July 28 2018

A great day being tourists. We had a light Italian breakfast which consisted of cappuccino, chocolate croissants, and a small piece of cake. It is no wonder the Italians are highly strung, espresso and sugar for breakfast!

On our way to pick-up the tourist bus we spotted this old Fiat.

I asked the owner, who was polishing the chrome, \”How old was the Fiat\”  No English, I pointed to Ralf\’s grey hair and asked again \”Age of Fiat\”.  He laughed and said it was 60 years old, almost the same age as the grey haired man!

The bus left on time and we headed along the highway and then up a narrow, winding road to Mount Vesuvius.

There is a parking area where the buses wait for the tourists and then you walk the remaining 3 kms to the top of the crater. About one-third of the way up there is an English guide who gives you information on the volcano.

The last eruption was in 1944 with a lava flow that destroyed several buildings. However, due to the technology and the equipment that they now have, they believe that they will know (in time) when the next major eruption will happen.

They are expecting a major eruption, as it has been hundreds of years and they believe that the pressure is building inside the volcano. The yellowish area of the crater in this picture has been recorded at a temperature of 100 degrees centigrade, it is much hotter at the bottom of the crater.

I asked how many people were in the vicinity of Vesuvius – over 3 million people. Evacuation procedures are in place to evacuate the people closest to the eruption zone of 7 kms. I asked how many people that involved, the answer was 700,000 people. I don’t think that included the hundreds of tourists that are in this area every day. I was amazed how calm he was when he answered the question. 700,000 people to evacuate!!

I have never been to an “active” volcano before, it was very interesting. Although you couldn’t see any bubbling magma, there was an area that was puffing steam and you could smell the sulfur in that area.

We couldn’t see the coastline at all as there was a lot of cloud cover. On a clear day you can see the Amalfi coast and the Island of Capri. We really enjoyed the trip, although the walk to the top was very gravelly and I had to stop a couple of times to empty my shoes of the small stones.

After the visit to Vesuvius we were supposed to head to Herculaneum, but the bus bought us back to Pompeii.

We were the only ones on the bus that had booked the double sites. No problem, we got into a mini-van and were taken to Herculaneum and picked-up two hours later.

Herculaneum is the unsung hero of this area.  There are less visitors to this archaeological site, which gives you more time to enjoy individual houses and areas of the site.

Although it was affected by small earthquakes before the 79AD volcano eruption of Vesuvius, it is not as well known as Pompei.  However, the town was better preserved because it was covered with pyroclastic rock that solidified.

This led to the phenomenon of preserving the Town in its original state. Including two and three storey buildings, plants, fabrics, furniture and statues.

The digs began in 1738 using underground tunnels and ventilation shafts. In 1875 “open-air” digs were approved.

The archaeological digs are ongoing towards the shoreline. In 1982 approximately 300 skeletons were found near the shoreline. This was a much smaller Town than Pompei, approximately 20 hectares (50 acres). The population was about 4,000 to 5,000.

We listened to one tour guide who was telling her group about the wealthy merchants garden and the marble statues that were found.  The hunting dogs show that the merchant was very wealthy.  The merchant also had statues of the God of Wine (Bacchus), the third statue showed the God after having too much wine!

It was a very interesting visit. Thanks to my sister-in-law Diane who told us about Herculaneum. By the time we finished visiting Herculaneum and back in Pompeii it was really hot again.

Once again, we sat in the square and watched people, there is a drink that I have seen all around Italy, it is called Apeldore. I tried Apeldore with soda. It tastes a little like Pimms with lots of fruit and ice. We ate dinner at the same restaurant and it was good. Tomorrow is Pompei and then back to Rome on Monday.

We have to change our return flights, box the bikes and work out how we are going to get them to the airport. We have five days booked at the hostel in Rome.

July 27 2018

Up early to catch the train to Naples and then on to Pompei where we booked three nights at a B & B.

We got to the train station and found that most of the trains in the morning cost over E55.00 per person. The first train in the afternoon (12:26) the price dropped by half, no idea why. We waited in the train station for three hours and then caught the train to Naples, a two – hour train journey.

