I'll Trade you one B(lack) For One A(driatic): Day 59 - Trieste to Palmanova
So after several days of roller coaster riding, we hugged the shoreline out of Trieste for about 15 km until the hills relented and the broad plains of the Fruili farming area opened up. Our legs were happy. Today was overcast and quite misty for most of the day. However, we got none of the rain that was in the forecast. Yeah! We know we’re in Italy now, There were lots of other cyclists on the road, but not wearing coveralls and riding ancient rusty ‘shopping bikes’. Nope, they were mostly lycra clad on carbon steeds! We even saw 7 other folks on loaded touring bikes, most of them after we left Grado on the CAAR route. Not much excitement today, just a nice ride along the coast to Grado ( a very small ‘Venice like’ town) at the end of a long archipelago stretching out into the Adriatic. From here we hit the start of the CAAR route and we turned north and started riding towards the Alps.
We made it as far at Palmanova, a very interesting town that was a former military fort. The entire town is laid out in a star pattern, around a large central square with the external walls and all of the internal streets still intact. The central square looked like it would have been nice but the ‘circus’ had literally just come to town, and the entire square was full of carnival rides and games, with the attendant noise and lights! We really didn’t check it out but instead found a really nice and basic local restaurant for dinner. By the time we were eating, the place was pretty much full of locals, couples, families, groups of friends …. Very lively and very good basic Italian food. What’s not to like. And when we were leaving, the owners gave us a shot of their homemade Limoncello on the house! Just think, we could have been in Romania (apologies to any Romanians reading this!)
Here we are in Grado, at the main canal, the start of the CAAR bike route tha leads to Salzburg on the other side of the Alps. if we go south from here we're in the open water of the Adriatic ... time to head north I guess
Here's our route for the next 4 -5 days. Most of the first days will be gradual uphill. We're going to take it easy with lots of stops along the way. We don't have to be in Frankfurt until the end of the month, so what's the rush!
Lot's to see along the way.Just a few km north of Grado is the village of Aquileia. This was once one of the main centers of Rome but it's a sleepy little village now. A few claims to fame though. The Basilica is one of the oldest, construction started in 313 A.D and the entire floor is a mosaic that still dates from that era ... it's cordoned off now so you cant walk on it but it's in amazing condition
the courtyards outside the Basilica ... you can see the Roman architecture ... and that's Romulus and Remus on the pedestal in the far background. Definitely Roman!
