Spilimbergo - Mosiac Village - Poking Around Europe 5.0

October 5, 2018

Spilimbergo - Mosiac Village

Gorizia to Spilimbergo

What a surprising day for me, and a wonderful one too. We started out with a great breakfast in Gorizia. We had to take a picture of the instructions for the shower. This hotel room had a rare for Europe tub (much to the CN’s delight) but when he wanted a shower it was a mystery. Fortunately there were instructions.

Got that everyone? I was in stitches, but we figured it out.

Next up was a quick train trip from Gorizia to Udine. We need to start thinking about being in Zurich for our flight on the 14th, so for a grand total of 4 Euro each we did 40 km in about 15 minutes. Of course there were no elevators at either train station so that meant a bit of the up and down stairs with fully loaded touring bikes routine to get to our track, but it really gave us a jump start.

At the Udine train station. These went as far back as the eye could see. Keith caught this just at the end of the train. He had been busy ferrying bikes down the stairs.

Udine, as advertised, was beautiful. We spent time exploring the historic center. Then it was time to buy chocolate and get rolling.

Udine was incredibly bike friendly. These two way bike lanes on a one way street are common in Europe, but controversial at home. We love them.

The ride out of Udine was as user friendly as it gets. Well marked bike lanes, and then we followed the Alpe Adria until it was time to start heading towards Pordenone (I thought). We wove through small villages, looked at some of the sights and had a great ride. Imagine my surprise when we ended up in Spilimbergo!

Keith taking the ‘look up’ rule to the extreme.

In a beautiful huge church in a tiny village.

When we arrived in Spilimbergo we decided to stay put. This spot is known for its mosaics and the mosiac school. They are having a mosiac festival this weekend. We found a hotel and rode our unloaded bikes to explore the area. We think we are the only guests in the large hotel...we will see in the morning. The bike storage room is equipped with a bike stand, tools, a pump, and pretty much anything else you might need. It is amazing.

Mosiac face outside Tourist Information.

Oops. Seems this is a mountain bike track.

Sheesh. My least favourite surface 😬. The CN routed us off of here pretty fast.

My personal favourite part of a great day was dinner. We ate in the hotel, the only patrons and had the best meal we have had in Italy and that is saying something. More adventures tomorrow. We might get to Pordenone. It might rain. The wet gear is buried so far in the panniers it will be an effort to find it, but there won’t be any shivering even if we get wet. It is supposed to be 24 C.

The Duomo, which is known for its frescoes.

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 1,794 km (1,114 miles)

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