When you take a train in Italy you buy your ticket and then validate it before getting on the train. The tickets are then good for four hours. We had validated our tickets on every train we have been on, even the short 10 minute journeys in Cinque Terre. Every other train no-one checked the tickets, although the conductors wandered through the train. Well guess what happened to us this time. Yep, we forgot to validate the tickets and there were two conductors checking the tickets. We were both having mini-heart attacks. I had read that if you didn’t validate your ticket you could be fined on the spot about E200.

The fella checked the ticket, checked the seat we were sitting in and gave us the tickets back. OMG he didn’t check to see if they had been validated.

We arrived in Naples and asked where we could get the local train to Pompei. Downstairs – Circumvesuviana, a different train line. We bought our tickets – E8.00 for a half hour trip. The train was a very local train, no air conditioning, hard plastic seats and no announcements to let you know what station you were arriving at. Fortunately, it did have a map of the route and the stations, Ralf counted the stations and the train trundled along to Pompei. The graffiti along this line and in Italy in general has been very prevalent. Every wall that could be tagged was tagged, and at some stations even the station signs were covered with graffiti, so much that you could not read the name of the station.

We found our B & B very easily, and had a nice shower before heading out to explore Pompei. The room is clean and big. We had initially booked for two nights, then decided we needed an extra night to see Vesuvius, Herculaneum and Pompei. It is difficult to modify your bookings on Bookings.com, Ralf booked an extra night separately. Because we had two separate bookings, we have two different rooms. Our second room is not quite as big!

We were very surprised to see that Pompei is a really clean Town (except for the Train Station). There is a large church where the priest has been beatified for his good works with the orphans of the area.

There was a wedding at the church and the guests were waiting outside for the bride and groom to come out of the church. The guests had sprinkled grain on the floor and the pigeons had landed, the bride and groom ran out of the church and the pigeons all took off.  I am sure it looks better with white doves!

The square around the church is large and clean, with lots of bars, restaurants and ice-cream stores surrounding the square. On Friday evening, the square and bars were full with people watching people, meeting friends and strolling the square or sitting and relaxing on the numerous park benches.

We decided to book a bus tour to take us to Vesuvius and Herculaneum tomorrow. We have to pay the entrance fees to both sites. I asked the tourist office if we got a deal for booking two trips and surprisingly he gave us E10.00 of the price.

We had a nice meal and then sat in the square at a small bar with a drink and watched people for about an hour. We retired back at our air-conditioned room at about 10:30.

July 26 2018

A lovely breakfast at the best place that we have stayed at in Italy (Locanda Etrusca B&B). Fabio and his wife, Patrizio, spoke a little English and they were both so friendly and helpful.

This winter they are doing some renovations to the house, so that all the rooms are en-suite. He will be able to charge more per room. I think he could have charged more than he did, (E58.00) as the breakfast was excellent and the beds were really comfortable.

We left around 10:00 and cycled the 10.4 kms to Cecine (approximately 35 mins) where we waited for the train that was leaving at 12:20. We chatted to a German family for a while and then maneuvered the bikes onto the platform. This was the smallest lift we have used. I had to take one of my panniers of to fit in the lift and Ralf had to stand his bike on one wheel to fit in the lift.

Fortunately there was no platform change. The bike carriage had three steps up to the area where we stored the bikes. We manhandled both bikes into the area as it was a 4 hour trip and we wanted to sit and enjoy the journey and not have to hold the bikes all the way.

We also knew that the train terminated in Rome and we would have time to get the bikes down the three steps and onto the platform.

When we got into Rome a nice fella helped us off the train with the bikes. Then we had to cycle to the hostel through the madness that is Rome traffic. We organized our bags and headed out to the warmshowers (WS) host who was going to store our bikes for us while we travel to Naples and Pompeii.

Again we headed out into the madness. I had my hand very close to my horn (90 decibels) works in Rome – it didn’t in Vietnam. We got to the WS host and no-one was home. We texted Marcello, unfortunately he couldn’t wait for us to arrive. We had arranged to be at his place at about 6:00 but due to the traffic and navigation we were 45 minutes late – 6:45. He had to leave at 6:30 and wouldn’t be home until 11:30.

We have arranged to leave our bikes and gear at the hostel – we can lock everything up and hopefully it will still be here when we get back!

As we headed back to the hostel we found the Coliseum, it was sitting in the middle of a very large traffic circle!

