Ahhh . . . time for a nice outdoor breakfast at the Lis Hotel. It’s a family run place and has all you need!

. . .  even hotel slippers that you can wear to breakfast, like Marci did!

Here Mr. Ribero uses the juicer to make a concoction of apple, celery, carrot and ginger. It was wonderful!

Here are the raw ingredients ready to go.

The message is clear!

On our morning shopping walk, we oohed and aaahed at this pizza shop. Later Rick had two slices!

Our destination was this bike shop and café.

Everything was beautifully displayed. The influence of Italian design even affects bike shops!

 

The “fatties” — this one an ebike  – have hit Italy too!

Something for everybody . . . a holdover from WWII?!

 

Anybody familiar with these leak-proof tubes? Pepi’s Tire Noodles! Anti-puncture system we hear.

. . . so we went a-shopping!

This is Corso Vittorio Alfieri, the main road in old Asti. Asti is known for its many medieval towers still in good shape. It was once the most powerful city in the Piedmont. The Ligures lived here until the Romans ousted them in 174 BC; the Ligurian word for hill is Ast.

After about a 45 minutes half the group lost interest in shopping (no more bike shops). And went to the park to people watch.

Barb, emJay and Tom enjoyed lunch at Osteria Palio not far from our hotel. For 10 Euro they got: penne pasta with a light seafood sauce; vegetable fritter with cheese sauce; mixed salad; water “with gas”; cappuccino, and tiramisu for dessert. Yum!

. . .  Barb in front of the lovely cathedral, built in Piedmontese Gothic style. Note the bell tower and the single lancet windows.

The cathedral is airy and graceful inside. Note the Trompe l`Oeil effect on the columns  –not carved, but painted to appear so!  (and pronounced “trum ploy”  which I have always wondered about!!)

The #2 of 351 restaurants in town, on the Trip Advisor site, Campanaro, was only 3 block from out hotel. We had the front line staff make us a reservation and what a night it was!!!

emJay had the eggplant Parmesan starter . . .

. . .  while Ricxk had the layered spinach crepe, goat cheese stack with honey and walnuts . . .

. . . followed by sausage ravioli . . .

. . . topped with black truffles and Parmesan cheese.

. . . the pasta was delicious . . .

. . . and the special house tiramisu was superb!!!

We were personally waited on by the owner, Duilo, who spoke great English. His enthusiasm and passion for food were over the top and his insights and suggestions made the night’s meal the best of the trip!!!

After a relaxing day off, it was time to saddle up and ride. Here we get organized at the hotel garage where we had stored our bikes while on our ‘mini holiday’ rest day..

A short way out of town this field of blooming sunflowers welcomed us into the first village of the day we climbed.

Rick was joined by a new friend who did not want to leave his salty hand!

emJay glides by looking happy and fresh!

Barb is happy to be going downhill AND in the shade!

We passed this big field of what appeared to be hemp. Or was it medical marijuana? No samples!!!

Papa Frank and Rick shared a warm greeting!

Here is the historic view of one of today’s hill towns….

. . . and here is the same view today, with Billy working his way up the hill.

It was a challenging day, 55K and significant hills. But oh the views! One hill town, after another, graced with a church or a castle.

Up, up we would go,  getting ever closer to the town center.

You know it’s high when you ride  by the regional cell tower!

Marci and Bill enjoying another gorgeous morning of riding.

The downhills are fun! Three from our group ride down through the countryside on the road near the bottom of the photo.

Our approach to Casorzo and time for a little lunchy.

We met up with a group of young bikers from the Netherlands, also traveling with a service that moved their luggage from town to town.

Just down the street, we found a grocery store that had everything we needed for lunch. And of course parked and ate in the shade. If you can get out of the direct sun it is actually quite lovely.

Fresh fruit and veggies . . . and nothing is ever packaged or wrapped in plastic..

