I woke up and I could already see Greece from the window of the ferry. I spend the last half an hour of the journey on the deck, looking how we were slowly approaching the port.

My parents were already waiting for me, to welcome me back to the country and home.

We loaded the bike on the car and we drove home.

Did its job well, now it is its turn to be transported.

I wish I had the desire to cycle these last 220km, but unfortunately I didn’t for many reasons. Greece is not very cyclist friendly country. The roads are poorly made and are full of unreasonably dangerous drivers that don’t respect others. Even been in the car, I was feeling a little unsafe. I am not saying it’s impossible to ride here, because I know many people that do and I will do as well sooner or later. It’s just that I’ve done the route Patra to Athens many times on a car and I would find it uninteresting and unpleasant to cycle, to take such a risk.

So here I am, back in this chaotic country, where drivers think is cool not to wear seatbelt or helmet, where you find cars parks on playgrounds, where the pedestrian zebra crossings are not in use any more, as a measure to improve traffic. But also here I am, back to the country of nice food and olive oil, where tomatoes taste like tomatoes, where you can afford to buy bags of oranges rather than just a couple of them and were the sun shines for most of the year.

Back to a home, 66 days later.

More posts on after thoughts will follow in the near future. But for now, I hope you enjoyed reading my on-line diary of this journey. If you did, maybe consider a donation and help me accomplish my second goal, which is to raise £3000 for MSF in order to help others in this world with more fundamental needs than us.

Thank you
Georgios.

Very strange morning, waking up knowing it is the last day of this journey and finding out it’s only 6am, as half of the guys in the room had to spend an hour packing their stuff. No breakfast in the hostel, so I left grumpy. But instead of looking for food as usual, I went straight to the port to get my ticket, the ticket that will define the end of this journey.

The check in was at 1pm, so I had plenty of time for breakfast. Since Ancona doesn’t really have much to see, apart from ferries that take Greeks to their home, I went to a cafe to spend my last two hours in Italy looking at the rain.

I boarded, we departed and spend the rest of the day thinking about my last two months and this great journey.

I knew I had a long way to cycle so I woke up earlier than normal. I had a rich breakfast at the hostel and departed for my last ride of this trip. 3 kilometers down the road, I realized I had forgotten to return the key and take my deposit back, so there goes my early start. Not long after, it started raining, I put my raincoats and continued. And then as I was going up and down the cycle lane on the pavement, I bumped onto a big concrete pot and made a whole on my left pannier. It’s not a big one or a big deal, but just a bit annoying this happened just on the last day.

A big camera, for big photos

This is the guy who makes the beach

I was following the coastal road and always trying to avoid the bigger road that was running in parallel. Even if I had checked a couple of times at google maps where to turn and join the big road, due to the useless 1/400.000 map I am using the last few days that lists half of the towns I am going through, I missed my turn and without knowing, I started climbing a mountain. I wasn’t expecting this at all and with the rain on top, I started getting a bit annoyed. After about 10 kilometers on the slopes, I saw a sign to the next city but through the big road, which is of course flatter, so I just turned right and went down the steepest downhill I’ve ever been on this trip.

The panoramic view of Cattolica

Hills, up and downs

Then the rain stoped and I was kind of expecting the strong head wind to start as the forecast was predicting the day before. Luckily the whole day was almost windless, so made the ride a little more pleasant that I had expected. Just after noon, I had my lucnh break and a short wonder around at Fano and then I continued for the last 50 kilometers.

A globe

The castle at Fano

And one of the streets

The factories by Ancona

I got to Ancona at around 6pm and went straight to the hostel to check it. I then cycled to the post to buy tickets, but unfortunately they were closed. So tomorrow morning I am getting there early to buy the ticket and finish this trip. At night, I looked for a restaurant and I finally had a rizoto, which I didn’t manage to have during these four weeks in Italy.

The monkey by the finish line

I was very happy to found out the hostel’s breakfast was a ‘help your self buffet’ and rather rich, which means I ate loads.

From Ravenna to Ancona is about 160 kilometers, so I’d have to cover the distance in two days. The only hostel I could find though is in Rimini, 60km away and not exactly in the middle. So I knew I had plenty of time to go there on an easy pace. Saying this, I didn’t have much choice, as half way through the day, the head wind became stronger making me go slow anyway.

Dead carousel

For the first hour, I was riding on the main road which goes parallel with the coast. That was very busy though and I really needed to abandone it. The coast at this part of Italy is full of resort cities, so I just looked for the smaller roads which are closer to the beach. As in most of the cases, resort towns are deserted during the winter months, so it was a little strange cycling within them. Most of the beaches were private, which I find wrong and it took me a long time until I found a small passage to access the sea and have my lunch.

By the empty beach

I bet this was packed two months ago

Nice little boat at Cervia

Knocking down a house is fun, but someone will have to sweep

I got to Rimini at around 4pm, located the hostel, left my bags and went back to the city and have a look. Rimini has many Roman relics, most of them under the city. So in many areas there are glass windows on the ground, from where you can see the excavated remaining of the old city. It also have a nice castle, where an exhibition was taking place, but didn’t go in as it has an entrance fee and it was too late.