We will be back after Naples/Pompeii, but a quick photo as we cycled around it was worth the stop.

I spotted a few lightening strikes and loud thunder rolled around the city. The heavens opened just as we arrived back to the hostel. We got a little damp, but it has cooled the air a little.

After a shower we went across the road to a local pizza place. A few tables with crowds of Italians around them. We choose three different slices of pizza, which was weighed and then heated. We ate amongst the locals who were loud, it was a great vibe.

July 25 2018

A lovely breakfast in Bibbona, then we hopped on our bikes and cycled to Cecine. There is a train station in Cecine and we can book train tickets to Rome. The person at information said she only spoke a little English, she was really good. We booked the tickets and the bikes on the 12:20 to Rome.

I stopped at a Farmicia (Pharmacist) to get something for my mosquito bites. The English speaking pharmacist sold me some cortisone cream, which has worked really well.

We had a lovely walk around Bibbona when we got back and then relaxed in the B&B.

The Tourist Information Office in Bibbona arranges an information walk around the Town every Thursday during the high-season.  Unfortunately we will not be here, it would have been very interesting.

We noticed this light as we looked into the Tourist Office.

We will only be in Rome for one night and then we are heading to Naples and Pompeii as tourists for a couple of days.

July 24 2018

A pear shaped day. After making our own breakfast in the \”B & B\” we headed south towards a small Tuscan village called Bibbona.

For the first 20 kms the road was good and we were following the coast.

Then we had to find our way around Livorno, and everything went pear-shaped. Livorno has a large port area and we ended up going north on a four-lane road with transports passing us at speed.

Eventually, we found our way back down to the coast and followed the coast through a very pretty City.

Our second navigational error happened about 40 kms into the ride. The road we were supposed to follow should have taken us along the coast. The road-signs indicated that the road was only a motorway and had signs indicating the fines you would pay if you were on the motorway when you shouldn’t be. The garmin didn’t indicate two roads, only the motorway. The paper map showed the coastal route, but we didn’t know how to get to get there.

We went under the motorway and began to climb a beejeesus hill. Actually we pushed the bloody bikes up the hill. Half-way up Ralf looked at the Garmin and said the immortal words that I have heard so many times on this trip. “We are going the wrong way”.

There were a few bad words said, actually quite a lot of bad words and even a few tears. We turned the bikes around and headed down the 14% degree hill back to the road that said No bicycles. About 1 km down this road that was leading to the motorway, there was a right turn that joined the coastal road. We added 10 kms to a 75 km ride going in the wrong direction and it was bloody hot, 35 degrees C (95F)

We eventually arrived in a small seaside resort (Castelglione) at 12:30. We pulled the bikes into a small Bistro, that I knew was going to be expensive, but we needed food and cold water. The waitress looked at us and ignored us. We sat down and waited. We noticed that no-one was being served and other people were leaving. We asked if they were open, yes. Still she didn’t come to serve us. My patience was running very thin at this point.

We left the Bistro and two doors down we found a little fast food outlet with a wonderful lass who was very helpful, although didn’t speak any English. They kept the cold bottled water in the coolers, not in the Cola fridge, we got two bottles of really cold water and I had a slice of pizza and Ralf had a “Big Chicken” burger with fries.

With food and cold water and a “free” pee we carried on to Bibbona.We cycled through Cecina where the market was closing and left a tremendous amount of garbage on the streets.  In Germany the street sweepers would have been there cleaning.

Bibbona is a lovely small village built on a mountain. Yes we had to push our bikes up a beejessus street (18%) We then found the best B&B in Italy. Fabio was waiting for us, he opened the garden gate so that we could store our bikes safely in the garden. Our room is lovely and the shower was hot and clean.

The house was built in the 1800’s and Fabio used to come here as a boy. His English was not great but we managed to have a great chat. He laughed and said, “you must want to shower, I like to talk, I can blah blah”.

He gave us advice on the best restaurants in Town.

Bibbona has narrow, clean streets.  The streets are narrow with stone buildings lining the side.  Some of the streets are cobbled with lovely patterns.

We went for a nice walk around the village and had a lovely ice-cream, before heading to the pizza restaurant for dinner.

An amazing village in Tuscany with great views.

