Peschici

June 1, 2019

This morning gets off to a rocky start. Rachael has a fast onset digestive ailment last night - possibly a mild case of histamine poisoning from her tuna dinner? She had an uncomfortable night and wakes up feeling shaky and tentative about her health. She has a minimal breakfast - yogurt and a bit of bread - which is a shame because this is one of the finest breakfast spreads we’ve seen on this tour. At least she’s at the table to enjoy some conversation with our fellow guests though - first, an Austrian Bike tourist from Graz who’s nearing the end of a two month solo tour of the Adriatic - Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and then back north on the Italian side. Before this big excursion he’s only done weekenders, so it’s a big step up. He’s getting really tired though, and is ready to see Graz again.

Then, he leaves and a guy from Santa Cruz, California sits down. He’s a biker too, but his wife (accompanying him, but still sleeping it off) isn’t. They’re here for a couple of weeks, travelling southern Italy by car. You can see that he’s a bit envious of our adventure. I am so lucky!

We hang around the room until it’s time to check out, to give Rachael time to evaluate how she’s doing. Happily, she seems pretty much recovered so we make plans for the day’s big ride. Within a few hours she’ll get her normal appetite back and start whining about how awful it is to start the day without coffee.

Leaving our room in Vieste, following our luggage as it moves very slowly down before us.

Another look at Vieste, this time showing the cathedral tower. This s the best spot to see it from - within town, the buildings are too close together to allow any kind of view.

Image not found :( — Some sort of old shipwreck in the bay here, it looks like. The tide is lower this morning so we can see a bit more of it. Reminds me of the Peter Iredale off the coast near the mouth of the Columbia.

You’ll remember that our bikes were locked up in a parking lot several hundred yards off. It was easier to do this and leave Rachael behind with our luggage on the sidewalk outside the hotel than to carry it over.

Today’s big ride isn’t so big, really. It’s only sixteen miles to Peschici, with some hills but nothing too taxing - a perfect ride for Rachael’s situation. It’s a beautiful ride - the road stays close to the rugged coast here, and views are great the whole way. We arrive in Peschici about 12:30, too early to check into our hotel, so we stop at a nice cafe to enjoy a light lunch and hang out until two.

After that, we head over to our Stunning B&B (literally - that’s its name), check in, and set off on our own to explore the town. Rachael wants a bit more energetic walk, and I’m happy to go slow with the camera. We end up back at the room a bit before dinner, both happy with and excited by our experience. Peschici is really a lovely little place, significantly smaller than Vieste. Vieste is more spectacular and better known, but I think I prefer Peschici really. We’d be quite happy to have stayed here a second night.