A church with a strange wall

The second biggest square at Rimini

and the castle

I went back to the hostel to cook and have an early night in, as tomorrow I will have to ride the last 100 kilometers of this journey.

I ate the very rich hostel breakfast of one piece of bread and a marmalade and left Bologna. Of course on the way I stopped at a bakery to buy something a little more filling. It’s the first time I am having it, but this filo pastry, with cheese, ham and spinach was superb.

Today the weather was once again very cold, but while cycling and wearing the right clothes I was feeling ok. The ride was a little bit uninteresting in terms of scenery.The road was flat all the way, full of farm land and some mountains on my far right. Unfortunatelly I had a head wind making things a lot harder and on top of that my knee started hurting again. I was in a good mood though, as I know I am approaching my final destination very soon.

My first stop was in Lugo, where there is a nice old castle. The rest of the city looked a little bit deserted, but maybe that was because of the time. In Italy most of the shops and restaurants are shut between 1pm to 4 pm, I guess for their afternoon siesta which I think is a good thing.

From there it didn’t take long enough to cycle to Ravenna, where I spend the night. Unfortunately it’s already mid Octomber, which means it now gets dark by 6:30pm. So by the time I found the hostel, checked in and went back to the city center, it was already dark, so too late for many photos. For what it wasn’t late though, was to go to a restaurant and have a nice pasta Bolognesse. I know I am having it with one day delay, but it was still very good and it will probable make me pedal faster tomorrow.

Ravenna by night

Once again it was cold in the morning and for the first time after Pyrenees and the rainy days I cycled wearing my water/windproof and gloves.  By accident I noticed a cycle path running 20 meters parallel to the main road I was cycling, which of course was not shown on the useless map of Italy I’ve been using all these days. Generally maps and finding the way around in Italy is a little harder than France. Neither the maps or the roads have enough number signs. Then finding the right map is another problem. Where in France every book shop or supermarket would have at least 5 copies of the region and the nearby ones in various scales, in Italy it’s a matter of luck to find what you want. I’ve been to bookshops that only have ten random maps. One for a Greek island, one for Peru, one for Tokyo, but non for the region.

On the cycle path

About an hour later I got to Ferrara which was my first stop for lunch and a quick wonder around. The city has an impressive castle in the middle of it and today it happened to be the local market. Within the castle there was a small exhibition of photos taken with electron microscope and since it was free I had a look and found it rather interesting. I left the city at around 2pm and headed for Bologna, my final destination for the day, where I knew there is a hostel.

Clasic car parade in Ferrara

The castle in the middle of Ferrara

The other side

It would be nice if cannons were just shooting pumpkins

Unfortunately when I got there I found out the hostel was 6 kilometers out of the center, which was a little annoying as I wanted to go around the city during the night. I did spend about an hour to see a few things and then headed to the hostel. Even more annoying was the fact that there were no restaurants around the hostel, but just a pizza delivery. So there goes the Bolognese pasta that I was graving all day on the bike!

The big church at Bologna

One of the roads in the city

The leaning towers of Bologna

rock 'n' troll

And why not?

]]> http://blog.ch3.gr/day-61/feed/ 2 http://blog.ch3.gr/day-60/ http://blog.ch3.gr/day-60/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:54:46 +0000 Georgios http://blog.ch3.gr/?p=1033 91km of 3919km so far…

I woke up very early with a massive hung over, as I think I drunk two bootles of wine by my self the night before. I managed to go to sleep for another hour, before starting to pack my bike. Justin and Sam were leaving as well, so we said goodbies, exchanged emails and left the camp site.
From Venice you can take the ferry to Greece and initially I was thinking to end my trip there. But I don’t want to stop cycling yet. Since my knee feels better and I am not in a hurry to get back, I decided to go a bit further down and maybe take the boat from Ancona.
After spending three full on days in Venice, I wasn’t much for much. I took the quietest roads and headed for a hostel in a remote location by the Bianco canal. For most of the way there were cycle paths, so I didn’t have to deal with traffic, which was a good and smooth transition after spending three days off in a city without cars.

The morning cycle path

At Piove

Another nice cyclepath

One of the rivers I crossed

Train crossing

The Blanc canal

I got to the hostel at around 5pm. The staff there were very friendly and helpful with me. I was given a ground floor room so I can keep the bike with me overnight. The room had bathroom inside and six beds, but again nobody turned up, so overall a very good deal for just €17, the same amount I paid for camping opposite to Venice. It didn’t have wifi, but only a computer with a coin slot that charged €2 per hour. But again they appreciated the fact that I was traveling for so long, so they lend me their personal 3G USB key to use for a couple of hours for nothing.

Sam, Justin and me

Today it was a little warmer than the yesterday. We caught the 9am ferry to Venice again, to have plenty of day light, as it was the last day there. My last important visit in the city was the Peggy Guggenheim collection of modern art, by the grand canal. It has a permanent exhibition of paintings and sculptures, some of which are in the nice garden, as well as a temporary exhibition. I spend about an hour in there and then I continued my day with wondering around the city.