However, although we had a positive end to the day and we have had a few good days. A decision has been made to go home. We are not going to miss out on the other things on our bucket list, including Rome and Pompeii, but we have given up on the cycling. We are not enjoying getting lost, having to spend so much money on accommodation (even if we were camping) and for the first time on our adventures not really enjoying the cycling. We were both expecting so much more from Europe and the Eurovelo routes. They had been advertised as the “be all and end all of cycle routes”, we thought we would barely need to use a GPS or maps, just follow the signs. That has not been the case.

We have asked for an extra night in Bibbona to regroup and book accommodation in Rome and we are going to take a train to Rome on Thursday 26, 2018.

My arms and legs are covered in mosquito bites that are itching like crazy and they have all swollen to the size of quarters. Although I have Benydryl cream it is not working to stop the itch. I took a couple of benydryl tablets and I hope that will help me sleep.

July 23 2018

Today Ralf checked something of his bucket list. The Tower of Pisa and he was not disappointed.

We had decided to cycle to a restaurant we had spotted that served a full breakfast, with eggs and bacon. The breakfast was good and cheap E7.00 for eggs and bacon, croissant, juice, coffee and toast.

We left La Spezia along the industrial port area.

We had to cross a river and then head uphill towards Lerici.  We had to stop at the lift bridge, it allowed a single yacht to go through.

We knew we had a “bump” to go over, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Actually the bump was even less than we thought it was going to be as we cycled through a couple of tunnels. There were no signs to say we couldn’t cycle through. The first tunnel was a little nerve-wracking as we didn’t put on our lights on, but it was a short tunnel. The second tunnel we put our lights on, although the car drivers were impatient.

We dropped down to Maria de Carrara and followed the coast almost all the way into Pisa. Most of the route had cycle paths, however, they were used by people on a leisurely ride to the beach.

It was difficult to define one town from another, one beach area ran into the next. Alot of the beach areas were private, very few were for the general public.

We did notice a lot of camping areas, but these were reserved for week-long campers. I had checked to see if they had “bungalows” which a lot of them did. They were available for a minimum of two nights and the camp-sites were a minimum of a week! No availability for touring cyclists.

We stopped for a rest under a tree and to buy some water.  We were expecting it to be expensive, but fortunately it was only E1.50 for 1.5 litres.  We are hydrating very well, as it is so hot by 10:00.

In Torre del Lago we headed inland to Pisa.

The road was a little busy, most of the cars gave us enough room. In Pisa we headed towards the train station, where our B& B was supposed to be located. We found the address, but no sign of a B&B. Italians seem to have a very different definition of what a B&B is supposed to be. This one was an apartment divided into rooms, it was more of a hostel than a B&B. Although breakfast was provided – you made your own coffee and ate Dollar Store crosissants!

Eventually we were able to get into our room and shower. At 3:30 p.m. we walked the short distance across the river to the Basilica and the Bell Tower (Leaning Tower of Pisa).

We were hoping to get tickets to climb the tower today. We had been on-line and it appeared as if you had to buy your tickets a day ahead. Unfortunately there were not any tickets available. As it turned out, you could buy tickets for the same day. The ticket office showed how many tickets were available and for what time. There were 35 tickets available for the 7:45 p.m. climb. We bought two tickets and had two free tickets to enter the cathedral. I never go into a church that I have to pay to enter.

We wandered the grounds and were amazed at the cleanliness of the area. We had a quick dinner of pasta at one of the surrounding bars/fast food areas.

At 6:15 we entered the cathedral and at 7:45 we began our climb of the tower. The tower was closed for 10 years to attempt to stop the tower from leaning any further. Inside the tower there is a plumb line – that shows the degree of the lean! At one time in its history it was 15 feet of the perpendicular, it is now about 17 inches!

The Bell Tower is only one of a few bell towers in Italy that are built away from the church. It was built as a separate tower to show the wealth of the area. However, the architects and builders did not take into account the weight of the marble and the fact that the ground is a mix of sand and marsh area. (Beware of Italian builders lol).

While we were taking photos at the top of the tower, of the view, we chatted to a couple of Americans, Michelle and Juan – who were on their first touring vacation – visiting sites and experience a different country. A really nice group of people from Rochester New York.

Ralf had wanted to walk the walls of the city, however by the time we said our farewells to the Americans, the walls were closed.

