Palmanova and Aquilea

The barn that we spent the night in was amazing most especially because it had operable shutters over the windows and the heat pump. That meant that we were in Pitch Darkness and comfortable temperatures. On a bed. We slept amazingly well. The breakfast was bike traveler's perfection- anything but muesli. Jam filled croissants, rolls, chrese, prosciutto, gurt, coffee, the works. After which the proprietor demanded to take a family portrait for us, and we were off into the heat.

The day's pattern is different than home, in that the temperature here rises with the sun, and then stays at its peak from late morning until sunset almost. Doesn't leave a lot of space for riding, but we do our best.

We rode through beautiful farmland and finally arrived at a fascinating fortress town called palmanova. 

An amazing town with an equally amazing town center. Sadly it had NO water features, and so we were forced to dock them to a 9.0. Ruby and I agreed something subtle like a Trevi would have been sufficient. We made do with perhaps the world's best lemon slushies, before heading back into the sun.

An emergency lunch was called after a bit, and luckily there was a Lidl nearby which we hid behind in the shade and ate like royalty. 

From there it wasn't too far to our camping in the ancient Roman city of Aquilea. While we wanted to look at the  archeology, it was too damned hot, and so we adjourned to the pool.

By the time we shopped (tomorrow is Sunday, so needed to shop for 2 days) then did some mapping and cooked, we were too late to get into the sites, but did ride around to see their forum and roads and some beautiful mosaic floors. 

Now we are hidden in our tents away from the mosquitoes, and hoping to get on the road early. Not far to the coast and the official end of our route, but our camping is quite a ways past that, so we will see how we do.