The weather was so nice in Italy in mid-October that I decided I wanted to ride my bicycle more while I had the chance to ride with shorts still before returning to the United States. I plotted a route to go to Rome from Venice by bicycle, but I knew there were ways t put my bicicletta on a tren if I wanted to get to Roma sooner to take in more of the city.
I left Venice late in the day around 4:00 pm. I had to wait for a bicycle shop to open in Mestre because I wanted to get another tube before I got on the road again.
It seems like a normal thing for bicycle shops to close in the middle of the day. For me, it's always better to get a start at least. I had booked a room in Correzzola for the night already. I was wondering if I was going to beat it there by dark. It was about 45 kilometers from Mestre, doable, but I knew I had to not dawdle.
Some interesting sights along the way included Mira, Italy, where I saw a boat driving along the main street where traffic was. Other cyclists were on this road too, and there was a little gravel path along the river. I road in the path until it seemed like it was the "long way" since it hugged every curve of the river. I decided to stay on the main route (SS309) with my bicycle in hopes that I would make better time.
SS 309 started to look more like an interstate as I traveled south toward Correzzola, but there was a bicycle path alongside of the motor route that was separated by a large water-filled ditch. Eventually the path disappeared and rather than ride in the road, I decided to ride on some country roads that traveled parallel along the freeway. Those roads, however, started to curve to the west until I could no longer see the traffic on the main road in the distance. I pointed my bicycle south. I didn't have a ton of power for navigation at this point, and wanted to keep my legs moving rather than fiddling on the side of the road with my telephone. This was a ride where I just tried to use my intuition for long periods to get to Correzzola. It worked mostly, and I reached Correzzola as the sun was going down after a little bit of anxiety.
The village was basically just a small street. The place where I stayed was gorgeous and historic, with a public courtyard with cats running around. The woman inside was very welcoming, and I wish I had known more Italian at this point. It was only $20 to stay here.
It was a sleepy town. I had colazione and left early. I noticed a bicycle path leading away from the main street of town going south. I decided to follow it, and it lead and ended here.
The path just ended here after 50 meters.
The next place I stopped was Adria. Around noon, I always stop for a break, but not usually a full lunch. People were riding bicycles around the town and it had a pedestrian street in the center of town. It was raining lightly here, which a person in the cafe noted with disdain was the norm in this part of Italy before going on to tell me how much he loved northern Europe, which I thought probably had weather very similar to this. The woman who served me a cappuccino gave me lessons on how to say, "another one, please" since I ordered two cappuccinos. I also had a strained conversation with a short woman who wanted to practice English. She insisted on asking me over and over again if I was Anglo-Saxon. I didn't even know how to answer that. I was asked in Venice if I was mixed, and the races of my parents. Things were different here in that people felt comfortable asking these types of questions right away.
I continued riding south and eventually ended up on a main motorway on the way to Ravenna called SS309. It's one of the only roads going that way. I occasionally saw bicycles and cars were mostly respectful, but it was a little busy and maybe a bit boring. There were gas stations and box stores along the way, but it mostly was just a road with cars. The Adriatic was not visible from here. I arrived in Ravenna as the sun was going down.
For whatever reason, I ended up stopping and chatting several times that morning while finding a bicycle shop. It was nice, and I met a young guy named Felix who spoke excellent English. We went to the grocery store together and walked around a bit. He told me about some things that I could see in Ravenna, which I ended up doing. I had plans to ride to Ferrara, but I was delightfully delayed that day, which wasn't a bad thing. I resigned that day to taking the train to Ferrara later in the afternoon and then decided to spend the day looking at historic churches that had Byzantine mosaics within them. It was like visiting Turkey in a way. I saw San Apollinaire in both Ravenna and Classe. Here are pictures from the basilica in Ravenna.
I liked the pastoral scene of the tiles within the basilica in Classe, Italy, which was a short bicycle ride from Ravenna that utilized bike routes the city had.
It felt like a summer day. This place had palm trees to prove how nice it was here.
At this point, I decided that I was going to stop riding to Rome so that I could see more of Rome and Paris. I enjoyed riding outside in little shorts for the first time this whole trip. The plan was to go to Ferrara for a day and then Bologna with the help of TrenItalia regionale trains for day before heading over to Rome. My body was a little beat up. Here's what my leg looked like after about 6 weeks of bicycle touring.
