CYCLING IMAGERY USED BY RESTAURANTS, SHOPS, MUSEUMS, etc
Modern sculpture in the National Archeological Museum in Naples:
Restaurant in Florence:
Restaurant in Siracusa, Sicily:
Alghero, Sardinia - many restaurants & shops were still decked out with pink cycling paraphernalia marking the start of the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia in the town on 5 May (as were various businesses along the route taken on that first stage along the northern coast to Olbia, most of which we drove on our trip along the coast):
This is a photo of a large (4.5m x 3m) hardback poster on a wall in Piazza Sulis in the old town centre of Alghero showing a centurion cyclist. The poster was one of a series to commemorate the 100th edition of the Giro. The inscription in the lower RH corner says: Guilo (Julius), 104 anni (years old):
ROAD CYCLISTS
Not surprisingly, we've seen lots of road cyclists out & about, as well as groups in lycra on MTBs in the historical centres of various towns & cities, where the cobbles would make the ride pretty bumpy on a road bike.
The day after this was taken, which was a public holiday for Italian Republic Day, we travelled by bus from Amalfi to Salerno, a trip of 20km or so on a very narrow, winding & sometimes hilly road, with heavy traffic - during this trip I counted about 110 cyclists, mostly roadies but some cycle tourists as well.
CYCLETOURISTS
We saw lots of cyclists carrying panniers, some of whom are included in the photos below. We cycle toured on our last trip to Italy in 2006, but this time we used trains & buses and then rented a car to get around Sardinia.
Salerno:
Taormina, Sicily:
The photo below is of a Dutch couple riding through Palermo, who we later chatted with while boarding the ferry to Sardinia. They had started their tour in Austria, cycled down Italy's east coast and then along the south coast of Sicily; they then planned to cycle through Sardinia, Corsica & Northern Italy to return to their starting point in Austria:
Another couple in Olbia, Sardinia:
A German flat-bar touring bike kitted out with quality equipment, outside our hotel in Bosa Marina, Sardinia:
MTB ENDURANCE EVENTS
We noticed posters advertising two challenging mountain bike endurance events in Sardinia:
BIKE HIRE & RENTAL OPERATIONS
We saw lots of docking stations for utility bike hire schemes in various towns & cities - this one is in Olbia in Sardinia:
MTB (650B size) rental fleet at the botanic gardens near the Alcantara Gorge, Sicily:
BIKES FOR SALE AT SUPERMARKET CHECKOUT
A range of new bikes for sale near the checkout at a Sanluri, Sardinia, grocery supermarket (which was like Coles & Woolworths):
BIKES PEOPLE RIDE TO THE BEACH
Apart from many kinds of utility bikes, we noticed some interesting bikes chained up at beaches in Sardinia.
This old steel bike from the 80s with the brand of Bottecchia, a famous Italian bike manufacturer, was locked up near Poetto Beach in Cagliari:
A rather more recent Basso bike at Tharros:
Electric-assist MTBs at Vignola Beach:
DELIVERING GOODS BY BIKE
The rider of this cargo bike made a delivery near a restaurant in the narrow streets of the Marina district of Cagliari, Sardinia, while we were having dinner:
The delivery rider:
LATEST IN UTILITY BIKE LUGGAGE FASHION
A bike outside a leather bag store advertising satchels for carrying things on a bike:
A nice flower pattern on these panniers:
BIKE LANES THAT REDUCE SCOPE FOR DOORING
This bike lane in Cagliari, Sardinia, runs between the car parking spaces and the kerb (though a cyclist could still be doored from the passenger side):
There are lots of other photos from our Italy trip on this page: http://www.gntitaly17.blogspot.com.au
This blog page was used to keep our parents informed about our trip.
