If you're in Venice with a bike, a great place to stay is the island of Lido, which sits a short Vaporetto (local water bus) ride across the Laguna to Piazza San Marco.  With the bikes assembled we took the short ferry across to Lido.  They don't allow bikes on the regular Vaporetto runs - so the ferry is the best way to get to Lido, and it cruises by the mouth of the Grand Canal so you get a view of San Marco across the water.

 

 

It was somewhat coincidental that our arrival was the same day as the 2012 European Championship (soccer) match between Italy and Spain.  Just before dinner we went hunting for an outdoor place to eat watch the game.  After a bit of a search we found the perfect place, and unfortunately watched the locals deflate as their team got pummeled 4-0.  On the up-side, we did find an empty table at a restaurant within a few metres of the saddened bar and enjoyed dinner and a few bottles of the local wine.  Actually, more than a few.

Lido to Trieste

While Vaporettos in Venice don't typically allow bikes on the main routes, they did agree to take the five of us and our bikes across from Lido to Punta Sabionni, a ten or fifteen minute trip.  The first stage of our trip took us to Trieste on the north-east coast of Italy.  We made it easily to Latisana on the first day.  The roads were flat and the wind light.   You can get a sense of distance from the signposts as we stop for a little water.

 

From Latisana we headed further east, then slightly south to Trieste which sits on the Adriatic very near the border with Slovenia.  Trieste is a city of just over 200,000 people and for centuries has been at the crossroads of Italian, German and Slavic cultures.  A famous port town of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  It is one of those amazing Italian cities that are made for people.  We loved it.  We found a nice little apartment style hotel at a good price right in the center along with an abundance of sidewalk cafes, like the one below.

 

All went well until we packed up and started the journey into Slovenia and Croatia. As we mounted our trusty bikes, we only made it about three blocks when one of the bikes broke a leg and ultimately had to be shot.  This bike had a little  metal bracket that attached the rear  derailleur to the frame.  The bracket broke and the derailleur pushed into the spokes. 

Thankfully, Italians are amongst the nicest people in the world.  Within five minutes of the breakdown an Italian guy walks by and takes interest.  The bike shop in town is on the other side of town, but give me a minute and I'll get my car and drive one of you and the bike over.  Really?  You can't be serious.  That's exactly what he did, as the other four of us sped behind him on our bikes.  He then spent most of the morning with us as a translator between us and the bike shop staff.  Rob's bike lies on the floor of the bike shop.  It's final resting place nearby.

 

We watched as the guy in the bike shop went through a hundred little brackets to find one that would work on the bike... to no avail.  My brother Rob now has a nice new Italian bike!  Molto bene.

Trieste to Motovun (Croatia) via Slovenia

We always like to punctuate our trips with particularly interesting places to stay.  Motovun was high on the list.  A stunning hilltop town in Istria, at the western end of Croatia.  From Trieste that meant traveling through Slovenia.  This area is not really mountainous, but is certainly hilly so involved a little work. Slovenia is part of the European Union, but as of this trip Croatia was not.  Going from Italy into Slovenia meant passing a deserted booth thatwas once a border crossing. There was at least a sign - so we had to get the picture. 


Going from Slovenia to Croatia was a little more problematic.  Our planned route directed us to a border crossing that is relatively close to Motovun, but neither our maps nor GPS  gave the critical indication that this was only for farmers and locals.  As we biked towards the border crossing a kind gentleman wearing an undersized Speedo came running from his house to explain that we were unlikely to get through this crossing.  We thought we'd give it a try anyway.

We spent twenty minutes trying to convince the neanderthal gun-toting  Slovenian police border guard to let us out of Slovenia but to no avail.  It seemed critically important to him that we not cross on his watch.

We headed back up the hill in search of another border crossing, and stopped at a casual roadside bar restaurant that we had previously passed.  We were greeted by a young Slovenian lady and her parents who proceeded to make phone calls for us to our hotel to confirm our (later) arrival, and to help find the best way into Croatia.  They were truly delightful.  It was an hour to the international border, which we crossed easily, and another hour to Motovun.


We arrived at the base of Motovun well after dark.  They are called Hill Towns for a reason, and we were not amused.