We walked back across the river to our mediocre B & B.

The wi-fi was non-existent in the B & B however if I sat on the balcony I could connect to the City\’s free wi-fi.  Unbeknownst to me I was being eaten alive by Italian Mossies that are vicious. 

July 22, 2018

Today I checked something off my bucket list, walking a section of the Cinque Terre (Five Villages).  I had the biggest smile on my face when we found that the trains were running, albeit sporadically.

We were chatting to the lady at the Tourist Information Office for the Cinque Terre National Park, she was telling me that the trains were not running to Monterosso La Mare – the furthest village from La Spezia. Then she looked up and said \”that is the train to Monterosso, it leaves in 10 minutes\”. We ran to the ticket machine and bought a one-way ticket to Monterosso.

Usually, you can buy a combined train and park pass which allows you to hop on and hop off the trains at each of the villages and the Park Pass which allows you hop and hop off the trains and for a bonus you get a free pee. No charge for the toilets.

Today we were advised only to buy one-way tickets on the train, as they were not sure if any other trains would be running!

As we were on the train heading to Monterosso, I was not worried at all how I was going to get back to La Spezia. I was going to walk from Monterosso to Vernazza and I was going to enjoy the walk and the view – a tick on the bucket list.

The Cinque Terra National Park was established in 1999. The National Park is the smallest of Italy’s National Parks at 3,860 hectares but is the most densely populated with approximately 4,000 villagers in the Five Villages. The five villages are Monterosso la Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

We got off the train in Monterosso and took some photos of the beach area. Monterosso La Mare is a very popular sea-side resort area. There were lots of Italians setting up their towels on a little spot of beach or renting one of the hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas at E20.00 per chair and umbrella per day.

We headed up the blue path towards Vernazza.

Ralf looked at the route we were about to follow and I could tell he was not happy.  He was a little worried how his ankle would react to this kind of terrain.

We knew we had to buy a National Park Pass,we knew we could buy them at the train station but we were well past the ticket booth, we carried on walking and just before we joined the main path, there was a ticket booth. We asked to buy the combined train and park pass. The young man told us not to buy the combined path as they were not sure if any other trains would be running.

The route from Monterossa to Riomiggiore takes about 5.5 hours to walk. Unfortunately there are two sections you cannot walk due to land-slides and major maintenance work.

That’s o.k. I was on a trail on the Cinque Terre and I didn’t care how I was going to get back to the hotel or how hard the walk was. It was beautiful.

The path started with stone steps, then continued on to a wooded path. In areas the path was narrow and in other areas the path was a little wider. It took us just over 1 hour and 45 minutes to hike to Vernazza.

The temperature was very hot, but the view over the sea and when we came into Vernazza the view was exactly how I imagined it to be. Colourful houses stacked up the mountainside, almost falling into the sea. A bay with stunningly blue waters and puffy clouds in the sky.

We had lunch in Vernazza. 

As we walked down the hills we heard an Italian speaking English behind us.  He was with two Americans – a personal tour guide.  However, he was commenting on two women who were rubbing sun cream on each other and how much he would like to offer his services.  We all started to laugh, and the Italian said something to Ralf. Ralf told him \”My grandfather said you can always look at the menu, but always eat at home\”

We then went to the train station with our fingers crossed hoping to get on a train to the next village (Corniglia).

There were three La Spezia trains that were cancelled but one was running although very slowly. The delay went from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Eventually the train slowly rolled into the station and we hopped aboard. To be on the safe side, we decided to head to Riomiggiore, the closest village to La Spezia, we knew we could get a taxi from that village back to La Spezia, if necessary. We did miss out on two villages, but they were not as stunning as Vernazza or Riomiggiore.

In  2011 Vernazza was inundated with a massive flood. It roared down the mountain and flooded the Town up to the second floor of most of the buildings.

Riomiggiore is literally a village that starts at the sea and climbs up the mountainside. We walked up to the church and then carried on up to the top of the hill. As we looked up the hill and then down towards the sea we wondered how people survived in this region.

As we came down the hillside to the train station, the train was due in 15 minutes and no delays. Maybe our luck has changed.

A fabulous day of walking, hills, villages clinging to the mountains and beautiful scenery. The life is very hard for villagers of the Cinque Terre.  As we walked Ralf spotted a line of some sort.  Then we discovered what it was for – collecting the olives.