Here's an approximation of where I rode in those 2 days.
It seems like a normal thing for bicycle shops to close in the middle of the day. For me, it's always better to get a start at least. I had booked a room in Correzzola for the night already. I was wondering if I was going to beat it there by dark. It was about 45 kilometers from Mestre, doable, but I knew I had to not dawdle.
Some interesting sights along the way included Mira, Italy, where I saw a boat driving along the main street where traffic was. Other cyclists were on this road too, and there was a little gravel path along the river. I road in the path until it seemed like it was the "long way" since it hugged every curve of the river. I decided to stay on the main route (SS309) with my bicycle in hopes that I would make better time.
SS 309 started to look more like an interstate as I traveled south toward Correzzola, but there was a bicycle path alongside of the motor route that was separated by a large water-filled ditch. Eventually the path disappeared and rather than ride in the road, I decided to ride on some country roads that traveled parallel along the freeway. Those roads, however, started to curve to the west until I could no longer see the traffic on the main road in the distance. I pointed my bicycle south. I didn't have a ton of power for navigation at this point, and wanted to keep my legs moving rather than fiddling on the side of the road with my telephone. This was a ride where I just tried to use my intuition for long periods to get to Correzzola. It worked mostly, and I reached Correzzola as the sun was going down after a little bit of anxiety.
The village was basically just a small street. The place where I stayed was gorgeous and historic, with a public courtyard with cats running around. The woman inside was very welcoming, and I wish I had known more Italian at this point. It was only $20 to stay here.
It was a sleepy town. I had colazione and left early. I noticed a bicycle path leading away from the main street of town going south. I decided to follow it, and it lead and ended here.
The path just ended here after 50 meters.
The next place I stopped was Adria. Around noon, I always stop for a break, but not usually a full lunch. People were riding bicycles around the town and it had a pedestrian street in the center of town. It was raining lightly here, which a person in the cafe noted with disdain was the norm in this part of Italy before going on to tell me how much he loved northern Europe, which I thought probably had weather very similar to this. The woman who served me a cappuccino gave me lessons on how to say, "another one, please" since I ordered two cappuccinos. I also had a strained conversation with a short woman who wanted to practice English. She insisted on asking me over and over again if I was Anglo-Saxon. I didn't even know how to answer that. I was asked in Venice if I was mixed, and the races of my parents. Things were different here in that people felt comfortable asking these types of questions right away.
I continued riding south and eventually ended up on a main motorway on the way to Ravenna called SS309. It's one of the only roads going that way. I occasionally saw bicycles and cars were mostly respectful, but it was a little busy and maybe a bit boring. There were gas stations and box stores along the way, but it mostly was just a road with cars. The Adriatic was not visible from here. I arrived in Ravenna as the sun was going down.
For whatever reason, I ended up stopping and chatting several times that morning while finding a bicycle shop. It was nice, and I met a young guy named Felix who spoke excellent English. We went to the grocery store together and walked around a bit. He told me about some things that I could see in Ravenna, which I ended up doing. I had plans to ride to Ferrara, but I was delightfully delayed that day, which wasn't a bad thing. I resigned that day to taking the train to Ferrara later in the afternoon and then decided to spend the day looking at historic churches that had Byzantine mosaics within them. It was like visiting Turkey in a way. I saw San Apollinaire in both Ravenna and Classe. Here are pictures from the basilica in Ravenna.
I liked the pastoral scene of the tiles within the basilica in Classe, Italy, which was a short bicycle ride from Ravenna that utilized bike routes the city had.
It felt like a summer day. This place had palm trees to prove how nice it was here.
At this point, I decided that I was going to stop riding to Rome so that I could see more of Rome and Paris. I enjoyed riding outside in little shorts for the first time this whole trip. The plan was to go to Ferrara for a day and then Bologna with the help of TrenItalia regionale trains for day before heading over to Rome. My body was a little beat up. Here's what my leg looked like after about 6 weeks of bicycle touring.
Here's an approximation of where I rode in those 2 days.
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