#5 Bella Italia

Italia, what can you say, people speak a little Italian here, otherwise German. There are dumplings to eat, wheat beer etc. Not a man with a moustache, a chef’s apron and wildly arguing with hands. Not a woman who throws dishes around calling out an Italian man’s name. All right, it’s still South Tyrol. Only when the Alps are over will I surely meet these people.

First impression is therefore not really Italian. Still, it’s great (like almost everything I see, I guess I need glasses). There are cycle paths, great views, everything is in bloom, the sun is shining, everything is wonderful. Except for my Komoot app, which says I ride in a mountain.
Finally after many descents I arrived in Brixon. The only camping site was closed, but at a gas station I received a tip from a guest that there was still a camping site before Brixon. Driving there, showering, eating, etc.

The next day it went further downhill. The cycle path is great, you can fill up your drinking water along the way (gives small wells), the city of Chiusa is sensationally beautiful, but nothing more is. You are surrounded by the huge mountains, always great views, but the way was like chewing gum. From time to time a small tunnel came. There was also a headwind. It is also possible that my legs are a bit weaker, after all I have about 90 km with the burner behind me.

Good thing today is a holiday in Italy and has everything closed, I thought. I had nothing to eat, except my canned soup from Germany, which was finally eaten away. Wild camping would only go in a few places. In Bolzano I was told there was a camping site. Through the city, uphill, then it was: 27 EUR! I said I just want a piece of green for one night. Besides, I only paid 12 yesterday. It is not possible. I don’t want to say what I thought 🙂
At the end of the village I still found a Eurospar (probably something like Spar), so fortunately I could still buy something to eat. Some shops are already open on Sundays.

These views look great, all full of green mountains.

Like I was going on hoping to find another place. Talk to people and get a tip from Hotel Steiner, who also have camping sites. So there, 15 EUR with everything. Anyway, paid for, ate, drank beer and slept.

I spent another day on it to give my body some rest. Unfortunately, I tried to kill time, it just wasn’t going around. The sun was shining permanently and there was hardly any wind. I really like the sun, but I always have airstream, a lake or something. Or it’s too early for summer for me, I have to get used to it. Anyway, the sun is banging, there is hardly a place to hide and it is boring. Almost all of them are German holidaymakers with camper vans.
I was always recommended magnesium, so I finally got the stuff. Overpriced of course (about 6 EUR) I bought this, drank it and felt exactly, somehow, just like before, only with a different taste in my mouth.
On the way to the shop, where I was shopping for quite some time, since my bike wasn’t there and I didn’t have to hurry in the shop, I got pain in the Achilles tendon. I guess it happens sometimes. What comes, works again 🙂

It started raining in the early afternoon. So I spent the time reading in the tent to fight against falling asleep.

It’s a pity that South Tyrol is so full of tourists. Which means it’s a little more expensive. I also missed the small farms. I’ve hardly seen any. Probably these are further in the mountains, at the cycle path one sees anyway only the very fast streaming river Adige. Sometimes you don’t know if and in which new city you are, which is a pity. Most of the village signs on the cycle path are missing. But I had the same problem in Germany. This is also a big disadvantage when driving with a navigation system instead of a map.

Great places, again and again you feel as if you are back in time

The next morning, when I wanted to leave, I found someone from Bochum, so I packed and drove there, entertained and went on. There was a headwind, I was not really fit and somehow listless. Probably because I didn’t know where to sleep. That kind of gave me a headache. I wrote to some people, but there were either cancellations or no response. I let it come to me.
In Rovereto, while I was sitting in a Rockabilly bar, I thought about what to do. Unfortunately, my only promise was only 15 km from here and 600 m high. So I drove on, I still took my chances. It was around about 7:00.

As it was getting dark I got a tip from a woman that there was a cool bar right here. So to the “Bike Bar”. Shortly entertained and the result looked like this:

Yay, on the bar terrace, a really good place, because the toilet was right downstairs, my iso gave me the necessary softness and warmth and ah, everything was great. Even the people were in a good mood. Grinning I went to sleep at 10 pm.