We arrived back in La Spezia tired but relaxed.  There are some lovely buildings in La Spezia.

Tomorrow Pisa. I hope Ralf is not disappointed.

July 21, 2018

Both of us were nervous about the approaching train journeys. How difficult was it going to be to get two loaded touring bikes on to the train. We knew in Venice there were elevators to get us to the platforms, but how far will we need to lift the bike onto the train!

We stood on platform 6 waiting for the train to come. Then we saw people moving rapidly away from the platform. Ralf asked a fella what was happening, the train had come in on a different platform. We barged our way through the crowd to the elevator. I forgot to mention that only one bike would fit in the elevator at a time. I went first and headed to the first door on the train. Fortunately, there was no lifting involved – roll on and roll off. The train guard was whistling and telling me to get on the train! I had my front wheels on the train and my back wheels on the platform. Ralf had not arrived on the platform and this train was not going without us.

The guard came towards me waving his flag and whistling his little whistle at me.  I told him in no uncertain terms that the platform had changed and my husband was coming with his bike. Fortunately, Ralf arrived at that time and we pushed our bikes on to the train.

We had asked previously where the bike carriage would stop, so that we could be in the right place. Due to the switching of the platforms we were not in the right place for the bikes and had to hang on to our bikes in the train. As people wanted to get off, we had to move from one side of the opening to the other.

We arrived in Bologna and changed to our train to Parma. The train had an area for the bikes. However, we would have had to carry them up three steps. What sense does that make? Once again we were moving the bikes back and forward as people got on and off the train.  Most people were very understanding.

When we arrived in Parma, we knew we had a five hour wait. However, I noticed there were several trains going to La Spezia before 6:00 p.m. I asked at the information desk  if we could get on any of the earlier trains. No such luck, they didn’t have a spot for the bikes.

However, we spotted five guys getting of a “no-bike” train. Ralf chatted to one of the guys who got of the “no-bike” train. They said they had bought the tickets and man-handled their bikes onto the train. They really struggled getting them off the train. I think it was a good idea for us to wait for the “bike” train.

We cycled into Parma and had lunch. I went into the Tourist Information Office and told the woman that we had three hours to kill.  She gave me a quick itinerary of what we could see in that time, including several churches and the park. Parma is a lovely city however, it started to rain so we headed back to the train station.

The area around Parma is famous for ham and parmesan cheese. I had pasta for lunch and they sprinkled some parmesan cheese on it, the pasta and the cheese tasted really good.

The rain poured down for about an hour.  This man decided it would be a good idea to have a shower from the run-off from the dirty roof.  He had come out of the bar,\”not feeling any pain\”.

The train to La Spezia arrived at the platform early. This is the first train where we had to lift our bikes into the train, but we could then roll the bikes into the bike storage area. Fortunately La Spezia was also the last stop so we knew we didn’t have to rush to try and lift the bikes off the train.

This was also the first train that we were able to sit all the way as the bikes were safely stored in the bike carriage.

We arrived in La Spezia at 8:15 p.m. and found the hotel. We must have the worst room in this expensive hotel (NH La Spezia).

By the time we had found the hotel, got settled in we were starving. We went for a walk and found a pizzeria and had a pizza and a beer.

Tomorrow there is a train strike in Italy – possibly no trains to the Cinque Terre!!

If we didn’t have bad luck we wouldn’t have any luck at all.

July 19, 2018

 Two days of ups and downs.

On Thursday we left the hostel at about 9:00 and took the 15 minute train from Mestre to Venice (Island). Our prime goal today was to wander, no direction, no pressure just wander the streets and canals of Venice.

Of course we wanted to see the Palace of the Doges, the Rialto Bridge and St. Marks Square, apart from that we wanted to wander the streets.

There is a street that is full of designer stores, GUCCI etc.

Alternatively, you could buy your GUCCI bag from the guy on the bridge selling \”genuine\” GUCCI bags.

It was hot, sweaty hot, and there were lots of hot, sweaty tourists. Then there were the Italians who looked cool and chic. The men in their light-weight suits and the women who looked as if they were ready for a photo shoot for Vogue. Even some of the older women looked as though they had an air conditioner somehow magically attached to their backs keeping them cool and sophisticated.