A deli counter with bread, meats, cheeses and desserts. Something for everyone!

Maressa sliced our ham, prosciutto and soppressata, thin. FRESH!!

Her colleague, Sofia, was quartering a yummy watermelon….

. . .  which was too much for Billy to pass up!

we finished up with cream puffs and chocolate éclairs.

. . . on the way out of town, we noticed this clever (and creepy) light fixture as we stopped in some shade. The glass abdomen is the night light.

A study in weathered Piedmont doors. All the town we rode through were like ghost town, regardless of the time of day. Most Italian’s leave the area for holiday during the month of August. Where do they go . . . to the beach!!!

One vineyard had its wares out to entice you in for a sample. We checked . . . the bottles were empty!

In addition to grapevines laden with ripening fruit, the roadsides were also rich in fruit trees, like these apples.

. . . and these . . . apricots? Name the fruit!

Yet another scenic town. You have plenty of time to take it all while when SLOWLY . . .  riding up steep hills!

emJay checks out this historic church. The tower in back is actually from a much older structure, and sits ‘catawampus’ on the newer building.

. . .there wer three of rour stretches of gravel we rode over during the course of the week. Several were very steep descents, an some   walked them.. Two who rode  . . . fell! They had the scrapes to prove it.

And yes it was HOT again. Still over a 100 degrees on the bike at 4:00pm. We all agreed the hills would seem A LOT easier to cycle up if it wasn’t so blasted hot . . . and there was a little breeze. It was calm all week. Where is a cooling headwind when you need one!!

After the gravel road, we came upon this beautiful vista of the valley below, and the community of Casale Monferrato.  The big climbs of the trip were behind us. YIPPEE!!

Here we settled in to our inn, Hotel Canadieri!

We passed this rustic building on our way to dinner. Great colors! The restaurants are never far away usually only a 5 – 10 minute walk.

Our restaurant, Cicinbarlichin, actually means “finger licking good”! Here is a clever use of an old workshop table.

Happy diners! This restaurant was recommended to us by the wonderful restaurant owner from Asti the previous night. Our reservations were as early as we could get them, 7:30. We were the only ones there.

A family of about 20 soon arrived to celebrate this young lady’s eighteenth. Here is proud Grandpapa and his birthday girl!

Dinner was excellent. Here is Barb’s choice of spedini . . .

. . . Tom and Rick tried the sous vide chicken breast with mango chutney sauce.

The servings were generous! After enjoying her primi piatti, Marci begged others to share her next dish, aubergine parmesan.

BillyB finally got the hamburger he had been craving the whole trip. They even were able to supply some ketchup! He said it was the best he had ever eaten.

By 8:30pm, the place was full to capacity. All these people, two pet dogs and only two waitstaff. They were busy!!!

. . . with full tummies, at 10:00pm we ambled to our hotel. Italian dinners are ALWAYS a 2-3 hour affair but are ALWAYS a very casual and relaxing experience!

We slept in until about 8:00am enjoying the AC. Breakfasts are always a wonderful  affair and exciting to see what our hosts have laid out for our browsing . . . always lots of cakes, fruit, juices, cheeses, yogurt, cereals  . . .

. . . and usually eggs made to order with ham, bacon or sausages. Great way to start the day . . . oh and of course with at least 2-3 cappuccinos!!!

After packing up our gear for the last time, we were down the road, riding an easy 32 miles to Alessandria.

There is a lot of soybeans and corn grown in the flat, lower areas in this part of Italy and many times as you looked to the side of the road, as you biked along, it looked a lot like Wisconsin. However, one thing you don’t see on the sides of fields in Wisconsin are the elaborate little religious shrines like this one.

As we rolled into our first village a local market was beginning to set up . . .

emJay and Marci surveyed the fresh produce and emJay, in typical biker fashion, bought one banana!!!

Lawrence Welk lives . . . through his Italian reincarnation, Enrico Cremon!!!

