Sinking in the yellow light

If there's one thing truly uniquely refreshing about this European land (ok, there's many but not in this blog entry), it's got to be the yellowish glow given to walls and walkways of the old parts of the towns.  It's almost a real life sepulita sprinkled with a bit of liveliness given by the few groups of people herein there. Two people talked on the parked scooter, people chatting outside the restaurant, the 4 or 5 old folk seated by the clock tower probably talking about tomatoes or cows. It's a still life in quiet movements, changing but slowly. Im sure this is where the idea came from. There's a peace in these settings. One that really can't be described or articulated to get the true feeling. Instead you need to sit yourself down in it, and for a while. 

Itch'n to get go'n

As we can clearly see in this famous painting, the tandem was an icon of  humanity realized centuries ago by the estute french.

Its the 23rd (as we can see, not all these posts are published the day they were written) already and now more than every am I get'n that good'ol crave'n to see me some sights and new beaches.  Yes sir, down south where the water is bluer, warmer, and well...southerner.  The italian tourist season is also winding down so of course thats a good thing.  I figure I'll have about 20 or so days before I need to think about heading back to Spain and make the transition down to Granada (remember people, its supposed to be one of, if not the, prettiest cities in Spain).  So by this time you're probably wondering what its like sleeping on the Adriatic coast.  Alright, fine, I'll tell you.  the answer is it depends.  If we have a nice breeze that keeps the mosquitos at bay, then ya, its a calm peaceful pleasant pleasure. However, no breeze, no calm peaceful pleasantness.  And the ones around here don't really let you know they're around. Nope, only when they stab you with their swords of suction and the itching sensation begins might you start to realize the little all-to-annoying buggers have arrived.  But oh well, I went swimming this morning in the smooth sea so again, its all good.  Now its time for a random pic from the ipod.  What will it be? Nobody knows...

Ah yes, in front of the big art museum in Barcelona.  Centered somewhat perfectly for your viewing pleasure. 

Alright, who are the russians check'n out my sweet blog?!

So, appearantly this here blogspot keeps statistics of the variuos activities of any such blog, and also appearantly there is a person, or people, in russia accessing my site.  Hmmm.  I don't think I know any Russians, or at least who live in Russia.   I aslo don't think I'm important enough for any russian secret service to be keeping tabs on my "secret mission" bike trip along the Italian coast.  Who knows, maybe its that russian girl of whom I posted that foto of.  Yup, I betcha thats it.  Ogshlava Bolinskivia wants to invite me over for potatoe (is that spelled right Mr. Quale? We all remember that debacle. Buts seriuosly, who knows how to spell that word?) battered vodka creamsticks when I get closer to her mother country.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I think it's great that this thing is going global.  I mean blogs witho borders right?!

Right, anyway, the goods and the bads of yesterday.  To start off:
1. Find snorkel on beach. 8 AM.  I can now see fishys under the sea... Good thing.
2. Loose/someone took favorite gray shirt. 8:30 AM
3. Go to bike shop to buy a piece I lost 2 days before. They don't have it, neither does the hardware shop. Thats 11.
4. In search for the shirt (remember, its my favorite) I find piece lost two days before. 12
5. At same point I buy chips and go swimming with a new Italian friend.  I know she's really 100% italain because she says that "its stressful to go to the beach."  And only true coastal europeans would say something like that.

That little bit of metal on the ground can be the difference between  biking 50 km or waling it.   When given the option,             I CHOOSE THE BIKE!

Live and let live says me, and God.

This photo nicely displays the european mentality of consideration.  We'll notice how the car is parked in the middle of a singlelane road.  Now is we look closely we can see that the driver kindly, but most likely by accident, left enough room for a scooter to pass on through.  This man deserves a medal. 

As we all know, we've got to stay clean these days.  Consciencely too.  I pretty much go for a swim everynight around 8:30 or so when its getting dark, then go rinse off with some freshwater from the public spouts.  But believe me, its not all fun and games, the water from the spouts is not warm.  Anyway, the water was particularly calm this night and it ran shallow for a good distance into the sea.  I take a deep breath, hold it, and float gently treading water staring at the sky.  I then touched the sandy bottom and noticed the tiny rifts that the water had formed which I find to be an interesting texture.  I run my hands over the sand and in time, without really looking for anything, find a tiny swirled shell.  What a perfect little piece of neckless this would make for a mom.  And it would have been too, if not for the tinier creature that was living inside it.  It was a beautiful home for this guy and I pondered under the stars for a good while the fate of this hermitcrab.  I still didn't know exactly what I was going to do, but it was already decided for me.  As I got up to walk back to land, I tripped a bit and from my hands slipped the lil fella back into the water.  There we have it.  A necklace can be made from someother, uninhabited source.

