#6 Italy, every bellezza has its faults

Slept badly, had probably travel fever. Packed up in the morning, had breakfast etc. and could leave around 09:30 o’clock. We drove through Vicenza, took some photos, collected some attention and went to the sea! Yes, I made a route with a detour, because I wanted to see the sea.
Happy, content, overloaded and full of power, the kilometres just sprayed down. Over villages, gravel roads, where I got panic concerning my tires, all this with a cool 23 cloudy degrees. The final destination was a camping site with an eco-garden.

I think it’s so great to see such old buildings, I can imagine what it must have looked like back then. All those people walking around here, etc.

Grinning and whistling I drove until my stomach said “hungry!”. So I stopped smiling after about 50 km. All the streets were very empty, since today was 01 May.
I started the gasoline stove and made satisfied spaghetti, ate too much of it and drove on towards the sea.

Overeaten I went on happily. When I finally got to the sea, I didn’t see one. Just a few canals and boats. A fisherman told me to go on for about 15 km, there were tourists and a beach. My grin went down a little. Anyway, I drove on the really busy country road on the hard shoulder and tried to approach the water as I could. There were also a few barely clothed young ladies sitting on their chairs on the side streets along which I also drove. They could hardly resist my charm and shouted to me. They must have looked so good that cars kept stopping by. But I didn’t need to, they called me something to 🙂
Unfortunately, the sea was nowhere visible and I didn’t necessarily want to go to the tourist beach. Anyway, tomorrow maybe. So we headed for the camping site.

After another 20 km (about 95 km in total), when I passed all the villas (every house is called Villa here I think) at the camping site, I was surprised how great it is here. No, not great because of luxury etc., it’s a little wilder, like made by dropouts.
I first drank homemade wine for 1 EUR (one glass), the next one I got for free. Probably because I was just in the right place. In the kitchen I was pushed directly into conversations, after 5 minutes I was invited to dinner and hardly came to the tent.
At the tent grow many fruit trees, here are also many other gardens etc. Now I’m sitting here at the computer in the common room, where a gentleman who gave me a glass of wine is also sitting. Next to me (1 m away) is a 5 year old foal. Everything here is not perfect at all, rather combined, difficult to explain, just look at the pictures. But here I feel really, really comfortable. That’s exactly my thing, a lot of nature, a little chaos, a lot of freedom, great and very open people, everything rather alternative, everything done right.
Okay, the pool’s a little distracting, but anyway, other people who want to come here.

If you’re tired of lawn mowing, you can switch to this variant:

There’s my tent in the back, behind all those fruit trees.

In the evening I sat here with some guests, a Belarusian, a couple from New Zealand, then a Canadian came along. Later another Belgian came in.
I couldn’t sleep well in the tent, maybe it was because of my pillow (my fleece jacket). It rained most of the night, but that wasn’t the reason. In the morning we had breakfast together.

In the morning I also got a free ticket for Venezia and the other islands, just like that 🙂
I talked for 2 – 3 hours with a colleague and then we started. Everything is full of tourists, many of them from Poland. I actually wanted to go to the island of Burano, but the ticket was still valid for two hours and I could have paid about 10 EUR for it. On the way home, well, its a Lukas 😀
I got on the bus from Venezia to Maestro Centro, where I changed trains. I wanted to get off at Via Castello or something. That’s the name of the street, but unfortunately it’s almost everywhere. So I got off at the wrong stop. I got on the next bus, according to GPS it was only 4 km, the 1 – 2 stops I still drive. Well, the bus turned and I ended up at the hospital. Anyway, just walked with GPS to the campground, it was about 3.5 km. Luckily I had saved an email offline on my mobile phone with the address of the campsite, otherwise I wouldn’t even have known the address of the campsite :D. But somehow I would have made it back.
Here are some photos from Venice. As proof that I made them, there is nothing from San Marco Square, because I was not there:

In the evening we sat in the kitchen again and talked until sleep came over us.