Motovun and the Route to Rovinj

The hotel in Motovun was one of the few that we reserved in advance.  This was a very nice hotel by our standards with a small pool and spa.  It is a town of no more than 500 people with a dramatic view of the surroundings.  We arrived at 10:01PM, and the pool closed at 10:00, however they kindly re-opened the pool for half an hour to our extreme pleasure.  We followed our swim  with a nice outdoor dinner looking out over the countryside below.


Motovun, and Istria in general, is one of those areas that has been bounced around politically, somewhat typical of the whole region.  There's a strong combination of both Slavic and Italian influences which make it very interesting.  There are also a few sites in Motovun worth taking the time to look at, although you really don't need all that much time.  A walk around the walls and a quick look at the church of Sveti Stjepan will do.  And no, Stjepan (Stephen) was not a perspiring cyclist but a Saint.

We left Motovun and headed south to be on the Adriatic once again in a town called Rovinj (don't pronounce the j as we English speakers would).   We found an apartment in Rovinj that was perfect, steps from the waterfront, clean, and spacious enough to put all the bikes in the kitchen.  We had a day off, enjoyed the sights of the time and took time for a swim in the sea.


It was in fact my birthday in Rovinj, so we went to celebrate at one of the local restaurants near the water.  Only on your birthday can you have such good luck as to experience a seagull  dropping a full load right on your head as you wait for a table.  My fellow cyclists found it almost as amusing as the  restaurant serving staff.  It was a little unpleasant, but it was kind of funny, and it really is said to be good luck.

Rovinj to Rijeka

From Rovinj we rode back north to the port town of Rijeka.  You probably wouldn't go to Rijeka as a tourist destination, but our plan was to take a ferry south to the Island of Hvar and avoid the roads along the northern part of the Adriatic which are said to be a little less interesting than the areas south of Split.  The ride to Rijeka was a little hilly, but flattened out in the latter sections where we hugged the coastline.


This is the end of the first segment of the trip that is captured in Route 23 on this site.  From Rijeka to Hvar we took one of the ancient Croatian Ferries.  I think they've since been taken out of service and replaced, and that's probably a good thing.  As usual, we go for the experience and this was certainly one of them so all-in-all it was just fine.

Otok Hvar - Stari Grad to Sucaraj

Hvar is an Island (Otok) in the Adriatic just off Split.  We had read that this is a great way to travel down the coast, avoiding the larger roads that travel south on the mainland.  It's July 2012, Croatia is suffering a heat wave, and Hvar is all uphill. Fortunately we each have four water bottles each and we are tough.  Well, tough-ish.  I guess we're just not used to riding when the thermometer is hitting 40C+ (over 100F).  I don't usually drink bath-water, but after half an hour on the road that's what it tasted like out of our bottles.

We reached the southern tip and stayed in Sucaraj which has a nice beach.  There's really nothing like swimming in the sea after a long hot ride.  The little hotel we found had a fresh sea-food dinner with a variety of lifeforms caught by his son from local waters.  I'm not a big seafood guy, but the others enjoyed it.  The owner kindly grilled some land items for me.

Sucaraj to Bosnia

We left Sucaraj on a small local ferry to the mainland and headed south towards a small strip of land that provides Bosnia and Herzegovina access to the sea.  You have to understand that this whole area was war-torn only seven years prior.  You also have to understand that there are a lot of ethnic undertones across the whole region based on religious and political history.  So we went into Bosnia wondering if we'd notice a difference.

 

Our overnight stay in Bosnia was great.  Hardly any noticeable difference from the rest of our trip.  More than that, we could now add another sticker to the bikes to show that we had ridden through another country.

Bosnia to Dubrovnik

We left Bosnia on another perfectly hot day, and continued on our journey south towards Dubrovnik.  The roads were a little busy, but in very good condition with enough room at the side for us to feel mostly un-threatened by traffic.  My nephew, Alexander, discovered a new trick.  Normally we put ice in our water bottles in the morning, but found that within the first hour they warmed back to bathing temperature.  On this day Alexander had completely frozen two water bottles, wrapped them in clothing and buried them in his paniers, well out of the sun.  At one point we all stopped on a hill to rehydrate with a little bath water.  Alexander quietly pulled out one of his ice cold bottles and passed it around.  We could have kissed him.  But of course we didn't, after all we're cyclists.

