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-53/ http://blog.ch3.gr/day-53/#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:08:13 +0000 Georgios http://blog.ch3.gr/?p=936 102km of 3605km so far…

I was ready and just about to leave the hostel when I realized there was breakfast included in the price, which of course I didn’t want to miss.The plan was to spend about an hour in the tourist office where there was wifi. I have to say though, these Italians should be a little bit paranoid with their state security or something, as I had to fill out forms and applications, give out my passport along with other details in order to get the login and the password to access the internet. A process similar with applying for a VISA and along with waiting the old lady before me to do the same, I really waisted half an hour of my precious morning time.

Nice little houses

The weather was once again foggy and very humid, but I was in the mood for many kilometers. The scenery was preaty much the same with yesterday’s and flat for the entire day. It was a little bit more interesting though, as this time though there were a few rivers to cross.

Crossing river Po

Very nice to be able to see the river below

The river side

The tyres of Hanoi

The lunch break took place in Cremona for a picnic style food in the main square, where a big open market was taking place. Without knowing the facts, I assume Cremona is famous for its violins. I saw plenty of shops making and selling violins and many posters all around the town.

Cremona

One of Cremona's churches

Violin shop

A big violin

Initially I was Planning to go to Bergamo, but the tourist office told me there are no camp sites or hostels there. I had to alter my route a little and after looking the map with all the hostels of Italy, I decided to go more to the east, rather than North, to the village of Rivalta Saint Mincio, where there was definitely a hostel open all year round. Going there, I decided to leave the main road and join secondary ones and go through nicer landscapes. It was indeed a good option, as the road was very quite and the scenery a lot nicer. There were vasts land fields covered with newly born trees and I assume they export all shorts of trees. Again, looking at the map, I decided to go through one of the smaller road, that goes close enough to the river, which was off road for about 5 kilometers.

Me in half a century

The off road bit by the river

Some of the many trees

A nice and quite road

I got to Rivalta Saint Mincio and I found the hostel straight away, next to a fantastic setting by the river. After a pizza for dinner, I met another cyclist in the hostel. Christoph is from Germany and he has just started his year and a half cycle trip all around the world! He rode from the east Italy, so he gave me valuable information about the cities I am going to visit over the next few days and made me alter my plans a little bit.

The river right in front of the hostel

Within the same courtyard with the hostel, there was a tourist informtion office that I had visited the previous afternoon. In the morning, I went back in for further information and ended up spending about half an hour talking to one of the girls about my long cycle trip. As I was leaving the courtyard, they called me back and offered me presents! A jacket, a tShirt and a bandanna with the regional logo and the website of the tourist office. They said I will need them when the weather gets colder. I kindly rejected the jacket, as I am already carrying two, but I was happy to keep the bandanna and the tShirt as the one I have, has changed three colours during the trip.

Outside the tourist information office

The hostel's courtyard

The entrance to the courtyard

Before I left Alessandria I went to the center to buy a map and to visit one of the bakeries, where I couldn’t resist and I bought a collection of stuff to eat for breakfast and later on. I left the town at around 11pm which is relatively late. It did rain during the night and for the entire day it was cloudy and a little foggy, making the ride feel a little miserable. The road was entirely flat, so the scenery didn’t change that much, apart of crossing a couple of dried out rivers. On the way I saw a car crash. That’s the second one I see during my trip, but I get the impression they occur more often in Italy. Over the last coupe of days, I’ve seen drivers doing some very stupid things on the road and that worries me a little bit.

Today's scenery

It was a little misty today

One of the many factories I saw on the way

And the car crash

It was around 5pm and I still didn’t know where I’m going to spend the night. Unfortunately not all the towns in Italy have a tourist office like in France and those that I visit will only have information about their department, which is usually smaller than what I cycle each day, making planning a little difficult. I was heading to the relatively big city of Piacenza, hoping there will be something cheap to sleep. When I got there, I didn’t manage to locate the tourist office, but the locals I asked said there is no camping around, but luckily there was a youth hostel. I didn’t mind at all, since the ground was still wet from last night’s rain and the hostel looked empty and once again I had a 7 beds room for my self. I had a big pizza for dinner along with an Italian beer called ‘Birra Moretti’.

At Piacenza's main square