Italy Travelogue: Lombardy & Veneto

Day 25-31: From the pass down to Lake Como, then crossing the plains over to Venice.

Day 25 - Sunday, 31st August 2014 (Part 2)  
Afternoon, on top of Splügen Pass: Strong winds are blowing my snacks away, fog is covering the nearby hills and mountain tops, low temperatures and rain ultimately make the place way too uncomfortable for staying any longer. Time for Italy! Time to go downill and to look for a sleeping place of halfway acceptable comfort. All the ascent is done, so I can finally relax for a while and let it roll. Serpentines, tunnels, great views... I'll just let the pictures speak for a while.

In Campodolcino, which is the first larger locality beyond the pass, I occupy a sheltered bus stop for tonight. Once again right next to the road, but it's safe around here and the few people don't really seem to be bugged. Actually, if someone passes by they usually let go a friendly "Ciao!".
The bus stop's wall is full of scribblings, guess they are the usual insults and love confessions. In Bavaria I would have played the grammar nazi now correcting some mistakes, but over here it's a difficult matter without proper skills in Italian. Whatever the case, the local handwritings are looking quite a lot more beautiful than the ones at home... so round and fluffy.

Day 26 - Monday, 01st September 2014
"Buongiorno!" says and old lady who waits for her morning bus. I pack together my sleeping bag and look up to the mountains, their summits still are covered in clouds. I proceed to roll downhill, with a pair of gloves protecting my hands from the cold airflow. They're kind of brown my hands, looks like more than three weeks outside do have an effect after all.
A few acorn trees are losing their first leaves... Fall? Hell no, I don't want that. Let's scram.
But before that I'll just take that black umbrella someone left here in the bushes for some reason. It's still perfectly fine, maybe I can use it one day. (And indeed, it will accompany me for much longer than I ever thought.)

Waaait, stop. What's there behind the bushes on the right? Looks fishy. Where does it lead to?

Ah, looks like this used to be the road before they built a tunnel. Nice.

And furher downhill I go, one curve after another, meandering around the houses. A few locals are getting their morning water from the springs. Some other people, men in suits and construcion workers, are standing in a building ground and having a discussion. I rush past the place, somehow being glad that I don't belong to them. Reminds me of a side job I had before...

Slates on the roof, very typical for this region.

Eventually I arrive in Chiavenna, the first small town down in the valley. It has Italian Ice Cream, an hotspot and lots of closed shops since it's lunch break from one to three. Well, guess I'll have a look around then... Quite beautiful here, especially the riverside.

On the bridge I get asked for francos by a local beggar, probably he thinks I'm from Switzerland. Well, asking for money is one thing, but comfortably eating a huge chunk of ice cream right in front of the person you're asking is... quite bold...
Leaving the town I come across the first via roma. All roads lead to Rome after all. I continue along the river valley at breakneck speed, because for a change the wind is forcefully pushing instead of blowing right in my face.

♫ Ich hab' den Tag auf meiner Seite, ich hab' Rückenwind... ♫

And that tailwind is blowing quite fiercely from time to time. I really notice this if I stop for a short while. When there's a proper gust passing by, all efforts to take sharp pictures are futile.

Those public faucets are all over Italy by the way. Magnificient.

I stick to Lake Como for a while, went for the western shoreline. Why? Don't know anymore. But the low evening sun is blinding.
At one point I hear someone call my name, though that doesn't really make sense... Behind me there's another person turning around, guess they meant him after all. Next to one of the quiet cycling roads bypassing the tunnels I pitch my tent.

"Alpine glow", created by the evening sun's last rays.

Day 27 - Tuesday, 02nd September 2014

After getting up, someone I know stops at my tent... Mickey the Australian!? And here I was sure he'd be miles further already. After all I was dallying away a lot yesterday. But so did he it seems. He was the one who called out to me in the evening, from a campsite. Well... shit happens. I still have a lot to pack up, so Mickey is cycling on. He has to catch up on his plan a bit, since he wants to be in Rome at a certain date, after visiting Cinque Terre. But it was kind of cool to see him again.
Two minutes later: Another familiar face stops. The cyclist from Zürich I met at the pass. Coincidences, man... 

Having a look at an alleyway next to the main road.

I keep seeing Vespas and Fiat Pandas, some certain clichés have to be fulfilled after all. A lot of the cars are honking first, if they have to go around a not so overseeable curve. Hey, that kind of makes sense...
At noon I pass a village named Brienno. Left and right of the main road there are stairs leading into a shadowy labyrinth of alleys... which meand I have to stop and explore them. Here's more:
 Blog entry: The Charm of Italy's Winding Alleys (Video & Photos)

At noon the place is like emptied out, but later between three and four in the afternoon some people with their dogs come to light. Two old men seem to ask where I came from with my bici. Uhm... dunno what's Gemany in their language. Alemania? Germania? "Ah, Germania!", one of them noddingly repeats. But I have to pronounce the "G" more like "J". Okay, I can remember that...

Generally speaking, weather down here is leaps and bounds better than up on the pass. And judging from the palm trees it seems to be a lot milder than north of the Alps as well. It's astounding, what kind of difference such a mountain range can make.
In the evening I arrive in Como, located at the southernmost tip of the lake. There's a lot of vacationers, like almost everywhere close to the water here.

One of those vacationers left a slice of pizza on their desk outside.

The electronic price tag was in a nearby supermarket, first time I see something like that.

Eventually I cycle a bit further southwards. First a while uphill, out of the lake's valley, then dowhill until I set up my tent in a meadow.