I was a hot sticky blob! We did have a good day. We didn’t get lost, how can you on an Island? You keep walking until you find a bridge, cross it and keep walking you are either going to find the sea or find the train station. The Grand Canal surrounds Venice, sooner or later you will find a canal that is wider than the rest of the canals (the Grand Canal) and you either go right or left.

It was a really good day. We found St. Marks Square at about 11:00, surprisingly it was not wall-to-wall tourists, although it was busy. A Dutch family approached Ralf, they asked him to take their photo and Ralf agreed so long as they would take ours. We have found people approach us (Ralf has his camera) and maybe we look honest. I tried to stop people walking in front of Ralf as he was taking a few photos of this lovely family. Well, when it came to the Dutch girl taking our photo, the Mom started directing traffic. She would stand in front of people who were going to walk in front of us, at one point she had her hand up like a crazy crossing guard! I could not stop laughing.

Venice is a very tired old lady, you know she was a beauty in her time, but she has aged and in places not very well. The City is faded, in my opinion, a little past her time. The older classical buildings need some major work – but what is the point when you are sinking into the sea. The ground level of all of these buildings are wet, moldy buildings. People live on the second floors and above in an attempt to stay dry. The humidity on the Island was unbelievable. Occasionally we would get a sea breeze, which had a wonderful odor of dead fish, however, there was a breeze.

There is a lot of building work happening. However, the trades people have a nightmare of a job getting the materials to the job site. First they have to navigate the canals, then set up with a “crane boat”. If they cannot do that they hand-bomb the bags of cement or lift them up and down all the steps and over the bridges.

Of course, a trip to Venice wouldn\’t be Venice without a few photos of the Gondoliers.  A 30 minute ride costs E80, if you can rally 4 other people to share the gondolier it isn\’t too expensive.

Towards the end of the afternoon, when my hands looked like little fat sausages, we sat down to watch the world go by for an hour. A group of classical musicians set up and played a variety of music, the first tune was Leonard Cohen “Halleujah”, then a classical piece, followed by “It’s A wonderful World”. A lovely end to a great day.

A selection of photos from the 265 photos that Ralf took.

We got back to the hostel and everything went pear-shaped.

We had hoped to get a warmshowers host in La Spezia, but he came back with a negative. We went back on-line to find a hotel. Ralf found a great deal and we booked it, when the confirmation email came though it was double the price. We canceled immediately – we got the confirmation email to say we had cancelled the booking but the hotel was still going to charge us for the room! Two nights before the reservation and we were going to be charged for the room, that we had cancelled.

What a nightmare.

Friday July 20, 2018

We were woken up at 7:00 by our room-mates leaving for an early start visiting Venice. I checked the credit card, yes we had a charge against our card and our booking had been cancelled. Ralf found an affiliate NH hotel in Mestre, we decided to walk to that hotel and ask them to contact the other hotel and hopefully get all of this nonsense sorted out. Marta at the Hotel NH Venezia Laguna Palace called the hotel in La Spezia. They advised us to contact the booking agent which is Agoda – or to book again and they will sort out the cancellation and rebooking. I am not holding out much hope. But, we have re-booked the very expensive hotel in La Spezia and hopefully tomorrow we can get it all sorted out. Or we dispute the credit card charge with Master Card.

The rest of the morning, we couldn’t decide what to do. Neither of us felt really optimistic nor could we decide how to spend the rest of the day.

Eventually, we went over the train station to investigate the logistics of getting our bikes onto the platforms. There is a lift down and a lift onto every platform – except 6/7. What is the betting that our platform tomorrow is 6 or 7. We did see a couple of touring cyclists on Platform 6. I asked them how easy was it to transport their bikes on the Italian trains. Apart from this platform they have found it very easy. They were two Germans from Dusseldorf, who were using a company called Euro Bike. From what I could understand, the company arranged to take your bags from destination to destination. They had three panniers and a handle bar bag – everything apart from the handle bar bag is transported for them. Oy Vey I planned this trip wrong.

We were going to Murano – the glass making island today, however the cost of the vaporetta (E20 each) and the fact that we wouldn’t buy any souvenirs (glass does not travel well on a bike), we opted to investigate Mestre.