In the morning we had a strong coffee in the bar, talked with other guests and then we went on. I suddenly had a tailwind! I haven’t felt a tailwind for a long time, and I was still in a good mood and was racing south at almost 26 km/h. The end of the Alps was very close.

Typical for Italy are also the churches, somehow I like them, they are so ancient

All the way so far has been completely a cycle path, so great respect. Besides, drinking water taps were there again and again, super!

I continued through villages, where I exchanged a few sentences with an older cyclist,

past castles with their great city walls

and again and again churches

But I had no place to sleep and there were only vineyards on the way. These are still too small and too open to put up their tent there. So off to the pizzeria, ask where I can sleep. There I got a Coke and after a phone call I got a tip where there are large vineyards. It’s forbidden, but to pitch a tent in the evening and to leave in the morning. He told me to wait near another bar, a friend of his, for the darkness.
So I went there. It was a big playground with a kind of bar. There I got a small beer from a man (didn’t want one, but had to). We talked for about an hour, somehow. When he was gone, I went to the wine farm to take a closer look. Well, completely open and visible to all, not a good place to sleep.
I arrived in a village and went to a bar and asked for a place to sleep. Of course, half the bar was affected and I was topic number one 😀
I got a little bit of wine (comes from a kind of tap, since wine is often drunk here), was still allowed to eat properly from the bread, which was actually for the guests.
After that I had to follow a gentleman on a motorbike. He took me to a playground on a football pitch. I could camp here. I said, “Polizia?” he shook his head: “Nooo.” So I unloaded my donkey in a corner and waited for darkness with the book “John”. I heard animals I’ve never heard before. They came from the vineyards that were everywhere. It was also the first time I saw a tiger mosquito trying to sting me.
I later pitched my tent and went to bed. I slept badly because the place was too open and I don’t like camping so openly. So I woke up again and again. I still lack the habit of falling asleep everywhere. The more often one goes to sleep in such places, the easier it becomes.
So not everything is always so wonderfully romantic etc., sometimes you have to accept something. But you experience something new every day and it is only the beginning!

Around 06:30 I got up, packed up quickly, without washing, without breakfast, and left the area where an elderly gentleman asked me the old questions: where from, how long, where to,… Unfortunately, he could only speak Italian (without hands).
A few kilometres after the village I finally saw a good place to “shower”, eat and breathe deeply among all the vineyards.

Unfortunately there was headwind and I didn’t have much energy that day. “Fresh”, “clean” and “full” it went on over some villages. On the way I talked to an older Italian on his rickety bike. He grows wine and is well known for it in the area, he said. When asked how life is here, he told me: “Oh, the politicians…”, well, most people in most countries say the sentence:)
A few kilometres further on, when I asked two cyclists for a supermarket (which was open in the village, although it was Sunday. Some shops have limited Sundays and open on holidays), I had to answer the standard questions: How long on the way, where do you come from, how many kilometres a day, which route, how long do I need to reach my destination. Four of them, since two more women came along, looked at me and I think they had amazement, joy and also their fun with me 😀
I stayed in the shop for a long time because I didn’t have a big appetite.
It went on over vineyards, some places, mostly over country roads towards Vicenza. Shortly before the city entrance I had breakfast again at a bus stop.
The city entrance was full of holes and not exactly covered with pavements, and there were hardly any WIFI in the bars. Then finally in the city centre, where a Russian and a Ukrainian spoke to me and a Polish woman who worked there translated accommodation ads from Italian into Polish for me, I found a hostel via the free and password-free Internet.
For 22 EUR per night with breakfast in a 6 person room. There were three of us (a Chilean, an Italian who is a software developer, and me). I stayed here for two days.

Unfortunately my 2nd day didn’t go as I would have liked, which wasn’t the end of the world.