In the morning it rained a little, the tent was wet from the outside. I decided to stay another night and booked a hostel in Trieste (2 days from here near Venezia) for 1 day (20 EUR with breakfast, unfortunately expensive). But after that we finally live cheap 🙂
I had to do some small things, do some laundry, patch the old hose, create a route, take care of my oldtimer insurance, etc…

My route from Venezia to Trieste did not lead directly to Trieste (about 150 km), but via a detour along the sea (about 175 km). I really wanted to go to sea by bike! First attempt failed, but that will certainly work out, I thought to myself.

It rained and thundered all night. Around 09:00 o’clock finally the sun came out.
So we started, but to the sea!!!
Unfortunately I had a stronger headwind, as so often during the ride. I only remember a tail wind once. So I fought my way from km to km. Over bad gravel roads, boring roads came finally, finally the sea! I thought so, again. It was a long Langune, a nature reserve with many birds, a very long way and headwind.

The real sea was farther, so the fight went on. Unfortunately, thick clouds came up and the wind became even stronger, so that the driving went very slowly. I hid under the roof of a pizzeria. Until then I had only driven 56 km. I have to make about 80 km on this day, so that I don’t have to do too much the next day. Only these 56 km were already so hard that they felt like 100.
I was standing there under this roof, totally exhausted, 120 km to Trieste. At such moments I think of the domestic warmth, my sofa or a bed. I even trembled.

When the rain stopped after about 1 1/2 hours, it went on. Still looking for the sea. When I supposedly arrived at my destination, there were only holiday homes, camping sites etc., all fenced in. I found a way to the sea, I got closer and closer. Suddenly I saw a path and blue sky. Straight there and there it was: THE SEA!

Still fat pads, I’ll never believe they’ll go away. Get very slowly less 😀

It was a really emotional moment for me, the 2 people on the beach also saw my joy and addressed me directly, even took pictures of me. On my bike speedo was 1485 km, so that’s how far I went to experience this great moment. Until then, I had driven 65 km on this day.
I could certainly have spent another 2 hours on the beach, unfortunately it was not possible. I didn’t have a place to sleep and it would have been very expensive on the beach. I also wanted to go to Trieste to get to Slovenia as soon as possible. I was happy for 20 minutes before I had to leave.

Full of joy I felt no more headwind for the next 5 km, but the exhaustion overcame me after all. I kept looking around for good places, asking in bars, asking at farms, but nothing. After about 1 1/2 hours of driving, a woman at a pizzeria tipped me off that there was a pizzeria that was closed down 2 years ago 4 km further on. He told me to try there. So we drove there. Building inspected, the garden was quite good. The humidity was totally noticeable, mosquitoes and snails. I pitched my tent, cooked spaghetti and went to bed. I slept well.

The next morning the outer tent was totally damp from the moisture. Nudibranches everywhere. So I got up around 6:30 a.m. and went to clean up. It was a dirty job, all wet. I packed up the wet tent, which felt twice as heavy, and drove off. Later I washed myself right, had breakfast and drove on. Very light side/headwind were to be felt. The way led almost only over a country road, nevertheless class how the drivers react here.

Trieste was getting closer and closer, including the first probably Slovak words. However, my knee also reported again. I certainly wouldn’t have the problem on a scooter or on foot. It was probably the drive of the day before, where I did just over 90 km and still had headwind. It was certainly 150 km.
The area where it starts to get higher seems to be a historically interesting area. Just by bike, no chance. So I started thinking about walking again, because you really can get everywhere, no hurdles. However, one would have to look for a place to sleep more often or one drives a little by hitchhiking. Well, let’s see how the next weeks/months will be.

It went higher, but not unpleasant, everything was in the frame until I stood on a platform. I would NEVER want to move into a house like this, I find it horrible!

Next it looked like this

My route led me up another 70 m with approx. 25% gradient instead of along the road. But when I got to the top, I was in a good mood. Had a lot of fun and enjoyed the view.