Getting back to the sign thing again.  Here we see numerous sign postings, of course for businesses, but good luck trying to find a roadsign.  However, I believe I took this photo because of the term "Man SAS," and Italy is full of it.  Trust me. 

Strange sea creatures and babies. Not too different.

Me and my feet taking in the shade or as some italian girl put it "a piece of shadow."
This has got to be the good life.

So as it turns out, Im still in the San Benedetto area.  Im telln ya, theres something about this lifestyle that makes it a  bit hard to leave eventhough no doubt there are other exciting adventures and landscapes ahead. All in good time I suppose.  So, the latest and the greatest.  Woke up from my forest slumber at the ripe hour of 6. The perfect time for some fitness and then a bit of swimming by the way.  The tide was particulary low which allowed me to view a strange sea creature.  "One of the likes may never have been seen before" thought me.  A kind of large snail type relative (of 10 or so inches in length) with funny flippers to propel itself through the salty sea.  I got rather close to the mysteriuos animal and it showed no sign of fret or panick, which lead me to believe that in order to remain so very calm in the presence of massive beast such as myself, it had a particulary powerfully potent defense mechanism.  Hmmm...  I decided we should be friends from a healthy distance.

On to the grocery store.  With melon and yogurt in hand I approach the checkout.  I choose a counter where, low and behold, theres a baby smiling at me and as is the common case, my presence captivates its attention.  The darling child stares at me for a good minute, which is a long time when your wondering why in the world is this kid looking at me for so long.  Then the smile ceases, and for no appearant reason tears and cries start flowing.  Of course at 9 oclock in the morning theres nobody but woman there, and of course everyone looks at the baby, then of course at me.  Wonderful. I do my best to hand gustar out of the situation saying in my best italian accent "yo no hize nada!"

Then I got to thinking,  these here little kids may have something long lost from their grownup counterparts.  Without showing any sign to the contrary, the fact is that I was thinking to myself that it wasn't the cutest baby I've ever seen.  It know something was up and therefore unleashed its own defense system.  Should've kept my distance.

The new Italian addition to the family!!

Alright, before everyone gets too excited I should probably start of by saying that this beautiful new addition is maybe one of the finest pieces of Italian art.  Shes a real beauty.  Nevermind that wierd girl above, we're talking about a frame a metal supporting 2 wheels and is capable of being steered and pedaled as to propel the driver at tremendous speeds with cat-like agility.  Yup, you guessed it.  A brand new Bianchi Favonius!!  What joy.  Now if you can believe it, this piece of hidden art was found next to a dumpster and the early hours of the day.  Talk about right time, right place.  I couldn't believe it. Was this bike really there, given up, abandoned?  Sure it had its issues: flat tires, a broken spoke, and a bit dirty.  But as I've said before, its nothing a little love cant fix. And this time, I was actually right.  A trip to the bike shop, 8 euros after, some soap and a some elbo grease, and vuola!  Scotts got a new sweet ride.  Thats right, 14 gears of raw power!  But as it turns out in life, like so many things, this too must pass, so its on the market now for 200 euros.  But dont forget to ask me about the friend and family special.  Ta ta from beautiful Italy!!

(FYI: That girl at the top isnt even Italian, shes some Vladivoski I found on the internet)

Oh France, the confussion you create.. and you too Italy!

Here are some signs.  It depends on the direction from which you come to see certain city names displayed.  Its as if they just put up which ever one they want.  "Hey, Jaque! What do you think about this one that says Byorn?  Sure, why not.  I like the letter B!" 

So imagine this, an all too common undertaking:  you want to get to a particular city and like most, you want to take the road to get there.  Fairly normal.  So you look on your map, find the road names neccesary to take you to your destination, and try to follow them.  Sounds pretty straight forward I'd say.  Well my friends, not so in France, nor Italy.  Nope, instead what they do is post signs (sometimes) leading to some small podunk village either between or after  your destination of choice. If you cant think of the difficulties this poses, the following explanations came from dumbfounded experience.

