Lorenzana: One room for rent with no wifi, one church, one stop light and two restaurants - both closed. Today's destination! We chose to stay in Lorenzana as it was just off our planned route going north and one of the few towns nearby that had a room available for the night. We were not expecting much except a bed and a shower and to carry on the next day to Lucca. Often these one horse stop gap locations turn out to be the most interesting and Lorenzana did not disappoint!
We had our breakfast on the patio at the Lungomare Hotel. We had the usual coffee and croissants as well as a meat and cheese tray. The Lungomare Hotel has a perfect location and likely a long history in Cecina. Our host was most engaging and we really enjoyed our stay at the beach.
Loading up and leaving Cecina. Our host made our stay here really great.
There appeared to be a good cycle route along the water that would take us north to the busy port city of Livorno. It was about 30 kilometres up the coast to where the ferries go to the islands of Elba, Corsica and Sardinia. But since we are on the search for quieter routes, we decided to try our luck by heading inland.
Leaving Cecina, we crossed the Cecina river and followed a bike path for the first half dozen kilomteres out of town. The highway riding then began for us as we skirted the large Zona Industriale area and began to climb up to Rosignano Marittimo. The roads were not perfect for cycling with just a narrow single white line shoulder but the traffic was not terrible either. Most drivers gave us a wide berth as they passed. We reminded ourselves that some of today`s route will be what we call ¨A to B¨ riding - not always fun but necessary to get where you need to go.
After a quick stroll along the main street of Rosignano we found ourselves back cycling on a nice, undivided road, up high, with no traffic and great views. However, once we came down out of the hills we rejoined the SP highway network and shared a divided highway. Again, it is not busy with traffic but not our ideal.
We had a quick lunch stop about ten kilometres short of Lorenzana and then enjoyed the rolling hills as we rode a ridge with beautiful agricultural landscapes on both sides of the road. Lorenzana came into view on the hillside above and we climbed the road into town. It was a short, very steep rise and upon reaching the top, we saw a restaurant with tables on the opposite side of the over looking the Tora river valley below. Pat suggested that she would like a coffee and Scott thought it would be a great place to have a beer. The restaurant owner was out having her lunch on the deck and Pat asked if she could have a coffee. The lady answered ¨no¨, as she is closed today and the machine is turned off, but indicated that beer is possible. Well twist my rubber arm, beer it will be!
Now these are our ¨wow¨ views as we cross over the busy roads and begin a couple of short climbs up into the fields.
Lorenzana! The Garmin operator notes a bit of a short cut - the hypotenuse of the triangular road so to speak. He is learning that shorter distance on a right angle triangle will always result in a steeper climb.
We had reached our destination and had no place to go. Lorenzana is a small town and really not much to visit. Even the church was under repair. The cool shade from the umbrellas, a wonderful Blonde lager, the amazing views and the lady from the restaurant to keep us company entertained us for the next hour. She was busy making pizza dough that she advises will be ready in two days time as it needs time to rise. Frequently, she came out to join us and chat. On one of her trips across the road she brought us a small bowl of homemade yogurt and fresh sliced strawberries. It was just the first of many moments that made Lorenzana a memorable stop. We were also kept busy with a routing puzzle that we needed to resolve in order to find our way back to Milan.
The Frashetta is closed today but Mara the owner is working - making pizza dough for the next week.
At 3.30 we decided to move down the block to the other restaurant in town as this is where we will meet our host at 4 o`clock. A man showed up shortly after and before going into the restaurant asked if we were waiting for Paulo. He is not Paolo, but Paolo`s partner, Andrea. Upon finding that we were spending the night, Andrea said that he could take care of us. His English was perfect as he had lived in Australia for ten years. He was disappointed that his restaurant was closed, but it's Monday and he and his staff need a day off. He described how wonderful the experience is to sit in the piazza and enjoy a nice meal while the sun sets. Will you be here tomorrow? We laughed. Fortunately, there was another very good restaurant just 1.5 kms out of town, down the hill of course.
We put our bikes in a storage room across from the piazza and restaurant - beside the traffic light. We then walked along the narrow road without a sidewalk but we are told that we have priority as we are pedestrians.
Our room which was really a three bedroom suite with a kitchen is the only rental accommodation in Lorenzana. It is up a couple of flights of stairs and is basic but has a very normal local homey feel to it. Hot showers, clean towels and a bed is what we are after, not a place to linger as there was no wifi anyway. But we are told, and as we have already discovered, we can get wifi at the restaurant even when it is closed. Scott just happened to have a large Moretti beer in his bag that he chilled in the freezer before we headed back to the Piazza. Others have now gathered in the piazza, but we found a table, opened the beer, set up our gear and began to connect to the outside world via the web. We were an oddity in town but mostly ignored.
The traffic light which controls the traffic in Lorenzana through a narrow almost single lane road in the middle of town. There were never more than two cars waiting at any time.
Very nice town piazza - shady with great views. We waited here for our host. It had free open wifi from the restaurant next door. This was important as our room had no wifi service at all!
As the dinner hour approached we decided to walk to the restaurant, the Piandilaura Gourmet. It was a nice walk down the hill with just a short stretch on the highway. The restaurant was quite busy but there was room for us on the terrace. Our server described the meals to us in excellent English - with that Italian accent that you could listen to all day long and never really pay attention to what they are saying because it sounds so wonderful. The restaurant provided some prosecco and a small carrot appetizer. Our meals were both excellent, too. After dinner we walked home as the sky was just going dark (and the fireflies were coming out) convinced that we had done well by picking Lorenzana as a place to spend the night. Surprisingly, tomorrow it even got better.
The town square beside the Osteria dei Veccchi Sapori is a great place to hang out and enjoy the views.
