maybe we there at the same time?
we just finished a quickie tour from florence to siena and then over to volterra, out to the coast, and then trained to piombino for the ferry to elba.
-loved florence, siena not as much, but a beautiful city.
-elba, especially the far side of the island, is cycling heaven. they were doing an iron man the weekend we were there. the elbaman!
-the drivers were surprisingly good, and we ended up on some tough uphills with little or no shoulder with heavyish traffic. we thought we might have been the only ones crazy enough to be on roads like that but there were other cyclists who didn't seem to give it a second thought.
-after a couple of weeks we felt that we were just getting gouged in every restaurant we went into. a cuperto (1-2 euro cover charge!) just to eat there, if we wanted water HAD to order bottled for another 2-3 euros. bread? another 2-3 euros.
-granted we were MOSTLY in touristy places, but after a while we felt part of some larger occupying army. maybe because it was the end of the seasons and the locals were just getting tired of all the americans and germans (mostly germans) we found most people to be indifferent or just clearly OVER us, if not rude.
-also we had folding bikes that we were able to finagle onto all the different types of trains by folding them and putting them into bags. i've toured europe (france) with a full size bike and folder and i think its a toss up in terms of logistics. the folders were better for the fast trains in italy, but i was able to just zip up my full size tourer in a "housse" and put it on the TGV when i needed to. certainly a bike in a suitcase is easier to get around the airports etc. with BUT you have to find a place for the suitcase. or ditch it when you get to your destination and bring along a durable "housse" for the trains and then fly back with the bike assembled like a full size bike but with the handlebars turned and the pedals taken off etc. usually you can do that on an international flight with little problem. also less of an issue if your bike gets damaged on the way home than if it gets damaged on the way THERE.
-we used the lonely planet italy book to help get us around. this is a brand new book and i hope it gets a second printing with better information as to directions etc. we met another couple also from california trying to get out of florence using the same BAD cue sheet/directions. lots of other small and large mistakes in that book as well. so its a recommend only in sofar as its overall routes. the details of which you're best researching before hand. whipped out the iphone multiple times on this trip to figure out where we were.
-italy is hilly.
-one awesome restaurant in florence (no cuperto) and one great pizza by the slice place in rome, otherwise the restaurant food was by and large not that great. again, maybe it was just our experience...i feel like a heretic! or just spoiled by bounty of california farmer's markets and foodie culture.
-saw ONE bike shop. and it was small and didn't have much.
-bring your own advil or any other meds you think you might want or need.
-BRING BUGPSRAY!!!
-one of our favorite things was riding around ROME at night. sounds crazy but its thrilling. just be careful. rome at night is amazing!! one of the favorite parts of the trip!