September 19, 1998
Gorizia to Udine
Today brought a striking change in the weather - blue skies, light winds, mild temperatures - perfect for cycling. From the forecast it looks like this may last us for the final week of the tour.
We began the day with a visit to the castle in Gorizia, a semi-ruin on a hill overlooking the old city. Afterwards we also visited the very interesting World War I museum. The Soca Valley was an important front in the war, with an entrenched war of attrition lasting three years and taking the lives of over a million soldiers. Gorizia was occupied by the Italians for the first two years, until the line collapsed and was overrun by the Austrians.
From Gorizia we meandered our way northward to Cividale de Fruili, with the Alps forming a gradually rising layer across the northern horizon. Cividale is a beautiful small town, with lovely stone monuments and a bridge crossing the small river that bisects the town. We arrived during siesta and waited around for an hour while I rested off a bad headache and indigestion, apparently from an overdose of cookies. We considered for awhile whether to stop here for the day before finally deciding to continue on to Udine.
Udine is quite a large town, and the largest since we left Ljubljana. It was something of a shock to us to find ourselves lost and in the midst of heavy traffic. Once we found it though, the town has a very pretty historical center, highlighted by a large Palladian plaza modeled after Saint Mark's in Venice. As it was late in the day already, we decided to seek out dinner and defer sightseeing until the morning. We found a very pleasing trattoria - a small family affair with very satisfying fixed menus (we had salmon tagliatelli and cannelloni) and a fine, reasonably priced bottle of wine. Afterward we finished out the day by enjoying a spectacle at the plaza - an outdoor fashion show. We hadn't dressed warmly enough, so I left Rachael to hold our places on the balcony overlooking the square while I returned to the room for more clothing and binoculars.
Some general notes about our impressions of northeast Italy so far:
- Turkish toilets are nearly universal
- the Venetian influence is evident in all major urban areas west of Gorizia
- many of the secondary roads carry fairly heavy traffic, and driving quality is poor: fast and impatient. It is a beautiful place to cycle on the quiet roads, but stressful on the noisier ones.
- the landscape is dramatic - mountains to the north, plains to the south. Views are spectacular on the infrequent times when we rise above the plain.
- as always, it is very satisfying to arrive in the fall. There is much agricultural activity - grape harvesting, field clearing and so on.
- every small town has its church and bell tower, each somewhat different from the others, each with a different bell pattern.
- atop one steep-sided hill we found magnificent views to the north and south. A wedding was taking place at the hilltop church, and we enjoyed the ringing of wedding bells as far as the next hilltop.
Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 426 miles (686 km)
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