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.

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.

I slept well, had the basic breakfast of the hostel and took the bus downhill for the center of Genova. As I was cycling into it, I hated it a little bit, because of the heavy traffic, the endless construction sites and then the massive hills. But as I spend a whole day in it, I realized it’s a city full of nice corners and full of history.

I started the day in the port, which is big and densely build with even an overhead big road running across it. The port it self hosts an aquarium along with a biosphere, some modern constructions from the celebrations of the 500 years of the discovery of America and an old ship. Genova proud to be the birth place of Cristoforo Colombo.

Apparently Genova has the biggest old city in Europe and it feels to be. It is full of small alleys, the tightest I’ve seen so far and every now and then there will be a small square with a cafe or two, or a church. The alleys apart from apartments, are packed with cafe, restaurants and shop, keeping the whole area alive. I also like the fact that most of the shops are specialized to one thing like the old days. I saw one for keys, one for soaps and candles, one with a frame maker, one with a shoe maker and so on.

After going around the city for a few hours, I visited the Garibaldi street, which is since 2006 is protected by UNESCO. It was build around 1500-1600 and at its entire length has palaces both sides, that were used by the families as luxurious hotels to host big names, politicians and popes.

I had some pasta with pesto for lunch, I bought some supplies for the night and made my way to the hills for an restful afternoon. Tomorrow I’ll have to cross the mountains to make it to the norther parts of Italy.

And here I am, still in  Nice. One of the advantages of solo cycle touring, is that I can change my plans at any time. Last night I met Imen in the hostel. Sh is just about to start her studies in Nice, so as she is new to the city we said to go around and explore it. I didn’t mind at all staying another day in Nice and another day in France. It would also be good for my knee to get some extra rest.

One of the employees of the hostel is Greek and the very first Greek person I met during my entire trip in France.  I find it a little bit strange, but it is true. He told me there is a Greek church just around the corner from the hostel, so we decided to go and have a look.

The Greek church an the embasy

Later on, we went via the old city to the other side of the hill, where there is the port of Nice. It’s a small port, but if fits one ferry, many yatchs and even more small fishing boats.

A patch of sand, just so everybody is happy

Pick one

Fishing boats

There was a music festival taking place in one of the churches in the old part of the city. Part of the festival had a flower decoration exhibition, so the church was full of flowers filling the space with a nice scent.

The door of the church with the flowers

The inside decorations of the church

After going up and down the hill for another time, we ended up spending some time in one of the plazas of the old city for an ice cream.

Apparently this is the best icecream of Nice

Outdoor activities

0km of 3042km so far…

I took the day off today, the last one in France, to see the city of Nice and get some rest.

First thing in the morning, I visited the nearby hospital. It’s about 4 days now that I am feeling a mild pain on my right knee and of course it is a side effect of all this cycling. I was prepared to spend the entire day in the hospital waiting, but in less than an hour I was out. I was given a cream and I think I should now on take it very easy. I just hope it doesn’t get any worst and have to stop my trip.

I didn’t cycle at all today, but I walked for 4-5 hours all around the city. After the hospital I visited the near by Modern Art Museum of Nice, which happened to have a very good and free exhibition of Robert Longo. After going through all the galleries of the temporary and permanent exhibition, I also went up the roof which has a nice view of the city.

I then wondered around the old part of the city with the typical small alleys and the numerous cafes and restaurants. I walked up the north east hill, next to the old city, which has a castle, a cemetery and the best view of the city.

I went down again to the old city for some lunch and after I bought a few things from a bike shop, I went back to the hostel for more rest.

After dinner and a beer, I went back to the old city for a last wonder around. All these little alleys were packed with people. Even the smallest bar and restaurant had customers and it is not even the peak season. Nice is a very beautiful and lively city and I am glad I spent my last night of France here. It’s been a month and a half in this country, so it’s a little pity leaving it as I was just started getting used to it and becoming more fluent with the language.