Your in Saint Bob, you want to go to Crescent, which is about 50 Km away.  On the map you have to take roads S 77 and then S10.  Easy.  So you look for a sign that reads "S77" and will go in the direction that leads east.  Well your not going to find it.  Instead you'll see signs that point to Jaque, Minot, Blu, or whatever else is out there.  This goes to say that youll need to know every single village in between you and your destination.  But in the midst of this chaos, they may be so friendly as to put up a tiny lil marker with the actual road name S 77, but only 8 km down the road letting you know whether or not youve taken the right path.  Oh its funny. and also, Milo de mar is very much a different citiy than Milo del Mar than it is from Milo a mar and Milo da mar.  Youll defenitly want to watch out for that before climbing, oh lets say a hughundo mountain hill only to enjoy the ride back down, the same way you went up.


Its like this, if you go off the main highways, your going to get lost, forienge and domestic alike. I don't know how many times i saw French driving stopped  at a crossroad with the same "you've got to be kidding me" look on their face. In one of my many wrong turns, this time in italy, i found a woman that actually seemed to know what she was talking about, at least from what i could gather without really knowing what she was saying.  i pointed to the map, tried to pronounce the name, and wala! she started spitting out villages i would have to pass along the way.  don't know if it was on her own accord or she was keen to notice the "are you really talking to me that fast and in Italian?" in my eyes, but she fetched a piece of paper and wrote down not one or 3 or 5 villages, but about 8 or 9.  Wow, miss one of these signs are your a goner. 


Its times like these I thank heavens for American logic and reasoning.  Actual marked road names, where do they come up with this stuff. 

Pier of peace by day, cesspool of thieves by night

Don't be fooled by the serene picture above. Yes, it appears peaceful yet full of life, orderly, a place of tranquility and reflection.  Oh, if you only knew.  This my friends is the san benedetto pier.  everyday hundreds if not thousands of people come to enjoy its views and walk its outstreched arm into the sea.  I too was easily fooled into its beckoning bossom, allowing myself to take comfort among its harbor stones rolling out my sleeping mat and bag.  It lurred me it only to spit me out!  Behold!! the foto below. Yes, you see right and this is where the oh so sweet harbor shows its dirty face.  During the peaceful night, a band of hulligans and thugs made every effort to steal this beautiful work of art. THE BIKE. What horror say I!  With their tools of deceit and evil, they touled and fought endlessy against the steal of my cablelock.  Grinding, cutting, hacking, but alas, haha, to no avail.  That cable was kryptonite in their presence.  Surely the dawn came too early for these men of ill will forcing them to abandon their dirty trade of stealing beautiful things.  And I, awoken by the angles, climbed downed from my lofty rock to enjoy yet another glorious day safe and sound, with bike in hand.

Now the facts of the matter:  They probably tried to cut it with a pocket knife, which is more funny than alarming.  Also, they could have taken a bunch of stuff from the bike that wasn't locked if they knew what they were doing.  This area is actually very safe and really never do I feel threatened in anyway.  Im glad I still have the bike, but still, the situation was funny.

The land of Tuscany.

Yes, its true. The oh so famous land of Tuscany is so for good reason.  Its a beauty of rolling golden hills, Italian villas, reduced traffic, vineyards and the wine tasting that goes along with it.  Pleasant enough its true, but its tourist industry is not lacking in anyway.  The Tuscan sun has a heat all its own.  But its a give and take kind of deal, you soak your shirt with sweat going up, then are cooled by the breezes on the way back down, about 20 or 30 times a day.  Its that friend you just don't like, but yet, just cant stay away from. 

Prior days on the road

So heres the gist of the situation in spain.  Hot, hilly, but really really beautiful. I was told prior to leaving that the ride from madrid to barcelona wasnt that nice, being deserty and all. But the fact of the matter was that for the majority of the way the roads were well built and the traffis was low. As far as im concerned that makes for a good trip and it was.  However the heat was another factor. Not exactly sure what the temperature was but id guess somewhere between "i had no idea heat like this existed and man, thats some heat". Water was by far my best friend along the way 6 to 10 liters a day. Yeah, thats metric talk. The hills were no joke either but  still a smaller kinder version than those to be found in italy where every town seems to be located at the highest point they could possibly find. You go down from one just to climb back up to another. Anyway, Back to spain. The roads and signs are fairy easy to follow and. Ow much more appreciatrd and respected after the ridiculas maze of signage in france and italy. More to come on that topic later. I get mad just thinking about it. Rrrrrrr.