We rode along the Po river during the morning and were surprised to see all the irrigation used to grow even vegetables like these zucchinis . . .

. . .flooding the areas between the mounded growing areas.

. . .  there were many stands of timber too, planted 20-30 years ago . . .

. . . that enjoyed a nice little drink, too. The soil along the Po must be very light to demand this type of attention.

. . . luckily the trails we road through the area on were high and dry!!

Gun ownership may not be as prevalent in Europe but those in the country who own guns still like to use local metal signs for ‘sighting-in’ there rifles. Just like their American cousins!!! This chap must have been using a 45 caliber or large bullet, the resulting hole being about an inch in diameter!!!

Riding out of the River Po sand plain, we entered the village of Bozzle and found ourselves to be hungry!!! Of course being Sunday, the two restaurants were closed . . . .

. . . but we soon met Mahaila, an Italian woman who owed the local B&B with her Swiss husband. Their New York overnight guests were just leaving and she agreed to make us a nice little ‘al fresco’ lunchy . . .

. . . we took our seats at the outside eating area and spent time looking for the thirty turtles that roaming their yard. These two were in the turtle ‘nursery’, a wooden ring around the base of a tree. Grandma Turtle was about 15 inches long and 50 years old!!!

. . . we enjoyed a wonderful filling lunch of sliced ham, sausage, fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, bread and fresh melon. Too soon it was time to say our goodbye’s and we would be down the road to Alessandria.

. . . oh, and we were right on course!!

. . . another interesting ‘raised’ cemetery. Not sure why this type of ‘elevated’ graveyards are so popular with the Italians.

. . . although most Italian’s, who live in cities, live in apartment type buildings, OLD buildings,  these free standing apartment buildings don’t seem to be too popular. Here is one that looks sort of out of place, like it never really caught on, standing out in the middle of an open field.

. . . after the last climb of the trip, it was time for a little gelato and  beverage break. Soon we were riding DOWN HILL on our last leg into Alessandria . . .YES!!! Smiles all around!!!

We ventured out to a local restaurant where the chef came out of the kitchen and offered to make us a ‘Chef’s Special’. It sounded great and soon we were treated with a DELICOOUS little green salad . . .

. . . followed by a platter of garlic risotto . . .

. . .  and three meat ravioli. The wine and water (with gas) flowed too . . .

. . . but there was still room for a nice little apricot panna cota, with a dark rich chocolate sauce, and topped with nuts.

. . . it was a great way to celebrate our last dinner group dinner in Italy.

Back at the hotel there was a new group of riders being fitted to their bikes, several of the same one we used. I saw my 55cm bike being fitted to a chap from London and we had a nice chat.

Tomorrow, Marci and BillyB would train off to Cinque Terra for three days of hiking. emJay, Barb,Tom and I would train to Turino for a ‘three day’ wind down from our biking holiday!!!

Our  Route:

ride review to come . . . more to come!!

Today was a day of travel and rest. Tom, Barb, Rick and emJay caught a train from Alessandria to Torino. Our hotel, the Hotel Genova, is a short walk from the train station. And this is how towns look here during August holidays . . . ghost towns!

Our room is spacious enough, with a Juliette window in the bedroom looking to the street below, and a tiny balcony accessible via the bathroom!

The funniest thing about our room is the ceiling, which makes it look like we are part of a bigger building . . . the Sistine Chapel?!

Many restaurants and businesses are closed for the holiday! Of five regularly recommended restaurants near our hotel, only one was open tonight: Slurp! In spite of the funny name, Slurp was a fine restaurant. Here are fresh grilled vegetables with salmon.

We shared two desserts per couple, a creative form of tiramisu, and panna cotta with crumbled chocolate  bits on top!

Slurp! has a specialty . . . sugar cubes soaked in flavored grain alcohol. They packed a punch! Supposedly a digestive. Read about making them here.

Motorcycles have their own special parking areas!

