ITALY
I arrived in Venice Italy after a four-hour train ride from Vienna, Austria.
Venice floored me, but once on the bike and tackling the roads of Italy, I missed the amazingly quiet cycling paths of Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the biggest way.
I was on the opposite coast from the usual drawcards of the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Pompeii, Florence & Pisa. So the Italy I saw on this bike tour was more of an unglamorous, utilitarian one.
Venice
Though definitely not bike-friendly, it's hard to imagine a more otherworldly, magical place on earth than Venezia.
The city consists of a group of 118 small islands which are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges throughout. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon which is listed as a world heritage site. I bought a pass that allowed me unlimited rides on the 'vaparetto' taxi-boats that shuttled between the islands.
Venice has been known as "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". It’s an incredible place to wander, to let yourself get lost among the unending canals before finding yourself in Piazza de San Marco and the Basilica.
That's amore.
Venice by night. Amazing.
Down the ‘Boot’
Taking the astronauts (or topographers) view of Italy, it's easy to discern its 'boot' shape. My bike route took me all the way down the heel of that boot, from Venice to Bari.
Honestly, it was probably the least enjoyable leg of my Euro-Bike odyssey. Gone were the beautiful, non-vehicular paths of Switzerland & Austria, replaced with steady highway and road riding alongside crazy heavy-footed Italian motorists. I passed through more obscure towns of Pomposa, Ravenna, Cesanatico, Rimini, Pesaro and Barletta along the eastern coast of the country.
There were some interesting lay-by's and some beautiful weather, but I wouldn't cycle Italy again.
Sunset Sail
My arrival in the port town of Bari signified the end of major cycling operations for me in Europe. I haggled with the lady at the counter about how much I should be paying for my one-way fare to Greece for myself and my bike. (Shouldn't ferry fares be fixed prices??)
I then boarded through the upturned snout of the passenger vessel 'Siren' and caught an amazing sunset before unrolling my sleeping pad and crashing out under the stars for the overnight sailing to Corfu.
Venice Secondo
I returned to Venezia from Greece to begin wrapping-up my big Euro bike odyssey and found much of the place flooded! Walking platforms had been setup around the city to prevent tourist soakers and gondoliers worked overtime to keep people moving.
This has been a centuries-long issue for Venice, which gets hit with the double whammy of rising sea levels due to global warming and a city that is sinking at a rate of about 2mm per year. An ambitious engineering project that involved hollow floatable gates to control potential incoming floodwaters has been plagued by inaction, ballooning costs and corruption scandals.
Go see Venice while you still can.