Mestre main centre is under appreciated. O.k. it is not Venice, however it does have a lovely square and the best gelato we have tasted to date. The young lass behind the counter laughed at my attempt at Italian, however, I think I got a bigger scoop because of the attempt.

Mestre was a walled city and there is the remains of a tower and they have built a “reconstruction” of the draw-bridge.

Of course the “Tourist Police” were around and asked a girl who was sleeping on a bench to sit up. They also stopped a group of cyclists from cycling through the pedestrian zone.

Our mood picked up by the end of the day. We are back at the hostel watching the young folks parading. It is a little like watching “Discovery Channel” with a David Attenborough commentary.

“See how the female tosses her head and then ignores the male, she is looking through her tresses to see if he has noticed her. The male – slack-jawed approaches. Will she ignore him or encourage him. A brave male is accepted at the table, but will he be eaten for a main course or dessert”. “A lone female is left at the table. Will she find a mate tonight? Yes it appears she has, a smile, a flick of the tresses.”

“The mature, monogamous couple watch and smile at the youngsters mating game, secure in the knowledge of their everlasting love”.

After watching the youngsters for a while two young ladies from the States joined us (Texas and Oklahoma). They are doing a year exchange in France – in microbiology. They are taking advantage of their week-ends to see other parts of Europe. Two really nice young ladies.

July 18, 2018

 What a lovely ride today. It was a short distance to Mestre (Venice).  Having a short ride that would give us the afternoon to get the boring stuff done. We left San Dona Di Piave and headed on quiet roads to Mestre (Venice). We are now below sea level by 4 metres!

We cycled along a flat coastal road, on one side was a lagoon that opened out to the sea and on the other side was a canal.  Very quiet and peaceful ride.

As we got closer to Venice I thought the roads would be really busy and chaotic, but they were quiet. At about 10 kms outside of the City we had a cycle lane and followed along a uni-rail tram line. The cars were on the left of the uni-rail and we were on the right side. Ralf had plotted the route along the causeway (the very straight line) and then into the City.

We came into one square where they did not allow you to cycle through. We noticed the locals were pushing their bikes so we followed suit and pushed our bikes.

There are new “tourist” rules in Mestre and Venice. “Walking around the city bare-chested or inadequately dressed; causing willful damage or defacement; sitting in areas not specifically designated for the purpose; sitting in public areas to consume food and drink; dropping litter; the use of bicycles and roller skates and the playing of sports and games that can cause annoyance to others; the use of stereos, radios etc at high volume; feeding the pigeons. There are tourist police that will tell you not to do something and you can be fined!

As we pushed our bikes through the square, we noticed two roadies leaving from a café. Clipped in and about ready to cycle off. The tourist police appeared out of nowhere and told them to push their bikes!! The lady unclipped straight away, the guy was not too keen, but after a talking to, he walked his bike.

We arrived at our massive hostel at 12:30, check-in was 2:00. We were told we could leave our bikes around the back and we went for lunch. We have never stayed in a hostel that has eight floors.

At 1:30 we were allowed to check-in. This is a very modern hostel – it would have been a hotel, but each room has up to 9 beds with showers, and toilets en-suite. There is a kitchen where we can cook and a common area. This is the biggest hostel we have been in, it is very clean, although the kitchen looks like a bombs hit it after 8:00 p.m.

Ralf was checking in and I sat down on a very soft leather couch.  I sank into it and thought I wouldn\’t be able to get up.

This could have been a hotel, if they had finished the ceilings and walls.  It is very unique with industrial finishes. Sea containers used as storage and bars.  Lots of young people but a very good vibe. Today we are sharing a room with a French couple, our room has 6 bunks.

Today we were able to get the washing done (at the hostel) and check out the route to Cinque Terra. It has been difficult to find a safe route across the country. Lots of routes down the west coast and east coast and across the top of the country but none from Venice to Pisa.

For some reason Ralf decided we would take the train across the country. The hostel is close to the train station and we had the time to inquire as to the feasibility of taking a train to La Spezia (Cinque Terra). The fella was really helpful, looking at different routes and the least amount of changes, and trains that would accommodate the bikes. We have saved about five days cycling – and the cost of 5 hotels. We booked the train (E68)! We have five hours in Parma and will be in La Spezia at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night.

Two full days to enjoy Venice.