#8: Grado, Italy

Our last day cycling the Alpe-Adria radweg! The segment from Udine to Grado was about 60 km. 

Approaching the Adriatic coast, the roads became very flat. Although we were still miles from the coast, seagulls were flying over farmland, and we could smell the salty sea.

Our luck finally ran out and it began to rain as we biked--the first time on the trip. The closer we got to Grado, the more psyched (and the wetter) we got. When we passed the city sign that read "Grado" we gave some fist pumps in the air.  All we had left was to cross a long bridge over the inlet to reach our final destination.

But just as we got to the bridge, we saw several cyclists coming toward us from the opposite direction. One of them, a Canadian man originally from Italy, waved us down. He told us that the bridge was closed down farther ahead. We had to turn back!

Ugh. So close and yet...

As we pondered how to reach the island, we recognized a couple of female cyclists we had passed a few days before. They took a picture of the detour sign, and then promptly ducked inside a nearby roadside cafe for some caffe und kuchen.

That looked like a great idea to me!

Markus, ever the pragmatist, had a better plan. Since we had no maps for devising an alternate route to the town, he asked the Italian-Canadian man if we could follow him and his wife.

They had bicycled that morning from Venice. Not only was he fluent in Italian, but he had a GPS system on his bike!

So we followed them east along busy two-lane highways, biking away from Grado, and hoping to loop back and enter the town from the east.

Without my hearing aids, the world is beautifully silent when I cycle, even on busy roads with thick traffic. Markus, on the other hand, has to endure all the world's noise pollution. In this case, it was not only the cars zooming by and splashing us with rain, but the constant complaining of the Italian-Canadian man's English-speaking wife. She was not a happy camper biking in the rain. You couldn't blame her, though, as they had heavy touring bikes and were loaded down with way too much luggage.

The detour added 20k to our bike ride that day. But eventually the clouds parted, and we finally  reached our destination--the Adriatic Sea.

We checked into our hotel...almost the same color as our house on Rebel Ridge!

For the next few days, we savored the successful completion of our trip, and the tranquility of the sea.

A giant mussel, and the shadow of two and one-half homo sapien toes...

No beach trip is complete without a washed up jellyfish...

The town of Grado is kind of a mix between middle-class beach resort and old Italian fishing village.

The number of unoccupied beach umbrellas made us glad we were there before the high season!

Refueling our tanks...

On the cycling road, we often had to get by grabbing a roll and a hunk of cheese from Spar, the cheap chain grocery store. But now we could really gorge ourselves on some good Italian food

One favorite was a little eatery that was always full of locals, called "Il Panino".

You had to eat elbow to elbow at the peak lunch hour, but it was worth it!

The owner was very industrious and kind. After we ate there a couple times, he waved and greeted us in Italian from the restaurant entrance, if we happened to walk by. He wasn't pushy and never tried to get us to come in.

Their fried seafood was mouth-watering. My favorite was the fried sardines...they were crisp and crunchy from head to tail. Markus got the assorted fried sea food, which included sardines, calamari, and bass....

Another favorite was Il Contrada, located in a small alley off the historic center of Grado.

Markus loved their spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and basil. It was simple but exquisite, with incredibly fresh ingredients. My favorite was the seafood carpaccio, very thinly sliced raw mackerel, octopus, European sea bass, and other fish on a bed of fresh arugula.

It was blasphemous to do in Italy, but we didn't drink wine with our meal. Luckily the beer was also mouth-watering.