While walking back to our hotels, we passed these community e-cars recharging. Turin is doing the right thing!

Torino’s history goes back 2,000 years. We did a walkabout to explore a bit of it. The building in this photo is a museum comprised of three buildings: the Roman Porta Pretoria; the castle of Ludovico d’Acaja, and the spectacular front that was added.

Another perspective of the Palazzo Madama and its three distinct components.

Here we are looking down Via Roma, and you can see the arc of the railway station at the far end of the via. It is lined with tony shopping opportunities.

Piazza San Carlo is a beautifully balanced and sober-feeling square. The churches Santa Christina (left) and San Carlo add to the balanced feel.

The classy Torinians even wrap cement blockades in plastic printed with rural forested scenes!

La Dora.

Il Po. La Dora and Il Po flank either side of Via Roma on the way into Piazza San Carlo.

We enjoyed a Frenchy lunch at Adonis Crepes. This is salmon….

This is tuna….

And this is the dessert special of the day!

emJay opted for the Crepe Suzette, which had Gran Marnier drizzled over it…

and then it was torched, flambe (hard to see the flame during the day). Nicely caramelized the sugar on top!

. . . .and believe it or not after a nice little nap, soon it was time for dinner!!! Again, sort of hard to find a place that was open, in a town of 800,000, but soon we were dining  in a restaurant sidewalk dining room (reserved only for Turinian’s . . . but we insisted) TommyH’s head in the foreground.

Our goodbye dinner with the Helkster’s was wonderful . . . among the entrees, Tom had the squid with warm fried potato crisps on top . . .

. . . emJay had the gnocchi with a ragu and pesto sauce . . . we also had our what has now become our standard of two  liters of ‘vino de cassa’, per meal, even without Marci there to help us drink it all!!!!

. . .  and em,Jay and I shared a nice semi-freddo with caramel sauce.

A soft rain began to fall as we walked back along the colonnade protect sidewalks. Hugs all around on the street  corner as we said goodbye to Barb and Tom who are heading back home tomorrow. We have one more day in Turin, then back to Milan via the train.

The day begins with the ample hotel breakfast . . . and what a spread!!!

. . . where you can get everything you might desire! Here are the meats, tomatoes, cheeses, and scrambled eggs.

emJay nearly created an international incident with a coffee machine malfunction by improperly pushing the “macchiato” buttons. Luckily we had become friendly with the breakfast attendant so she just laughed at us.

Today would be a walking/shopping tour of the Turin area around our hotel. Newest Prada fashion: a banana dress! Look for it soon at a shop near YOU!

We considered touring around on bikes . . . but it may have been overkill. Here is one of the “use and leave” community bikes. You locate an available bike via your app . . .

. . . you scan the bar code, the rear bike lock unlocks, and off you go!

.

Because it is vacation time in Italy, and factories and many businesses shut down, so too do many shops and restaurants. However, this exception to that rule adamantly states: ‘We are Open all of August!’

Clever street artists create a sand dog.

Captivating! Looks like a 3-d printed art object, reflected upon itself.

Soon it was time for a light, little lunch . . .Oooh! Looks like emJay bit an olive pit!

She had a lovely lunch of chicken salad (with olives), mixed vegetables, and yummy potatoes.

I enjoyed a mixed salad with tuna.

emJay had picked up some special chocolates that come with their own pack of dry ice keeping them cool enough not to melt!

YOU may receive a postcard from Italy!

As we walked around a corner we realized we were back with the sand artists . . . they had made good progress on Fido! Wonder what they do with it once it is complete????

We admired the beautiful Mole Antonelliana, originally designed as a synagogue and now holds a museum of cinematography. Its recognizable shape is an icon of Turin.

Young children from all over Europe have made their own artistic versions of the Mole. Kind of like the cow or Bucky Badger sculptures in Madison!

This bike has been  parked here a loooong time!

