So let's save some time here and mostly just look at pictures. On our first layover day we decided to have early lunch as our main meal, hoping we could book a table at a restaurant in the old city, just a few blocks from our place. It's the Saturday before Easter, we have no idea how busy it might be, and they don't take online reservations so the plan is that I'll show up right when they open at 12:30 to improve our chances. If a table is available I'll call Rachael and she'll walk down to join me.
Beforehand I spend a couple of hours slowly walking around the old city, enjoying it while the streets are still relatively quiet. The old city crowns a small promontory, guarded on the land side by Svevo Castle with its moat and drawbridge. A promenade surrounds it and offers stunning views to the sea, especially looking northwest up the coast. The water interior (and nearly the entire promontory) is a maze of narrow lanes with a small cathedral at the center.
Svevo Castle, and a woman I helped out. She was trying to prop up her phone for a selfie but after she dropped it on the pavement I offered to take one for her.
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonIt's not usually up that is the biggest problem, but coming down. The need to hold the joints stable when descending can be a real "pain". Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesDefinitely true. I don't do downhills any more without a hand on a wall, railing or pole. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
The cathedral. It looks quiet here but just behind me is a tour group of about twenty. It's early in the day and early in the season, but I'm sure it's a madhouse here at times.
The view north, and the mountains of Abruzzo. We couldn't see them from here last time, but I think it is because it's such a clear day and the light is right. When we passed by later you could just make them out through the haze.
We had no trouble getting a table, as it turned out. There was a party of six already seated when we arrived, and then another couple with their delightful infant in Its high chair, making busy, bubbling sounds throughout the meal.
This is one of the rare times Rachael wears her glasses in a restaurant. She has that serene look she sometimes gets when she lets her imagination roam while looking at what they're having.
Scott AndersonTo Kathleen JonesI anticipated it when we took our seats. I think Rachael was surprised I didn't want to sit with my bad eye to the wall and facing the room. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesI am sitting stashed in front of Intermarche and just quickly scrolling through your post. But I noticed that look right away. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
I'm happy to be back in Termoli again for the chance to bike some of the hilly but otherwise wonderful backroads in the Molise interior. Today I took a short 20 mile loop up to Guglionesi, one of several ancient towns in these hills populated by Albanian emigrants. The loop is on the short side partly because I want to see how I do with the climb, but also because we don't get started until about three.
I leave first, after Rachael helps me lift my bike up for steep stairs from a lower apartment it's parked in. We've only got one set of keys, so I go first and assure Rachael that I'll make it back before her. I don't, as it turns out, because the ten mile descent is much slower than I'd expected - too steep or too rough in spots to make the kind of time I expected.
When I finally make it back she's been waiting about ten minutes, even after already stopping for a treat. Oops. It works out well for me though, because I've got her with me to help drop my bike back into its apartment.
It's a pretty steep climb away from town, especially at first. There's one short 12-13% stretch I push through but otherwise I do fine - even with the Keens sandals I'm wearing, which I keep forgetting to show Andrea a picture of.
The descent, the one I thought I'd make better time on. In the steepest spots it's winding and in the 18-20% range with occasional potholes - not the sort of road I race down any more.
Rachael is really saving us some time here today. By embedding everything in a slideshow we don't even have to wonder about captioning it. Thanks, Rocky!
