Besides one short day trip to the seaside at Santo Stefano, we hardly saw any sights at all; and yet I feel like I got to know that little corner of Maremma intimately. Here’s a confession, actually: one of my favorite things about cycling vacations is that there’s no pressure to be a dedicated tourist. We had been invited there to ride our bikes, not to walk purposefully around Rome with highlighted guidebooks in hand. Had the opportunity presented itself, I would have been thrilled to see something of Rome—but we were busy riding our bikes every day, and I was happy to do that, marveling at the gorgeous views opening before us at every turn in the road.
From the mountainside town of Pitigliano, seemingly carved from the cliff that sheltered it, to the ancient buildings of Sovana, to the carefully tended olive groves and grapevines, every part of the landscape described peace, beauty, and a steady, healthy rhythm of activity and rest. For both my husband and me, this cycling vacation was a weeklong slice of paradise. I can’t wait to go back … even if I’m there as a bike racer, not a real tourist.
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