Tag Archives: Lombardia

Day 54 – Rivalta Saint Mincio to Montagnana

82km of 3686km so far…

The morning dense fog

The morning dense fog

Me and Christoph cycled together to Mantova which is only 10km from Rivalta Saint Mincio. He would spend the entire day there, where I wanted to move on, but instead of going to Verona where I was planning to go and meet Romeo and Juliet, I was convinced to head east toward the little town of Montagnana.
Mantova is a very nice city indeed. It is surrounded by a river and has an old nice city in the center. Maybe I should have spend a extra day there as well to explore it but also get some rest.

Mantova's main square

Mantova's main square

One of the entrances to the old city of Mantova

One of the entrances to the old city of Mantova

The weather was a lot nicer today after the morning fog was cleared and I wouldn’t mind going back to a camp site. But being Sunday with everything closed the easy option was a hostel again that I knew where exactly it is.

-Put me in your living room!

- Put me in your living room!

The only interesting part of today’s ride was the town of Legnago, where I stopped for an ice cream. There is a river just at the border of the town, with a really nice, but short cycle path.

Legnago riverside

Legnago riverside

Three grades of brown

Three grades of brown

I moved on quickly, as I wanted to have plenty of day light light in Montagnana. I got there at around 5pm, unpack my stuff, had a shower and I was out again in an hour. The main point of interest of the town is the medieval castle. It dates from 1400, is surrounded by very tall walls, the best preserved examples of medieval walls in Europe and inside there are many houses, a few churches and of course many restaurants and cafes. I spend a good couple of hours wondering around, before I started getting hungry.

One of the four entrances

One of the four entrances

Montagnana's walls

Montagnana's walls

The wall towers

The wall towers

The main church

The main church

I went to a restaurant for dinner, in desire for some good pasta. Without understanding much of the menu and without paying much attention, I ordered something random from the page where I saw carbonara, thinking that’s the pasta section. But unfortunately it was a pizza. It’s the last three days that I am having pizzas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I am in Italy and the pizzas are great here, but it’s a little too much for everyday. I’ve been in so many restaurants and that’s all they have.

The hostel it self was ok, but I was unlucky that its section within one of Montagnana‘s towers was closed. Other than that for €21 is the most expensive one I’ve been so far in Italy. It didn’t have breakfast and they wouldn’t give away their internet to the guests.

Day 53 – Piacenza to Rivalta Saint Mincio

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

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

Crossing river Po

Very nice to be able to see the river below

Very nice to be able to see the river below

The river side

The river side

The tyres of Hanoi

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

Cremona

One of Cremona's churches

One of Cremona's churches

Violin shop

Violin shop

A big violin

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 from now

Me in half a century

The off road bit by the river

The off road bit by the river

Some of the many trees

Some of the many trees

A nice and quite road

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.

That's just in front of the hostel

The river right in front of the hostel