Day 49 Rome - 16.9.05 

When in Rome...leave. We've entered and left major cities before and all we have to do is look at all the roads that seem to go the way we need to and pick one that doesn't look too busy. We chose Via Apia, go onto it reasonably easily and rode on. It seems our friend the headwind has had a face lift and is now our acquaintance the crosswind.

The road was much too busy so after a snack in a very friendly cafe in Cecchipa and consulting the map, we rode to Aprilia for lunch and took the innocent looking 148. The 148 is not an Autostrada. It looks like one, it feels like one but the cars go faster and are a lot more erratic and unpredictable. There was a bizarre arrangement where a lane would appear on the right of our guard rail and cars would criss-cross in our paths through the gaps.

As soon as we got to Latina we turned off and rode to the sea. What a difference! For the next 20kms there were more bikes than cars on the road. I love riding by the sea and have yearned for it while riding through most of Europe. We stopped to admire the beach and rode on past grass huts that were bars and cafes. We had beach on our right and waterways on our left so the rest was a relaxed ride with our speed around 30km/hr most of the way into Terracina.

  

We did a quick loop and settled on a Bed and Breakfast near the center of town. Nothing prepared us for what happened next. As we were checking in to the B & B, a man pulled up next to us in the car park in an Audi. He asked about our jerseys and spoke in broken English trying to understand what our ride was all about. He told us that he rode a bike once a week and was interested in the idea of doing a tour. As I was giving him a few hints, he stopped me and said his English wasn't good enough to absorb in a car park and he would have to have dinner with us to talk it over slowly. He would pick us up in an hour and we would go to a simple restaurant and eat simple local food.

He returned in exactly an hour and drove us Italian style 10 Km out of town. (does this thing have brakes!) Claudio knew the owner, having grown up in Terrachina and told the owner and his son about our ride. He organised the food and explained it as it arrived. We started with fruit of the sea (shellfish, mussels, calamari) and fruit of the mountains (bruschetta) then a bowl each magnificent spaghetti with local shellfish. The next course was Marlin with an unusual vegetable side dish soaked in oil and garlic. We helped the food down with 3 bottles of frascatti (white wine!!) that complimented the food perfectly. Then a large plate of sweet grapes appeared accompanied by a bottle of Grappa and shot glasses.

It was surely the best meal we had eaten in Europe. But combined with Claudio's energy, passion and humour, probably the best meal I have eaten. I will think on this some more.... The night ended in embraces and no reports were able to be written when Claudio dropped us back to the hotel.

Stats Dist 113 Km, Average 23km/hr, Max 45km/hr, Climb 355 

  Email John at John@CycleOdyssey.com.au
 

< Previous Post