Venice to Corte Lazzarini

Friday November 13, 2010

My bed for the night in the "A Venice Museum" hostel, Venice.

I woke up at about 8:30 am and took a much needed shower. I hadn't been able to last night because Pat, the Australian guy who drank too much wine and went to throw up in the toilet, had actually fallen asleep in there for several hours, so nobody else could use it.
The short term plan from here on in was to spend half a day exploring Venice, then ride to ride to Siena in two and a half days.
I'd woken up with a really sore saddle sore; it seemed to have flared up overnight. It hurt to sit down on anything, even hurt a little to walk.
Anyway, at least I wasn't on the bike for the morning; I headed out to wander around Venice.

The view from my hostel window, "A Venice Museum", Venice.

The view from my hostel window, "A Venice Museum", Venice.

At first it was really cool, because I'd never seen a city like it. My first priority was to find a supermarket to get milk and cereal for breakfast, since there was no breakfast offered at the hostel.
After brekkie I just went for a good wander, you can walk from one side of the city to the other in an hour or two. I think the American guys we talked to in Vienna were right though, you don't need to spend more than 24 hours in Venice. I was already getting bored of the place, because it was all much the same after a while: narrow streets, shops with expensive designer clothing or expensive food, canals, bridges over the canals, and tourists everywhere!

One of the many canals in Venice.

Me standing on a bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice and taking a photo of myself.

Looking down the Grand Canal, Venice.

You can see the bell tower of the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a church in Venice, Italy.

 This shot is at the main square, you can see the platforms they put out to walk on when the place floods, which is regularly, and hundreds of tourists taking photos:

A raised platform for when the tide is high and the water engulfs the square. This shot is in the Piazza San Marco beside St Mark's Basilica.

There are little shops like this all over Venice.

I strolled back to the hostel, downloaded some maps for the route to Siena, and headed out at about mid-afternoon.

On my way back out of Venice, looking towards Ponte Della Liberta and mainland Italy.

Looking out from the side of the Ponte Della Liberta.

Looking out from the side of the Ponte Della Liberta.

The first 20 or 30 km out of Venice was really bad for cycling, through some industrial areas. Some sections I felt really unsafe! At one point I almost lost control on wet leaves while trying to avoid a pedestrian.
I rode on off-road bike paths as soon as I got the chance, but these seem to be few and far between here in Italy. The path I was on presently was running alongside a canal, it was unsealed and in places really muddy and with deep wheel ruts.
I rode through a town called Padova, and stopped at a pizzeria. The pizza I ate here was just delicious, and it was huge! I'd say it was the best value pizza I've had on my trip so far, for €7.

Pizza for dinner in a town called Padova, Italy.

I continued on. By this stage after some 60 odd kilometres for the day, my saddle sore was so sore that it was all I could think about. It was just so painful!
It wasn't easy to find a good camping spot, but ended up finding what I thought was a good spot, by a canal, and set up there. Got to sleep at about midnight.
I was awoken from deep sleep at 2:30 am, at first I didn't know what was going on. There were lights shining about and an authoritative voice called out, in Italian so I couldn't understand him. "Hello?" I responded.
"Poliza", I think he said. Shit, the police had found me! What would they do? Make me pack up and move on? What a drag, just when I'd set up and gotten to sleep. Or even worse, what if they kicked me out of the country and I had to fly home early?
I sat up and unzipped the tent, and one of the officers walked down the bank to my tent door. He asked if I was alone and shone the torch around in my tent, as though he suspected there was someone else with me.
He asked me for my passport, which I promptly handed over. He took it back to his car and discussed with the other officer, and they made a few phone calls. I could understand my nationality being quoted and my birthdate too. I was wondering what was going to happen, quite worried.
After a few minutes the same officer walked back down to my tent and handed my passport back. I think he just said "grazie" and "ciao", and off they went, they just let me be. Wow, I was so relieved! I don't know how they even found me in the first place; maybe a passer-by had tipped them off. Maybe they were looking for someone in particular, who knows? I guess I'll never know.

My route for the day, Venice to Corte Lazzarini, Italy.

Ride stats:
Distance: 97.90 km
Average: 17.9 km/h
Maximum: 37.4 km/h
Time: 5:27:08
Total ascent: 186 m
Total descent: 187 m