Back at the Piazza Castello, this sculpture honors soldiers from many eras. Italy has been involved in many wars and occupations!

The Angelic fountain. Not so hot today or we might have taken a dip!!!

We explored the trendy neighborhood called Quadrilatero Romano. It features Via Garibaldi, which is Europe’s longest pedestrian mall! Here we are looking to the northwest . . .

. . . and here we are looking southeast!

The sundial along Piazza Solferino is only one hour off! We learned that Italy does observe daylight savings time in October.

Luciano in earlier days . . . he has put on a few pounds like many of us. Too much pasta!!

View from the river Po. In the far distance you see a new office tower being built, one of few in the area.

At the end of the bridge sits the church the Gran Madre di Dio.

Interior of the Gran Madre.

View from the Gran Madre, back across the bridge to the heart of Turin. Beautiful day for walking.

Tormented street art. No explanation or mention of the artist.

Turin has many homeless people. This person made his/her bed right along the walkway. They seem to exist peacefully alongside the rest of the Turinoians, sort of a ghost population. Many have mattresses they lay out inside the colonnades. The police don’t seem to hassle  them. Too bad the authorities can’t do something  about the graffiti in Turino. It has REALLY changed the urban landscape. Very ugly and demeaning to the beautiful architecture of the city.

We love the graceful hanging vines attached to balconies of apartments.

We walked to the lovely LaPerola Rosa for our last dinner on this trip in Turin. emJay had the veal and I had salmon . . . and of course a nice bottle of Piedmonte bianco vino!

. . . since it was our last night in town we decided to splurge on the calories and EACH have our own dessert . . . I had the tiramisu . . .

. . . and emJay had the hazelnut dark chocolate torte with vanilla gelato and fresh fruit. Yum!

A nice walk down the promenade and soon we were back at Hotel Genova. Tomorrow it is on to Milan!!!

What a joy it is to travel by train in Italy! You use the app GoEuro to buy the tickets online, go to the train station, and 20 minutes before departure, your train’s platform is announced on the big screen, you walk to the platform and board your train!!! Today on the high speed train we had an assigned coach and seats.

Today, only one hour non-stop from Torino to Milan! We actually got in about 10 minutes early and had to ‘hover’ about a mile out of the station waiting for our platform to become available . . . just like a jet waiting for a gate to open to land!

The main train station in European cities are beauties. Here we are back at the impressive Milan train station . . .

. . . where in the plaza in front of  Central Station Milan, there is a giant, white, 11 ton apple with a bite that has been repaired with steel stitching. A sculpture by Michelangelo Pistoletto which was donated to the city of Milan in honor of the food and nourishment themed Expo of 2015.  The sculpture represents nature and the use of modern technology to save and replenish what has been lost.

Here is the newest fad . . . toast bars!

Hmmm . . . we obviously have work to do to get Wisconsin Toast added!

And we arrive back at Hotel Galles for just one night.

Not only have we been bumping into many, many places not open because of the August holiday . . . today is also a religious (and state) holiday, the Assumption of Mary. Even MORE restaurants and stores are closed for that! We found this café and had nice chicken salads. The more ‘rustic’ . . .

. . . and the more ‘refined’, a chicken salad, yummy with spinach, beans, olive oil-pesto dressing, sun dried tomatoes . . .

. . . and who could resist cheesecake topped with Nutella?! Not us. We shared. Last  lunch dessert of the trip!!!

After a rest and some shopping by emJay, we walked to dinner. And passed more electric community cars all plugged in for the night. Cute!

Our dining option was Mamma Rosas, the only place not closed for holiday or for Assumption Day!

It was cozy and sweet and we had a lovely dinner.

emJay enjoys wine while wearing her brand new frock from H and M Swedish department store.!!

We had an appetizer of smoked salmon and toast. Toast is in, you know?!

. . . I enjoyed sea bass with purple potatoes and a savory sauce.

emJay had slow-baked duck with potatoes and artichokes and veggies.

