Riccione

with David Bayley, John and Pamela

Last year, we got away for lots of long weekends, and a one week trip in the finger lakes in New York, but never felt like we had a real vacation. So our trip to Italy in May, seemed a long time coming.

John had decided he wanted to do another granfondo, and selected the granfondo nove colli. This is the biggest event of its kind, with over 10,000 participants, and as it turns out one of the hardest granfondo events! We'd had fliers for the Riccione bike hotels for some time, and finally decided to investigate them. We stayed at the Hotel Perla, and I must say that our host, Ernesto, absoluely made the trip for us. His enthusiasm for cycling and the area, and his hospitality were incredible. The photos on this page are his.

We joked a bit about the timing of our trip. It was our 10th year wedding anniversary. We were taking singles and David, John's brother was also to join us. How romantic! We actually had a fabulous time. Ernesto even arranged cake and champagne for our anniversary.

But enough words, check out the great pictures, taken by Ernesto, on our first day.