But first something typical Lukas: I was shopping in Eurospar, because I needed food for this and the next day. Well, some selected, of course by the empty stomach too much, but all durable. Now I wanted to go to the checkout and am amazed: People scan their things themselves! Three scan stands were there. No salesgirl who scans things. I know that from IKEA, also seen in the grocery store in Estonia, but now I have to do it! That could only go wrong, I thought. When I was supposed to get to it, a long beat formed directly.
I pretended, of course, that everything was normal for me. As language I chose German. Of course, the voice was very loud. The instruction came: “Please scan your product!” I scanned my first water bottle. “Please place the product on the surface!” So I did and put her next to the device on a metal platform. “Please indicate the number!” I typed “2” and put the second bottle next to the other. Directly came a loud alarm with the inscription “Personal benötigt” and something else in Italian. People were all looking. The security man did something and it went on. I kept scanning the things, but there was no query about the number. Only the water bottles I happened to have twice. Again and again the loud “Please scan your product!” “Please place the product on the surface!”

Unfortunately, there was no wine in small bottles, so I had to switch to a disgusting Italian beer. Then came the message “Check necessary!” With a loud voice and signal tone, of course. Looked over, no matter, still diligently scanned. Meanwhile the line was really long, so that a saleswoman sat down at the cash desk. My storage plate was full to the brim, I started to play Tetris. Then the last product scanned. Finally! “Number of bags?”, typed “2.” Through observation, I knew where to put the note. Zack, you did it. 13 EUR poorer, bought food for 2 days. So now nothing could happen to me. Everything nicely wrongly packed in the bags, so that the sharp edges slowly tore open the BIO bags (I corrected it afterwards, I’m not that stupid, mostly at least 😀 ) and just wanted to walk out. Well, in Poland the alarm system always comes directly 😀 I stood there and didn’t know what to do. People were looking again. The salesgirl just waved me out. I was glad to be out of the store. I never go back there, I said to myself 😀

Another difference to Germany: When you buy rolls, for example, you always put on a glove, take out the baked goods, weigh them and type in the number. Just like vegetables.
Otherwise the products are quite similar, of course more wine is offered, even in 5 liters bottles, but otherwise it is really similar. Some things cost the same, some are a bit cheaper, some a little more expensive, hardly seen differences. Of course there are also small village shops, where the products have to be brought to, which then also cost a little more. But that’s the same in Germany.

Now it continues what I have done almost the whole day, except shopping and washing clothes:
It took me a long, really very long time to find a very cheap accommodation. This should be on my route to some extent, so it shouldn’t require a big detour, not too close to Vicenza and of course also not too far away. I wanted to take as much strength as possible for the mountains in Slovenia/Croatia with me and divide everything up exactly, just so. About google, warmshowers and couchsurfing I found nothing. Only through Airbnb (which fascinates me more and more) I could find a campsite with organic cultivation. The course is about 15 km from Venice, but unfortunately only 60 km away. So I decided to make a detour to the sea and come thus on approx. 90 km. That was just my route calculation, let’s see how reality will look like.

Actually, I wanted to write something about Vicenza, but writing a second Wikipedia article doesn’t make sense. I can only say so much that in the cities I only see the ancient, I smell the crap of the animals, I see the free-range chickens, the market sellers, the haystacks on the edges and so on.

8 thoughts to “#5 Bella Italia”

  1. Hallo Lukasz, vielen Dank für den Bericht. Bin wieder mal total begeistert. Fotos zum Träumen! Die Vorstellung nicht zu wissen, wo man für die nächste Nacht einen Schlafplatz bekommt ist allerdings eher ein Alptraum. Dazu kommt, dass ich wahrscheinlich bereits im Krankenhaus läge, wäre ich so oft nass geworden wie du bisher. Da hält sich die Romantik in der Tat sehr in Grenzen. Ich wünsche dir für deine Tour, dass die schönen, erhabenen Momente immer überwiegen. Weiter so! Wir sind in Gedanken bei dir.
    Das Video ist prima, ein extra Grinse-Smily 🙂 für den Abspann. Ich gehe dann jetzt mal raus, gemäß deiner Empfehlung. Liebe Grüße von uns

