Italy Day 8

I knew this day would be tough. Our ride would be taking us into the mountains, with a lot of climbing involved. We weren't sure where our destination would be. It was 100km to Florence, a far ride on its own, but with 5000 feet of climbing along the way, we weren't sure how far we would get.


I was nervous about the mountain climbing, but it turned out to be one of my favorite days of riding. Every few kilometers or so we would come to a little mountain town. But it was definitely a tough day of riding. Combine the heat with 50 pounds of gear and steep hills, and you get two tired and thirsty bikers.


Just when our water ran out, we came across this magic water fountain. At first I was weary of drinking water from a spicket stuck to a rock on the side of a mountain, but after we saw a few locals stop by to fill up water bottles, we figured it was safe. The year on the water fountain said 1906.


The roads we biked on were very curvy, similar to Santiago Canyon. But most of the bikes were not harley-type bikes, they were street racer bikes. The guys wore full race suits and when they they would come around corners, they would lay their bikes almost on the ground. It looked scary.


Also similar to Santiago Canyon was the biker bar at the top of the mountain. It was a welcome sight, as we could also see a descent! Finally! After hours of climbing, we spent the next 15km flying down the mountain.


At the bottom of the mountain we arrived at Borgo San Lorenzo. We stopped to get gelato and debated on whether to stay the night in Borgo San Lorenzo or continue to Florence, which was another 24km (we had already gone 76km).


Despite how tired we were and the unbearable heat, we decided to go all the way to Florence. Our first view of Florence was beautiful!


After arriving in Florence, we were directed to the campground. Our original plan was to stay in a hotel in Florence, but we heard that the campground was in the middle of the city and we were enjoying camping so we decided to give it a try. I am so glad we did! This was my favorite campground of the whole trip.


The campground was the biggest campground we stayed at. Not only did it have tent and RV camping spots, it also had large canvas tents with bunk beds that you could pay to stay in. There were a lot of students staying here. Many of them were Americans. It was fun to here people speaking English, especially since the conversations were ones you would find on Laguna Beach. Quite entertaining!

The view from our campsite was unbelievable! The campground is immediately east of Piazzo Michelangelo. We spent two of the nights at the Piazzo taking pictures.



Florence turned out to be my favorite city. I enjoyed the balance of touristy stuff in a city that was not too large. This was the first of three nights that we spent in Florence.