After a little bit of laundry, I took just a couple of things and departed for Toulon. Even if in the map La Seyne appears to be attached to Toulon, I had to cycle 10 painful kilometers, getting lost in the numerous roundabouts and trying to avoid the highway that all the roads are leading to. It took about an hour and by the time I made it to its port I was already a little disappointed, as it was yet another extremely busy city with loads of traffic. I wondered a little bit around the civilian port which is next to the military one and I asked my questions at the tourist office.

It was only when I left the port and started walking a little northern into the city center that I started linking it. There was an open market on one of the main pedestrian streets, from where I bought a few supplies for the night.

After my lunch and a couple of hours of walking within the alleys, I rested in one of the numerous cafes for a cold drink and some internet.

I left the city early enough to get back to the camping in day light. But once again it took me some time and many questions to find the correct route. I am sure this will happen again tomorrow that I will have to do the same route again to continue my trip to the east.

- This way to the camping...

Being in the city of Carcassonne I had to take another day off and explore it. I stayed in a hostel again mainly because of its superb location within La Cite.

The castle seen from the hostel

It’s been a long time since I haven’t ridden the bike for a whole day and today I decided not to cycle at all. I left the bike locked in the hostel, as there were plenty to see at la Cite, where I was and the newer part was within walking distance.
My first destination was the castle of the old city, which was just around the corner from the hostel. The site is  very old, dating from the early Roman times. The first part of the castle was built around the 14th century and then it got extended several times over the years to how it looks today. There are two or three layers of walls in some parts and pleanty of watchtowers. The rest of the old city has a big church and many houses, which most of them now are restaurant and little tourist shops.

The entrance of the castel at la Cite

The castle's courtyard

Walking along the walls

The view of the city

Within the church

At midday I headed down to the other part of the city for some more walking and food. Despite all these restaurants serving cassoulet, I bought supplies from a shop and cooked something to eat in the hostel and had plenty of wine with some other travelers I met there.

Carcassonne's speciality and how to make it

The city of Carcassonne

La cite from the old bridge

Going up to the castle again

Going through one of the many entrances of La Cite

Alleys within la Cite

Day off again today, with a busy program to see and visit places in the city of Toulouse. Lucky enough, specifically during this weekend, around 50 places in the city were free to get in. I had made my list from the day before, so after a good night sleep and a good breakfast in the hostel, I was on the road at around 10am.  My first visit was at the old observatory of Toulouse. There was a photographic exhibition of the construction of observatory up in the peak of Midi at 2887 meters, not far from the col du Tourmalet. Unfortunately they didn’t let me in to the domes, as they would open to the public after midday to observe the sun. One way or another, it was a full overcast, so I doubt the public saw any sun today.

One of the many domes of the observatory

I headed south-west to the town center to walk around the plazas. It was Saturday, the stores were open so the city was very lively, with open markets and happenings.

You say jump, I say how high...

The red brick dominates the city

In one of the squares

Carousel at the center of Toulouse

Inside a church I visited

I then went back to the modern art museum. The main floor was being redone for a new exhibition, but there was another floor that I didn’t visit yesterday as I wanted to take advantage of today’s free entry. It’s been more than a month now, since London, that I haven’t been to an exhibition, so even if it was rather small I really enjoyed it.

ART!!!

I had the typical lunch sandwich and then started making my way to the airport! Don’t worry I am not giving up yet. Toulouse apart from cassoulet, is also famous for its planes. They call them AIRBUS and in Toulouse you will find the main assembly facility. It was rather difficult to get there on a bike, as most airports are not bike friendly. I got lost, I started asking people how to get there, they kept saying they didn’t know without a car and of course it started raining. In the end I did get there on time and I paid €14 for a tour of the A380 hangar in French. We visited the telemetry room, which is a room that gathers thousands of parameters during the test flights and we saw in replay the very first flight test of the fully double decker A380. Later we visited the viewing platform of the hangar where they assembly the planes. There are three of them in there at any time, which means the hangar is very big. Unfortunately they didn’t allow cameras, so you will have to believe me.

You can almost see a couple of the A380s on the far left

That's the huge hangar

And the plane it self taking off

On the way back to the city, I visited a last place, the Aerotheque, which is a civil airplane museum. It had big models of all the AIRBUS series along with many other artifacts.

I think that's a Computer Aided Design tool