The coast of spain from a bit south of tarrazona to barcelona is very nice and lively albiet the water being a good deal more than chilly.  For the most part it was leiserly riding sprinkled with some spanish fiesta ombiance. 

Fast forward a bit to a town called Cupra

Its the 30th of July, the day after the big wedding, which was wonderful by the way, thanks again and. Onvradulations Elena and Francesco. Im riding the bike to the Adriatic coast for the first time ever. 30 ks   Or so and one big mountain hill, not bad. Anywho, a buddys train is delayed so we opt for aswim. The only thing i know about the mediterinian is that its cold so im not expecting too much. Well. Elie e me you it was a most pleasant surprise. Warmness. Yes warm and calm. I knew i was going to like it around here. And so i did. That same day i came across another smaller beach town called cupra. Quite, beautiful, but yet the turist vibes dont resinate around here. Its a strange sensation, one that puzzles me as if it cant be real. I think" beach town with nic beaches, wheres all the germans?"   So Navario pulls up in his lil yellow vespa, we talk bike adventure, then offers me a cozy spot to slep in his catamoran. Heck, why not. Long story short (i have afeeling theres going to be a lot of those) its the 11 of august and im still here. Anyplace where bikes rule the road speak to my heart in a silent language. I spend most of my time in San Benedetto but travel the coast from place to place depending on the mood. More people, less
People, more waves, les waves. You get the idea. As in right now, im sitting in some strangers chair infront of the sea at dusk. The sound of peaceful waves fill my ears and a slight breeze calms the soul. Appeareny the mosquitos just realized the serinity of the situation as well, so isuppose ill let them have it.

Croatia or Italy? Whats it going to be people..

So Im now taking some reader suggestions.  At this point I can head either over the sea to croatia and down to albania or hit up southern italy and a bit of sicily...ummmm.. pizza.  Lets hear some comments. Your opinion is highly valued.

Things to take into consideration.  I really really like Italy, or at least this part of it.  The water is warm, people ride bikes, I know exaclty which stores to go to live get my cereal, milk, ham, and bread.  But croatia is new and exciting, which would be dabbling into the eastern block.  Uhhhh.

From the beginning

It all started on the 4th of July. Happy burpday America!! A Benjamism. I found a bike in Madrid and after throwing the rest of my belongings in my friends garage, thanks again Rod and Roc, took the bus down to the captial city.  I had with me the bare essentials of any month long bike trip: 2 pairs of socks, 2 underpants, 3 shirts, flippyfloppies, shoes, you know...stuff. I bought the bike in Madrid and also got a free portion of fatty salami out of the deal. Score.

I start riding.  Lifes good, the breezes blow, the suns warm, and then sizzzzzzzzzz, what? flat tire.  and of all places inbetween cities, and of all times, around 8, when everything is closed.  So I walk, and walk.... and walk. To no avail.  Finally at around 12 at night I come across some kids playing soccor or something of the sort.  After a bit of chitchat they offer to sell me a tube for 10 euros.  Theyre quick on the situation.  After a bit more chitchat they take the tube out of one of thier bikes and give it to me.   In exchange, tandem rides for all.  What fun.  Little did I know that there was an intrisic problem with the front wheel that qould continsouly cut a hole in each and everytube.  Think. Think. Think. and then the answer.  all my problems were now about to be solved thanks a little piece of rubber I found at that moment on the ground.  To much to explain but another tube, this peice of rubber, a friendly bikeshop owner who bought me beer, and that was that.

To the inspired and the inspirational

This here blog is about my bike trip from Madrid Spain to the east coast of Italy and possibly further.  Its a bit late in the making but, hey better late than never I hear them say. 

I think its about high time I try to start something that I probably definately should have some 10 years ago or so.  Whats that you say?  Well, a blog concerning me and my dealings.  Its the perfect way to let those who want to know the happenings become pleasantly informed and those who dont care so much to pass nonchalently out of the loop.  I speak of this very blog.  Before going on, I just must say Uber Thanks to my sissy Deb for the idea.  After reading not but 1 of her entries about those beautiful kids, I felt an earning to share a bit of my life with those very people who I feel I need in my life.  After all, whats a world with nobody in it.  Ahhhh.  So grap your bike, hold on tight, and lets roll.