The Residence

I am not in either one of the two hotels that Silvia owns in the area, but rather in the Residence, a dormitory like structure with larger rooms and kitchens. I chose it deliberately so I could interact with the other cyclists here. But that turned out to be a bust as aside from one cyclist who has left, the other 5 are as antisocial as can be. Whereas all the Italian couples here love to talk to me, the Americans barely say hello.

I have met everyone here. Aside from the antisocial cyclists there are two very nice elderly Italian couples, and 5 Hungarian men here working on something for Silvia. They speak no English and only a few words of Italian, but they are very friendly and always say hello to me.

They are all about 35, and very tan, and very large, all built like former weightlifters with big guts. They generally all wear just short shorts and no shirt and sit and smoke around the patio table.

But despite their appearance, they ae never rowdy and never drunk, unlike a lot of German tourists at all the bars in town.

But they definitely look like you want them on your side in a fight.

I always laugh when they pile into their litle car and their combined weight drops the car body a few inches!