Mama Rosa’s signature dessert; see it spelled across the plate? Crème caramel.

. . . and we close things out with a fruit tart complete with figs!

emJay dips her toe at the site where a missing cobblestone caused my suitcase rubber wheel to completely blow out! Disintegrated! Gone!! The plastic inner wheel is still there. And of course TravelPro luggage no longer has wheel replacements!!!

Tomorrow it is on to Dublin!!!

We slept well during our last night in Milan and after a yummy breakfast, Ubered to the Milan airport . . .

. . . with Davide. He lives about 40 km away, commute in his car to Milan and has had over 3,500 Uber trips. Yesterday he had sixteen fares and they were all tourists!!

. . . from Milan it was a 2.5 hour flight to Dublin. We got in 20 minutes early but had to sit on the tarmac for about an hour because a plane in our gate was having mechanical problems. They had to find us another home. Luckily, emJay had almost 3 hours between flights. Once she got to her gate, her plane was delayed for an hour. She finally arrived in Chicago at 9:00pm and caught the 9:51pm VanGalder bus back to Madison, venturing through a hellacious downpour. She was snug in our bed, at home by 1:10am. Tomorrow she picks up the puppy!!

. . . for me, it will be a couple of days in Dublin before I join the Bicycle Adventure Club for an ‘end to end’ ride of Ireland. What better way to start out, than with a visit to an ‘authentic Irish pub’. Located off the main drag, Brannigan’s was inhabited by lots of local folks who you could see probably had their own barstools and lounge chairs ‘reserved’ for their daily visits!!!

I think several were speaking English to me and I hope I answered their questions correctly. With the noise, my hearing  and their deep brogues I’m not sure I got their entire message!!  Since our last visit to Ireland, smoking has been outlawed inside buildings but ‘vaping’ is still allowed. Many folks regularly were going outside for the usual smoke break.

Oh . . .  a couple of these went down pretty easy and since I had not had lunch . . .

. . . this nightly special of stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon with potatoes (covered with a mushroom cream gravy from the stainless pitcher on the left), and a vegetable medley was quickly consumed. I left stuffed!!

After walking around O’Connell St for a while, I thought a little dessert was in order and had a nice little sweet as I walked back to my hotel. Soon. . . it was zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Post Trip Comments:

I thought his adventure was FANTASTIC!

We had such a great time traveling with the  Marci, Barb, Billy and Tom. Lots of memories and fun times! I loved spending so much leisure time with Smoochie, in one stretched.

The scenery of northern Italy was really the star of the trip for me. Seemed to be a great ‘Kodak moment’ around every corner. And, at the top of each hill/mountain was a great little village, many of which we climbed to visit. If you were on a high point, it was not unusual to do a 360 round the clock view and see 6 or 7 villages, clinging to hillsides and always with the mandatory church located on an even higher point.

The weather was PERFECT. No rain throughout the  the week, no headwinds and blue skies every day.  Although the temps were in the 90’s everyday, drinking lots of water and taking breaks in the shade made all the difference.

and . . . we had the whole country to ourselves. August is ‘holiday time’ for most Italian’s and they all head to coastal communities for R&R. I’m talking millions of people. Most of the towns we rode though looked like ‘ghost towns’ or movies sets. Beautiful settings with no people!!  Car traffic during the trip was minimal. One had to plan lunches and snack break around the normal Italian business hours of 10:00-2:30pm and then 5:00-9:00pm. They still enjoy an afternoon siesta.

It was sort of a yin-yan thing. We had the whole countryside to ourselves, but shopping and even restaurant choices were EXTREMELY limited because of their holiday season, even in Milan and Turino, cites of 800,000 people!!!

If you get a chance to bike in Italy, don’t pass it up. Just make sure you get some miles under your belt before you go. The better shape you are in . . . the more fun!!!!