We arrived in Dubrovnik and started our usual task of looking for a place to stay.  We found a beautiful place up on the hill, and stayed an extra night to give us the chance to enjoy Dubrovnik which is certainly a first-rate destination for any tourist.  We looked down on the old town from our hotel, much as the artillery did ten years prior during the bombardment of the old town.  As we walked into town the only evidence we saw of the destruction was the mint condition of many of the buildings.  As a UNESCO world heritage site, it had all been rebuilt as it was.  This is the view from where we stayed, looking down over Dubrovnik.


The old town itself is beautiful.  Like many old towns it is a pedestrian area.  I'm sure you could spend a week there and not see it all, but of course we only had a day to go through it before we moved on once again.



We did, however, take the time to enjoy an hour at the local beach in Dubrovnik.  The Croatian heat wave was still in full force.  The beach was a little crowded, but the water was just fine.

That's the end of part two of the trip which is detailed in Route 24 on this site.  From Dubrovnik we took a day-ferry to Split where we connected with another overnight-ferry which took us across the Adriatic to Italy for the last segment of our journey.  Split was another great location to visit.  A city with lots of history and a great place to stay.  Tristan and Alexander found us a great little apartment in Split.  We had to carry the bikes up a few flights of stairs, but well worth it.  The older part of town was well worth exploring, including the tower in the center of town.

Italy - Ancona to San Severino Marche

In planning this route I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out the best way from the ferry dock out of Ancona, a town filled with one way streets that seem determined to wind you to oblivion.  I thought I had it nailed.  I had the route loaded into my GPS, and rallied the team to follow.  What a disaster.  In the narrow streets the GPS lost sync, and only served to further wind us in circles.  So back to the maps!  It wasn't easy, but were eventually successful and found ourselves climbing into the hills that are so typical of Italy's east coast.

 

We stopped over in the little-visited town of San Severino Marche.  A quiet little town with an open square in the center, Piazza del Popolo.  We arrived mid afternoon as the town was more focused on sleeping and quietly drinking espresso in the piazza, so we found gelato and waited an hour before hunting down a place to stay.  We had a good dinner, and then my brother Chris and I went out to the square for a nightcap, or maybe two.  We sat on the piazza once more as the locals crowded the two or three outdoor cafe - bars.  No tourists, except for us.  It's the closest to being Italian as I will likely get, and it was meraviglioso.

In the morning we set out on the next section of the journey to Assisi.  On our way out Tristan explored an alternate mode of transportation, but unfortunately he couldn't find anybody to take the handles at each end.

San Severino Marche to Assisi

On our way to Assisi the GPS took us into the hills as the most direct route to our destination.  At one point we were directed to turn right where no road seemed to present itself.  Or to be more precise, it instructed us to a gravel path over the top of a hill that was really not going to work for our bikes.  So we improvised.

Alexander thought that a short cut on one of the main roads would be a good idea.  We didn't go more than a few hundred metres before confronting the tunnel.  OK.  Earlier I said we were experienced, worldly cyclists.  That doesn't mean you don't make the odd mistake.  There was a little protected area on the side of the tunnel, but very very narrow.  Tristan and I lagged the other three a little and watched as they emerged from the tunnel to a greeting of flashing blue lights from a police car.  I was convinced that we'd be making yet another detour, this time to the local posto di polizia. Fortunately we were simply advised to get off the highway at the next exit.  If we'd done that at home I don't think the outcome would have been quite as agreeable.


We finally made it to Assisi, which is one of my favorite little towns in Italy.  It has an extensive pedestrian area, and is filled with sights to see and things to do.  It's more than worth the ride up the hill to see, and we stayed an extra night.  Chris had found an apartment right in the center that turned out to be spectacular.  It had tremendous history, was large, well equipped and very inexpensive.  It was nice to be back in Assisi.  Assisi is also high on the hillside, so we found a great place for dinner with a view towards the west.

The End

From Assisi it was a short ride to Perugia, the final destination for the trip.  We had rented a large van, crammed the bikes in the back and headed for a small town to meet up with our wives and girlfriends.  It was a great trip!