Well our first impressions of Riccione were quite correct. The place is a tacky tourist strip. And when I said it goes for miles it does. There might be a few hundred metres of beach around a river outlet or fishing port where there are not wall to wall beach umbrellas and cabanas but it goes for at least 15 kilometres north and 10 south from where we are.
And just off the beach there are restaurants and cafes, kids rides, shopping malls that stretch hundreds of metres inland, perpendicular to the coast. There are also areas where it is obviously more expensive than others. And also the odd area of failed development. Not hard to understand tho' as the number of empty seats at the cafes far outnumber the number of occupied ones. I suspect it is getting towards the end of tourist season - school has gone back.
Hotel Fedora seems to fit into the middle of the hotel classes. They make a point of putting themselves up as a bicycle friendly hotel and everything so far supports their claim. We have a bike guide each day if we want who will go as far as we want, as fast as we want and in any direction that we want. We get our gear washed when we come back. Lunch is kept till mid afternoon so we can go on long rides and eat when we return. We just tell them at the desk each night what we want to do the next day and after a huge breakfast we are met by a guide and off we go. Great service.
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| They do great gluten free at the hotel Fedora |
Nothing is a problem at the hotel. Their is huge amounts of gourmet food. I am greeted at breakfast with my own plate of rice cakes, gluten free cakes, biscuits to eat - in addition to the luxury breakfast I can choose from the buffet. Most of these usually end up in my pocket to be eaten on the ride. Absolutely fantastic seafood. Three different types of pasta or lasagne, beef and or chicken dishes, several fish dishes including fantastic seafood chowders for lunch and dinner, a choice of gluten free pastas, gluten free deserts, tables of fresh fruit including sweet peaches, melons and plumbs, a dozen different salads at lunch and dinner, espresso coffee at breakfast. It just goes on. Even with all our training we are probably putting on weight.
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Us in our complimentary hotel bandannas. And Claudio the owner celebrating our stay with
complimentary champagne to farewell us. |
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| Great seafood chowder. A different one every day. 13 Octopus lived in this bowl. Till I ate them. |
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Our hotel from the Beach. The lifeguard is hiding from the sun on the tennis chair. Our hotel is the one on the right.
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And the staff are embarrassingly friendly and helpful. Great hotel.
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