It also went down again properly

Then finally arrived in the hostel, no possibility to dry my tent. Tomorrow there will also be a marathon run here, all closed. I’d have to leave early in the morning. I’ll probably stay another night and give Italy my last cent in cash. The hostel costs 20 EUR with breakfast in an 8-bed room.
I had to go to town because I needed food for tomorrow (supermarket is about 5 km away) and for my nephew I had to eat a pizza. The city centre was full to the brim.
But I can slowly ride an Italian bicycle, i.e. you squeeze yourself into everything, nobody says anything. Sometimes you get a smile, people just dodge. Not like in Germany, where you have to have a lawyer on your porter with you. Everything’s very loose, I like it.

Route prepared, it itches in the legs and the joy on Slovenia and the other countries is great.
In the city today I met someone who has been cycling for about 2 years. He gave me some interesting tips and so motivated me that I can hardly keep my feet still. He had even more luggage than I did. Who knows, maybe you still meet on the way, because he drives a similar route.

On the same day I found a very good place to dry my tent at a beautiful corner. Opposite a police station on a small piece of meadow.
A full 10 minutes later two officers stood next to me and kindly gave me 10 minutes to clean it up. But I told them I don’t want to camp here, just dry. They agreed to that and left.
There was a marathon run that day, so some security officers were there because of the roadblocks. Not 10 minutes after the policemen, an officer stood there and asked what this was all about. Well, old game, I just want to dry it. Luckily my tent was dry shortly afterwards, I don’t want to know who else would have come, the Bundeswehr?

It started again in the morning. The way from Trieste was steep, 5 – 7 km and I was at about 380 m height, I had started at zero.

The way still led through some historical regions, for which one needs however more time. For this you would need money for a place to sleep. But I know that I will pass many historical and great places, but I will also get to know many great new places.

A few kilometres further on on a country road in the direction of Slovenia. The sign came quite unspectacular! I was happy again, as so often 😀

etc;

A brief summary of northern Italy:

The people are super nice and trying to help. Tourism is of course strong in many places and many people live from it. There are many vineyards that are becoming less and less to the east. But wine is the number one drink here, often home-grown wine. Own gardens are also often to be found here, with lots of fruit and vegetables, but the Italians probably take a lot of time. The houses are always fenced, the garden is perfect. Nevertheless, it is rare to see someone at the house, somehow the Italians lock themselves in the house, hm.

South Tyrol is similar to Austria, a bit like Bavaria: there is wheat beer, dumplings, German dialect, you hardly feel like in Italy. Only towards the end of the Alps does it slowly become more Italian.
The architecture is great. Many buildings have been preserved in the ancient style, one feels like in the Middle Ages. The cities have an incredible old town, which is also strongly dominated by tourism. The city walls or towers are still in good condition, great!
On the hills you can always see castles that radiate considerable power.
In South Tyrol you can even find bunkers.

After a conversation someone told me that the gap between rich and poor is big and it is hard for someone who earns little. But that’s just capitalism, but that would be another topic and I don’t want to write myself in anger.

The streets aren’t all great. But I will always come across these little problems. So you shouldn’t complain too much in Germany.
Every now and then you also see a closed old company building or an abandoned house, the reasons I do not know.
There are quite a few cycle paths here. Of course not everywhere and also not perfectly made, but nevertheless it surprised me. Even more often with arrows for which direction, extra ways similar to in Holland, great!
It is noticeable to the drivers that they pay attention to the cyclists or have experience with them. Still, I feel stressed with heavy traffic and I don’t like it. Many other Italians don’t care, they just know it that way.

Nevertheless, one rides here a little more chaotically on the bike than in Germany. While in Germany a cyclist almost rammed me from road, since I still hadn’t changed sides after a construction site (order must be!), something like this doesn’t happen here. You just avoid it. How many times I’ve seen something like this around here that not everyone kept order. But it doesn’t bother people, it’s looser, which is very convenient for me, I like that kind of thing.
Vegetables and bread are always taken out and weighed with plastic gloves. Plastic bags are all BIO, as I could decipher it, so they are soluble.
The pigeons are also smaller than those in Germany.
The churches are all open at the top, looking antiquely beautiful. I also heard a melody ringing on some of them. I thought it was great!