Monopoli Arrival

June 13:  With little luggage, our back packs, Leslie, Betsy, Dennis and I easily walked from our hotel to the Rome Train Station and caught the 4-hour train to Monopoli. Kathy and Mark, who had their luggage, were with us and also had little trouble.  Their one humorous story about luggage was that after squeezing into the lift at the Rome hotel they couldn't first close the lift door and then couldn't get it open again because of the tightness of space.  Kathy commented that it most of looked funny to anyone who might have seen it.

The ride to Monopoli was on an high speed train and was first southeast along the western side of Italy, then eastward over the spine of Italy and then along the eastern coast.  Leslie had pre-purchased tickets for us all with reserved seats, so the whole trip process was efficient and easy.  When we arrived, the shuttle from our hotel was waiting for us.  But, the four of us without luggage decided to go into town for shopping and sent Cathy and Mark on ahead.  Our hotel is 7 miles southeast of the main 'downtown' center.  After first hitting a pharmacy, we discovered all the stores were closed and would not reopen until 4:30 pm.  So we walked around a little and had lunch.  

The shuttle return and drove us to our hotel - Masseria Donnaloia.  It is a converted, original "fortified farmhouse."  It is quite nice and will be a comfortable home for three nights. 

At 4:30, the four 'luggage-less' folks caught the shuttle back into town for shopping.  After a bit of wandering we found thrifty stores for shirts, underwear and socks.  Betsy did buy me a very nice pair of two layer, padded bike shorts, as a birthday present.  They will work for biking and without the padded layer, I can use them as regular shorts.

We returned to the hotel for dinner, late in the Italian style, and then went to bed.  It was a long day.  We pick up of bikes tomorrow and complete the day 1 ride.