  2. Meinen schönen langen Kommentar hat das Netz gefressen, einfach weg! Jetzt hab ich keine Zeit mehr für einen ähnlich langen, deshalb vorab ganz liebe Grüße. Kommentar folgt

  3. So, ich hab Feierabend, hier kommt mein Kommentar. Bernd ist verschollen, da morgen Samstag ist und keine Tour anliegt schätze ich mal beim Nachbarn im vorletzten Haus ;-). Vielen Dank für den tollen Reisebericht und die zauberhaften Fotos. Hab mir auch das Video angesehen, von mir ein Daumen nach oben! Und ein extra Grinse-Smily 🙂 für den Abspann. Hatte vorgestern schon die Seite entdeckt, auf der ich die neuen Fotos vorab sehen konnte. Das sieht alles super aus. Dem Text nach zu urteilen hält sich die Romantik in Grenzen. So traumhaft die Fotos sind, so alptraumhaft ist für mich die Vorstellung nicht zu wissen wo ich des Nachts zu liegen komme. Dazu kommt noch, dass ich wahrscheinlich bereits im Krankenhaus gelandet wäre, wäre ich so oft nass geworden wie du bisher. Da wir aber deinen Humor und deinen Optimismus kennen wünschen wir dir, dass die guten und erhebenden Momente immer die negativen überwiegen mögen, dann wird es eine fantastische Reise, die sicherlich dein weiteres Leben positiv prägen. Mach weiter so, mit Rückenwind und netten Menschen die dir unterwegs begegnen. In diesem Sinne, alles Liebe und viel Glück.

    1. Hallo Vera,

      vielen dank für die Wünsche! Ich versuche auch zu zeigen, dass nicht immer alles so perfekt ist, wie die schönsten Fotos es darstellen. Gestern schlief ich z. B. im Garten einer seit 2 Jahren geschlossenen Pizzeria, alles feucht und voller Schnecken. Mein Zelt ist total nass und ich habe hier im Hostel keine Möglichkeit es zu trocknen. Dafür, auf der anderen Seite halt, die schönsten Aussichten, wow! War selber emotional getroffen. Alles hat sein Postives und Negatives.
      Jaja, der Bernd sein Nachbar und mein Nachbar, oder ehem. Nachbar, tstststs. Bestimmt saßen beide und spielen Schach beim Tee trinken 😀

      Gruß aus Triest!

      Lukas

  4. He Lukas,liebe Grüße aus deiner alten Heimat. Wir sind ca. 15 km vor Kohlberg an der Ostsee und verfolgen mit Begeisterung deine Berichte. Viel Spaß in Slowenien und Kroatien und pass auf dich auf.

    1. Danke, wird schon 😉 Ab Kroatien wird es hart, viele Berge und ich brauche wirklich für die Fahrt sehr lange, das gefällt mir nicht. Blödes Knie. Ich überlege sogar einiges nach Istanbul zu schicken (Elektrokram), damit ich ca. 3 kg Gewicht für die Berge einsparen kann. Außerdem müssen noch ein paar Kleinigkeiten nach Hause geschickt werden, Winterwetter kommt erstmal nicht vor 🙂

      Gruß nach Polska und genießt es!

      Lukas

      PS: Ich gucke aus dem Fenster und sehe das Meer und Sonne, ach wie langweilig 😀

  5. Bernd sagte mir, dass er so lange wie ich will, bis Ende September, für mich fährt. Also ich nehme deinen Tretroller und komm nach. Warte auf mich!!
    Wo ist mein blauer Pulli?
    Jak wilki beda ciebie gonic to uciekaj na drzewo.

    1. 😀 Wenn du hier ankommst (ca. 1800 km), dann noch mit dem Tretroller. Bin ich in 4 Monaten immer noch hier 😀
      Nimm mein Bus und komme damit vorbei.
      Dein blauer Pulli? Ach, jetzt ist das meiner. Komm und hol ihn dir.
      Wilki nie beda gonic. Wilki sie boja czlowieka. Moze co 10 lat ktos przez wilka zginie. Ty juz jak Mama 😀

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