Amusing roadsign of a nearby highway:

No horse-drawn carts allowed ;_;

Day 28 - Wednesday, 03rd September 2014
A hay turning machine is driving around... Time to get up, I don't want me and the tent getting turned.
One supermarket on the way is selling all fruits and vegetables for 1€ per kilogram today, as well as a bunch of other cheap stuff. So I go get some food for the next few days. Meanwhile in front of the entrance, there's an African guy trying to sell something. Socks and... stuff I don't need right now. You have that in all of Italy. Sometimes it's beggars instead, just sitting there with a plastic glass (from McDonald's) and waiting for someone to toss some coins in.
Speaking of McDonald's, there's one on the way. Time for electricity and internet! 

The Italian branches are a lot more traveller friendly than the German ones: Once you're registered, it's possible to surf all day every day. No time restriction. Well, you get kicked out of the connection after one hour, but you can log back in right away.
I write some of the last 10% of my Bachelor's thesis and stay until they close. Then at 1am, the lights are just switched off. There are still some guests at the tables, that's proably the most gentle and effective way to get rid of them (and of me).
I'm on the street already when an employee comes running and gives me a dish of salad. Yay! He already wanted o talk to me at daytime, but the language barrier...

Sadly the grub is horrible once it isn't really fresh anymore. But hey, a present is a present!
I'm camping nearby behind a couple of trees and bushes. By now I'm genuinely looking forward to my tent every time, so something did change since week one...

Day 29 - Thursday, 04th September 2014
Eating muesli, surfing in the internet, cycling on. Through the plains, flat like a board, always quite straight ahead. Only now and then there's a giant roundabout interrupting the road. There are no palm trees around anymore, no mediderranean feeling. Guess you only find that here at the lakes with their milder climate.
The area around Milano (Mailand) is more or less completely built up; you don't really notice where a town begins or ends. Houses, supermarkets, civilization everywhere. Some of the people I met so far said I should better ignore the city and go around it, and that's what I'm doing for now. I don't like the area.
A bit further in the east I find some more fields and silence. And roundabouts. And boredom.

At some point the Alps are appearing again far left off the road. I continue cycling for a bit at night, pass the empty roundabouts clockwisely (because I can) and note that orientation without sun is a lot harder.

I find a new sock and pass a stadium that holds some kind of cycling race event. That's all for today.

Day 30 - Friday, 05th September 2014
Looks like I stayed awake too late yesterday, I wake up short before noon...
And it goes on with the boring plains. Just one stop at a parking lot, spooning cornflakes. A passersby says buon appetito. I should finally start to learn some Italian, it's annoying if you're not able to communicate at all.

Most of the cornfields around are totally dry. I wonder if they didn't have rain for a while?

In the late afternoon I pass Lake Garda's southern shore. There are a few small palm trees and Mediterranean pines again, climate around here really seems to be milder after all.

Next destination is Verona. The street leadig up to the city has lots of hookers at the roadside. Shady...
Finally I arrive at a river, the Adige, which leads me up to this bridge near Verona's center:

Ponte Scaligero is the name. Originally it was built as an escape route from the adjacent fortress.
Here are some more impressions of Verona...

I like taking photos of people taking photos.

The arena. From the inside I hear a female opera singer...

And heart scribblings everywhere, here in the city of love...

City of love? Well, Verona is the scene of the drama Romeo and Juliet, which is also why a certain facade attcracts an especially huge amount of scribblers:

That over there is Juliet's balcony, pilgrimage site for couples. Thousands of paper slips are sticking to the walls, a framework in the inner courtyard houses hundreds of love locks. I've never seen so many of them at once.

Exiting the city. A little further towards southeast, then it's time for a nap somewhere.

On the right: Shrine for a madonna statue. Typical for Italy.

Day 31 - Saturday, 06th September 2014
Somehow I didnt really sleep that night. Around three I had a short nap close to the road, at dawn I had another one in Cerea... Has to be enough, I want to reach Venice. Once again dead straight roads are leading through the flat countryside.
One of the more interesting places along the way is Montagnana. Just like in Nördlingen, the medieval city wall is completely preserved, even if not quite as outstandingly. But in return it's a completely different style. And as chance would have it there's a small renaissance fair going on at the moment.

Hm, not exactly a lot going on here. They're still doing preparations and will start later in the afternoon, that's what I'm told by an old German couple in the market square. The husband has a beard like Santa Claus... anyway, they've been visiting this place for many years and know their stuff. The day before there was a great medieval banquet going on in the church, complete with traditional dishes, clothing and behavior. Sounds fun.
I'm not waiting for the afternoon though, since I want to be in Venice for the Regata Storica tomorrow, its historical regatta. The couple has been there a few times already and they're giving me a hint: I should be looking for a watching spot quite early before the race starts, preferably around 11am, and then just stay there. Best would be the end of one of the small side alleys leading to the grand canal. Santa adds the whole thing apparently is super fucking cool. Well, I sure hope so.

That thing on the right is called "Focaccia". And it's strange.

Along the road I see some flying Italian flags, though some of them are so bleached already that they look more like Irish ones. The last big city before the coast is Padova, I save the trouble of its traffic by following a river.

Bored at the traffic lights? Just take some pointless photos.

When traffic slowly gets dense again I know: It's not far to Venice anymore. A large amount of cars is pouring into Mestre, the coastal city right before Venice, and I'm just going with the flow. Which is quite fun, especially if you combine it with some fitting music. When I finally arrive at the coast, this is what I see:

This street is leading onto the Ponte della Libertà (= Bridge of Freedom), which is almost 4 kilometers long and connects the mainland with Venice in the lagoon. The bridge also acts as my next sleeping place, I just lie down in a corner of the pedestrian way. Cars might be passing by all the time, but I'm right in the guarding rail's shadow and the noise isn't that much of a hassle if you're tired enough. There aren't any pedestrians here at night either and not even mosquitoes are harassing me, since I'm far enough from the mainland, basically right on the sea.

I'll be staying in Venice for a little while now I guess...