Rome to Florence: Day 3

Our third morning of touring started with breakfast beside the pizzeria, and then goodbye to our new Malaysian friends. They headed south towards Rome and we set out north for Siena. Just a few kilometers into our ride we passed the border out of Lazio and into Tuscany, which is every bit as beautiful as its reputation suggests. The hills were noticeably smaller than the previous days with no major climbs, but many small rollers. This made for easier riding and a higher pace for our ride.

A castle in the distance

One small setback came in the form of a mechanical issue with Andrew’s bike. Dirt has made it’s way into the freehub and is causing the freehub  body to not engage properly when pedaling. If this had happened a month ago when we were still in the States, it would be a very small problem, but in the middle of Italy it has been very difficult to find a bike shop that speaks enough English to explain the issue and have the work done. Although annoying, the hub still works well enough for us to ride, so we continued on.

As we moved further north, we began to notice more and more cyclists on the road. In the first couple of days, we were surprised to see very few other riders but as we found out ourselves Tuscany is a great area to ride through and also is evident by the increasing number of other riders.

Entering Siena

We made  our way to Siena in good time and reached the city around 4:00. We found some free internet on the side of the street in downtown Siena and sat down to check up on things among the medieval architecture that the city is known for. We decided to get a room at a hostel for the night and rode down to get checked in and cleaned up. After much needed showers, we walked back towards the city in search of dinner. We stopped at at a Spanish themed bar which featured an all you can eat buffet of Spanish cuisine and Sangria for only 5 euros, we didn’t hesitate. There were also dancers out front and lots of music, since the bar was celebrating some Spanish holiday that we were not familiar with. Regardless, we enjoyed the buffet food and sangria with those that did know what the celebration was for before heading back to the hostel.

On the way home we swung by our wi fi area and saw some locals pointing and staring in the sky at a lunar eclipse. An unexpected lunar elcipse in Italy made our night. We called it an early night and got a much needed nights sleep in an actual bed.

For details on our day three route, click here.