June 2019 – Page 3 – JC's iPhone Blog

Spoleto, day two

Our second day in Spoleto meant a loop ride was in our future. In this case it was a lovely 18½ mile ride, with about 1600 feet of elevation gain. The ride exited Spoleto to the NE, and wound into a valley lined with olive groves & thick wooded hillsides. Check out the photos…

The view begins to open up, giving us glimpses of the climb to come

Steep olive tree-lined hillside — That must’ve been a bit of work to plant, eh?

Sky above olive groves above red poppies — Blue sky over soft-green olive groves above red poppies

The view back down the valley as we near the top of our climb — The view back down the valley as we near the top of the climb

Incredible view of the valley from the top — The valley below. (Can you see the red poppies in the distance?)

Ancient buildings above field of grain

I love the number of greens in this image

After the relatively short ride, we decided to explore Spoleto a bit more. We learned that there’s quite a lot of ancient Roman history to be found there. Among the sites we visited were the archeological museum and a well-preserved Roman dwelling beneath the Town Hall, that’s famous for its amazing mosaic floors…

Statuary that was brought from Rome to decorate the local “teatro”

Statuary that was brought in from Rome to decorate the local “teatro”

The Roman Teatro in Spoleto — Spoleto’s Roman Teatro

Portion of an old Roman tablet

They had trouble fitting all the letters into their tablets even then!

Spoleto’s Town Hall — We came around a corner, and there it was, Town Hall!

Roman mosaics

Another mosaic pattern

We felt very accomplished at the end of the day yesterday, having gotten in a nice ride, as well as experienced quite a bit of history of the town. We could get used to this lifestyle! 😁

Bevagna to Spoleto

The big news about yesterday’s ride was that the temp was forecast to rise to near 100º! Knowing that, we attempted to get an early start (for us anyway), and we also chose a relatively short 25 mile ride that took us through the lovely town of Trevi. That, of course, involved a pretty decent 1300+ foot climb. On to the photos…

Cypress amid green fields — I just love all the cypress trees!

Riding down the bike path — Mallory leading the charge down the bike path

A highlight of the tour this year that I’ve forgotten to mention is that we’ve been lucky enough to ride quite a few miles on peaceful little bike paths that follow large irrigation canals in much of this part of Italy. It’s a huge improvement over the traffic-laden roads we’ve been on near many of the bigger cities. Those roads are also often in a pretty awful state of disrepair as well, making it hard to navigate and not get run over!

Idyllic tree-lined bike path — How idyllic, eh?

Approaching the climb to Trevi — Trevi looming in the distance

We stopped in Trevi for a refreshment, and the find some relief from the heat..

Old fortrezza tower in the middle of Trevi — Trevi town center

I just had to share this screenshot of our elevation graph as we left Trevi

After our (super sweaty) arrival in Spoleto, showered and (mostly) re-hydrated, we walked into the newer part of town to do some laundry and have what’s become our requisite afternoon gelato. Here are a few shots from that hike…

Safety barricades for this weekend’s ‘soap-box derby’-style races — Safety barricades? More on this later…

Pretty white flowers against old stone wall

Very old clock-fountain? — Not sure what this clock-fountain structure is all about…

Stay tuned for the story of our second day in Spoleto tomorrow!

Assisi to Bevagna

This was our shortest ride to date, just under 16 miles, and downhill almost the entire day, We hardly knew what to do with ourselves! Well, that’s not true, we did as we always do: we took in the sights, stopped for a refreshment along the way, and basically just kept right on enjoying ourselves fully. 😊 Photos, you ask? Here you go…

The Rocca Maggiore from central Assisi — One last look back at the Rocca Maggiore as we rode out of Assisi

Blinding blue sky over typical Italian back-road — A blinding blue sky over a pretty little Italian back-road

The view from the lunch spot we visited in the hill town of Spello — The view from the lunch spot we visited in the tiny hill town of Spello

Bright yellow flower with prodigious stamens — Here’s an amazing little yellow flower I’ve never seen before

A few more pics I took as we left Spello; note the olive tree growing out of the top of the tower, and of course, lots of colorful annuals in pots adorning almost every building…

Olive tree growing out of tower near Spello town gate

A festively decorated building near the town gate

More colorful annuals

A little further down the road, we noticed this great view of Assisi behind us…

Field of grain with Assisi in the distance

Once we arrived in Bevagna and got settled in our room, we took a stroll around town. On one side street, there was a sign for some Roman mosaics. We couldn’t be sure, but thought this was them:

Ancient Roman mosaics?

Lastly, here are a last bunch of images from yesterday evening in Bevagna…

Crest banners on Bevagna’s central square — Colorful crest banners on Bevagna’s central square

Many little arches between two buildings — Get a load of this jumble of arches!

Remnants of a Roman column in the middle of Bevagna — Detail of a ancient Roman column on display in central Bevagna

The wall of colorful banners, over a lit-up fountain after sunset — A post-sunset shot of the same colorful banners from above. G’night!