc & David. Giacomo wanted to be part of the fun.

Another day, another bike path

Most of the routes were along rivers, like this. And while there were lots of flowers along the way, this was pretty unique.

Narrow roads winding through apple orchards make for pretty good biking

Alpine biking has to have a few Alpine lakes, of course

And another lake

Oh yeah, a picture of me on one of the routes

One last bike path headed off the horizon