August 21-23, 2018
Our last day of official cycling in Europe was headed to Venice and it was 40 degrees to start the day. Then we spent a couple of days sightseeing in amazing Venice.
What happened…
Amanda writes: Time had become the biggest driver in our plans at this point as we needed to get to London for Stephanie’s flight. And while we like to cycle we ended up taking a train into the Venice area so we could so some sightseeing before catching the plane to London which is where Stephanie was flying back to Canada from. The few days of sightseeing were really wonderful particularly when we had a lovely air conditioned hotel to come back to. It’s certainly more money than we typically spend but the campground we found that was close by had terrible reviews so we splurged. Venice was really beautiful and I think I’d like to come back some day when Andrew is more himself. Enjoy the pictures; it really was beautiful.
Stephanie writes: On the 21st we slept in and FaceTimed mom in the morning and then checked out of camping. We rode to the train station and got tickets. Then we rode to Spar to get some food. They had just cleaned train station and Andrew got the elevator so gross and dirty with his bike. Amanda and I VERY slowly took the bikes down the stairs and I got yelled at for trying to use the elevator. We carried all the bikes up and waited .5 hours for train while eating. Everyone lifts by the seat which is not good for the seats. We shoved everything into a tiny luggage/bike room. It was a huge hassle to get off because of other guys standing by the middle. Andrew yelled at some guy for literally zero reason at the train station. We then rode across the street to park for Andrew’s classes. I gave him my chair to use. Amanda and I rode to the “campsite” and along the way we accidentally rode our bikes in a pedestrian tunnel part thing where you’re supposed to walk bikes. They SURPRISED ME WITH A HOTEL!!!! After checking in we put the bikes on a bike rack which was kinda sketchy. We tried very hard to figure out how to open the door to the elevator in the garage but it was so confusing. The air conditioning is so so so nice.
On the 22nd we woke up extra early and went downstairs for breakfast. The set up is exactly like Tim Hortons. We walked over to the bus station and some lady came and cleaned the bus stop. Some enormous guy sat beside *ontop* of some poor tiny little Asian lady on the bus. Then we transferred onto a water bus and arrived literally like 50m away from the meeting spot for our tour. We waited for the tour guides to show up and showed our sign up and then waited. We watched the Spanish tours leave right before us. Rubina was the tour guide. There was a group of the guys in our tour who just graduated as lawyers and engineers who were super funny and proud. There was an East Indian family with an older daughter and younger son. There were some other cyclists that had come from Austria. When the tour started she said we’ll make sure to stop in the shade and we had to cover our shoulders in the churches. We got gelato and talked to the family and the guys from California. We saw a cute little dog on the front of a boat and the biggest oil painting in the world. I got pins and we walked back to a lunch place and had pizzas. They said they didn’t have tap water which we’ve heard is just a line to get you to buy bottled water. Amanda left and got water from a tap with our water bottles instead of paying the 8 euros for water. Andrew went back to the hotel to play video games and Amanda and I went to St. Marks Square which was extremely touristy. There were cool bands playing, lots of police and army people. I overheated on the way back and wasn’t feeling well. We hopped on a waterbus and switched onto the tramline and then switched to the bus. Then we had to walk to the hotel and didn’t eat dinner.
On the 23rd we slept in super late and snuck into the breakfast place because I think we only officially paid for breakfast for one day. We bought all the day transport passes for 20€. We took two buses and a water bus to Murano which is the island where they make glass. We got off one stop early and walked to the tour. The tour guide showed how he made a vase and a horse. The fire was 500-1000+ degrees. I bought souvenirs for everyone and went back on a water bus to Venice for lunch. Again No tap water scenario yet they waters plants right next to our table with tap water. We ate lunch on the water people watching go by on boats. We got slushies before walking through the souvenir section. We hopped on a tram and then transferred to a bus to get back to the hotel. Then Amanda and I walked to the grocery store which was a lot further than she said it was. There were lots of little geckos 🦎 on the way to get grocery’s at huge store in the mall. We got fries at McDonald’s for the walk back. We almost got hit by multiple cars
Today’s Flickr Photographs
[flickr_tags user_id=”17145280@N00″ tags=”082118,082218,082318,”]Aerial view of the ride
Cycling Stats
August 21, 2018
Start Point: Aquileia, Italy
Destination: Venice, Italy
25.38 km trip, 15.14 km/h average speed, 35.8 km/h maximum speed, 1:41 time on the bike
Route Description:
August 21, 2018 We rode on some bike paths leaving Aquileia. We continued also on some side roads. All routes were paved and some even had a shoulder. We took a train from San Giorgio di Nogaro to the suburb Mestre of Venice near the airport which was near our hotel.
Accommodations:
August 21-23, 2018 We stayed at a hotel in Mestre near the airport for 3 days.