One of the churches, that I don't remember its name

The big boy with the little frog...

Even Venice has graffiti

Loads of laundry

Last minute souvenirs

While wondering, I was always checking the Biennale map for additional near by exhibitions that are scattered around Venice. They are small, so I think I visited more than 15 within these days. The only problem was that they were hard to locate, as the map in the brochure was not very detailed and in general it is hard to find your way in Venice in the first place.

In one of the Biannale exhibitons held within a palace

Magnetic art

After 12 hours of walking it was time to head back. Before heading back, I went to the supermarket for some shopping, as this time it was my turn to cook dinner for Justin and Sam. Their little caravan has a small kitchen with everything you need, plus it’s warm so I was happy to spend an hour in there.

Late in the afternoon

Sunset by the port

Me, Justin and Sam caught the 9am boat to get to Venice. We walked together up to the Saint Marco square, where there were small patches of water and apparently Venice floods every 5 years around October and they put raised pathways for the people to walk on.

The pathways just in case...

After we separated, I took the vaporeto for the south east edge of Venice to go to the big venue of Biennale. The venue was build in 1895 and apart from its main exhibition space, it has several smaller pavilions for individual countries. The whole exhibition was rather big and I got out of it completely overdosed at around 3pm.

La Biennale it self!

ropy art

blue art

dead art

I took the vaporeto which went all around Venice and then crossed to Murano island up north. Murano is famous for its glass making furnaces, but to be honest that was all about it. It was very similar with Venice it self in terms of architecture and the canals and all the main streets were full of glass shops, one after the other. I wasn’t interested in buying anything that can be broken, so I went around some alleys in fast forward and then I caught the vaporeto again. I went even norther to the island of Burano. This is indeed a very beautiful island. It’s very small and quite, with only three or four canals running within it. Its main feature is the colorful houses, as each one is painted with a different bright color. Burano is about an hour away by boat, so as it was getting late I had to catch the vaporeto to Venice and then the last one to my camp site.

Murano and its glass

Burano

Colorful canals

... and windows

... and me

Sunset from the vaporeto

At the square the big cafes always play music to creat atmoshpere

Today was very probabe one of the coldest days of my trip and as I was not cycling it was a little hard to keep warm. I am glad that about a month ago I bought a silk liner for my sleeping bag which improves the warmth a lot, as the temperature within the tent was around 9 degrees when I went to sleep.

]]> http://blog.ch3.gr/day-58/feed/ 1 http://blog.ch3.gr/day-57/ http://blog.ch3.gr/day-57/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:55:12 +0000 Georgios http://blog.ch3.gr/?p=990 0km of 3828km so far…

I woke up with the nice view of Venice, but also some big boats crossing. We had already said with Justin and Sam that would cross to Venice together, so we got ready and took the little boat.

The sea in between the camp site and Venice

I got a little bit annoyed with the amount of money I spend with within the morning. The reason I chose this campsite was because it is just opposite Venice, so I thought with the 3 days vaporeto pass I would be fine, but I wasn’t. The pass didn’t cover the boat from the campsite, so I had to pay an extra €25 for these three days. But I guess that’s Venice

for you, so I just had to deal with it.

Approaching Venice

We finally got to the city which is as interesting as I had expected. You can only agree that it is a very strange but beautyful place. It is also packed with tourists and all the central places are saturated with souvenir shops, very expensive restaurants and cafes and gondola owners chasing you for a romatic boat ride, within the canals.

At the grand canal

The famous Rialto bridge

That reminds me I have to do the laundry

Venice is famous for its masks

During my stay, it happened to be the 53rd Bienalle of Venice, so I though I should take the opportunity and visit it. There are two massive exhibition spaces that require a ticket, but also several smaller venues that are free. I bought the ticket and since I wouldn’t make both places in one day I decided to start with the smaller one, which is located in Arsenale which is the place where they used to make boats. The exhibits were all kind of modern art, some very interesting, others not as much.

Colorful art

Repetitive art

It took me about two hours to go around it and by the end I was starving, so I left in a desire for one of those big and cheep sandwiches that I was seeing all day. Luckily the exhibition takes place in a quieter area of Venice, with more cosy cafes and bars, so I jumped into one of them and apart from food I took advantage of their toilet. As I said, Venice is a little bit expensive and one of the things that I find a little extreme is the €1.50 charge to go to one of the public toilets. I think they also accept credit cards.
After a little bit of wondering around the alleys, I ended up going to the National Modern Art Gallery for more art…

Bright art

I had my typical ice cream and started making my way to the south to catch the boat back to the camping. One thing with Venice is that it is a lot bigger than you first think. The small alleys and canals, gives you the wrong impression, but in fact it is big and with the amount of dead ends, you end up wasting time which are dangerous for missing the latest boat.

opst... wrong way

I made it back to the camp site at around 8pm, where I met Justin and Sam again and they kindly offered me food, which I was very glad to accept.