Tag Archives: cycling

Day 62 – Bologna to Ravenna

103km of 4117km so far…

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.

Piece and quite
Piece and quite
Nice track, but without any bikes on it
Nice track, but without any bikes on it
Endless farms
Endless farms
So that's the guy who makes the lines...
So that’s the guy who makes the lines…

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.

The castle at Lugo
The castle at Lugo

The castle's tower
The castle’s tower
...and its door
…and its door

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

Ravenna by night

Day 61 – Arqua Polesine to Bologna

95km of 4014km so far…

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

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

Clasic car parade in Ferrara

The castle in the middle of Ferrara

The castle in the middle of Ferrara

The other side

The other side

It would be nice if cannons were just shooting pumpkins

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

The big church at Bologna

One of the roads in the city

One of the roads in the city

The leaning towers of Bologna

The leaning towers of Bologna

rock 'n' troll

rock 'n' troll

And why not?

And why not?