11/ 8/08 Cycling Lucca to Montecarlo - 34 km Loop

We got on the tandem later than usual today. We felt itt was time for a shorter ride. We rode to Montecarlo to attend a small festival called the "first tasting of the wine". Alas, when we got there at 1pm we were told it wasn't to start until 3pm. How did we miss this? The information clarity gap has been a common denominator to our trip here in Italy. We wonder if this is due to us misunderstanding the information given, or is it that Italian brochures and literature is incomplete. Well, we are not going to pass judgement either way...Rather than wait, we decided to ride back mainly due to threatening dark clouds building up around us, and the fact that days have gotten short here, and we wouldn't enjoy much of the festival especially due to the likelihood that the 3pm start-up was more likely to become 4, or 5pm anyway... We managed to be back in Lucca without getting wet, and the route proved to be rewarding with undulating terrain, pretty small villages, lush farmland, and groves everywhere. Montecarlo is only 17km from Lucca, and to our surprise it turned out to be a charming small traditional cobble stone hill town, typical of many in Italy. It sported a clock tower with a small fort built in the 13th century, including great views of the valleys below from the well preserved city walls.