San Remo: a photo gallery

April 30, 2025

Like Rachael, I have an ambitious ride excursion planned for the afternoon - a 30 mile loop up into the foothills that's basically a mountain pass climb with 4,400' of elevation gain. I don't honestly know if I'm ready for that much of a workout yet, but I'm not worried about it. I'll undoubtedly get up at least high enough to score some fine views, and if I've had enough I can always just turn around and coast back.

I've thought it through well and have everything I need: the phone, my wallet with the key to the room in it, my camera in case I see any birds, the Garmin, my glasses. I even remembered to fill the water bottle for a change, something I've been bad at. I packed my camera in the rucksack, after test-firing a shot to make sure I haven't forgotten to reload the battery again. Also in the rucksack is an outer layer in case it gets chilly on the descent, and my wallet as a more secure place to carry it than my back pocket.

Ten minutes later I'm on the street coasting toward the waterfront, wondering if I'll see any sea birds on the way before I turn inland and the climb begins. It's thinking about that which tips me off to the fact that my rucksack isn't on my back. Crap. At least it's only two blocks though, so I turn back, look sheepishly at the older woman still standing by the door who tries to bum a light for her cigarette every time we meet, and cram the bike into the elevator back up to our apartment.

It isn't until I'm standing at the door to the apartment that I remember that my wallet is inside the rucksack with the room key in it on the other side of the locked gate to our room. So now I really am screwed.

Our building. There's that lady at the door, waiting for me to return so she can ask me again for a light.

We're on the first floor, at those windows just to the left of this burly brute.

Neat! I never did learn that trick, and I'm not about to start now.

My first thought is to contact our host to see if he can walk over and bail me out. I can't find his number though so I call Rachael to let her know what I've done to myself this time and to see if she has the number. Eventually though I decide it's getting too late in the day and I decide to change plans and just walk around Sanremo to see what it has to offer. And in retrospect, it was always the best plan for the day anyway. Sanremo is an important and attractive coastal town that in many ways reminds me of Menton. I'm glad I was forced into making the best use of the day. Hills can wait. It would have been nice to have my wallet with me so I could hang out in a cafe for awhile, or to have my camera with me so I could go down to the waterfront and check out the bird scene, or to have two functioning knees so I could cover more territory, but given the circumstances it was a fine walkabout.

And Rachael didn't mind either, because it gave her an excuse to turn back a little earlier than she'd planned so she could get back sooner and rescue me - which she did, making great time on the way down. She met up with me in front of our apartment where I was sitting in the shade resting up and giving a break to my poor knees, and then we walked back to the gelateria for another round of pistachio.

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And about those knees. It's time to break some news. We finally decided that it's not really quite sustainable like this any more, and it's time to take a break for some knee replacement surgery. I've been talking with my primary care physician about how to start the process and what the timeline might look like, and it needs to begin with a fresh set of X-rays and a consultation with the knee replacers.

So our plan is to shorten our trip in Spain by about two weeks and head back to Portland in mid-December to have X-rays, check in with the rheumatologist and ophthalmologist, and get a plan for surgery. We have no idea how far out we'll have to wait for surgery, but we assume it will be far enough that a couple of months in Tucson will fit in well. Everything is cancellable, but we've already booked our lodging through mid-March. Beyond that we'll have to wait until we know more, but we expect to be back in North America somewhere until at least midsummer.

And now that we've finally made the decision, I'm surprised to find how excited I am about it. It's time.

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Some shots of Sanremo, all from its historical center.

The cathedral underwent significant restoration after it was damaged in the latest world war.

Next to the cathedral is a theater, which from the photographs looks like it would be worth seeing the insides of.

Some sort of well restored palace faces the cathedral and theater.

Looking across San Siro Plaza. I love those tall, narrow, colorfully weathered buildings.

A fountain at the top of San Siro plaza.

Reminds me of the horrible cobblestones in Mantua.

La Torre della Ciapela, built in 1550 to defend against Barbary pirates from North Africa.

The steep staircase into the upper town through la Porta Monta.

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Tricia GrahamSorry to hear about your knees you could really do without that. I thought you might like to read something I wrote about getting back to cycling after a knee replacement
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Knee
That should of course be all on on line but I can’t make it do it!
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21 hours ago

Tricia GrahamNow I have left out the second e of Knee
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21 hours ago

Scott AndersonTo Tricia GrahamThank you for this. It's inspiring, and very encouraging. I see we were about the same age - I'll be 79 this winter. Hopefully I won't break my ankle too!
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20 hours ago

Tricia GrahamTo Scott AndersonThe really good thing about knee replacements is that unlike hip replacements you can’t dislocate them
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11 hours ago

Patrick O'HaraHere's to pain free walks in your future!
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4 hours ago

Scott AndersonTo Patrick O'HaraI hope so anyway. I've been rereading old journals and was surprised to be reminded of how much walking and climbing I did and how much I enjoyed it. I'd forgotten.
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2 hours ago