Europe Trip #2 - June 30, 2022 - The Climb

Buds had been dreaming of renting the electric bikes all week and today was the day. Yessa, Uncle Z, Buds, and I headed out around 10:15 for the bike trail through the tunnels.

We biked down through town, hopped on the trail and off we went. The weather was perfect, the path wasn’t busy, and we were in good company.

We biked to where the sidewalk ends in Framura.

We saw a diver using an “air bag” rather than tanks, and that held our attention for quite awhile. Seeing a disembodied hand come up out of the water to release the valve on top was disconcerting. 😆

After enjoying the beauty of that scene, we biked back to Bonassola for a lunch of pizzas .

We discovered a cool treat the adults liked more than gelato: Crema di Caffe. It was creamy and delicious.

This whole ride, Uncle Z’s bike had no power. For the next part of the ride we wanted to ride up into a hill town, and there was no way we were doing that without everyone having the full spectrum of e-bike options, so we headed back to the agritourismo to swap his bike.

(Unlike our bikes at home which use 1-4 to indicate the power assist, these bikes went from “eco” to “turbo.” We wanted Z to have turbo power like the rest of us.

Bikes swapped, up and into the hills we went.

I thought we were aiming for this village seen from our back patio.

After we returned from the ride, we agreed that we think we ended up in a village on the other side of the mountain, so we don’t think we could see our agritourismo from the heights, but we’re still thrilled with the accomplishment.

I had to stop once to walk around and let feeling return to my derrière, but other than that it was a fantastic ride.

We ended up wandering in a sleepy mountaintop village, built into the side of the hills. We saw a cat and three people total since we were there in the heat of the afternoon and people were tucked away in the cool indoors.

Many of the homes had intimate indicators of the inhabitants. It felt like we were walking in public, yet very private, spaces.

The view was gorgeous.

As you would imagine, the ride down was a dream. The gents got far ahead of Yessa and me because just as we saddled up a tiny red car came vrooming up the steep road. As we watched a woman unloaded a backpack, a bag filled with hydrangeas, then she stepped into the backseat to lift out a sleeping toddler. With the sweet babe on one shoulder, the backpack on the other, and the flowers in one hand, she walked lightly up past us with a smile.

We caught up with them where they pulled over to wait for us and we all flew home the rest of the way.

It was the perfect mix of active exploring.

Then a little pool time…

Family photos and then hanging out and visiting.

Once we settled back in our apartment, Buster and Yessa snuggled in our bed with us while Monkey read close by. They were cracking us up with their stories. Zachary reminded us “sometimes I sleep lying down” which caused gales of giggles and a dawning realization that he meant “on his stomach.”