Day 41: Our Last Day into Venice August 10
Chioggia to Venice (Lido) - 18 miles
Total: 1467miles from Travemunde, Germany to Venice
Okay! We made it! This is our last day on the bikes. Today we take the ferries and ride up the barrier islands into Venice. We will actually be stopping in Lido, one of the islands next to Venice because you are actually not allowed to have bicycles in Venice proper. We booked a room and we are ready to go! We started off the morning with Andrea taking a quick swim in the Adriatic and Bruce making coffee. We packed up the tent and all of our bits and bobs for one last time. Although, since we stayed at the beach all of our stuff is very sandy. We will have to do some serious cleaning of our gear when we get home. We headed out into Chioggia to catch our first Vaporetto- water bus to the next island. The boarding dock was packed and we were told initially that we would not be able to fit our bikes on the boat but of course we did and we were off. There was some confusion about the next stop up the islands (Caroman) because the Venetians decided to build a huge sea wall from one tiny island to another without telling anyone. So we thought we could cycle up this "island" but it turned out to be just a wall with a very wet side walk attached. We were frustrated at the Vaporetto driver at first as he was saying we could not get off at the stop we had planned but when we saw what we would have been cycling on, we understood his hesitance. We weren't the only confused cycle tourists, even the Italian one we met didn't understand until we sailed past the very long sea wall. We got off at the next stop (Pellestrina), checked out the sea wall again to make sure that it REALLY wasn't a good idea and then headed north towards Venice. We pedaled through some beautiful sea side fishing villages on the islands. Had a cappuccino before 11am, took lots of photos of boats, blue water, and fishing buoys. When we stopped to catch our last ferry of the day to Lido, we had an hour to kill so we ordered a panini from the food truck at the ferry terminal and tried to shade ourselves as best we could from the 12 o'clock sun. Another cycle tourist pulled up so we invited him to sit with us. His name is Fabio and he had cycled here from Rome (his home town). Turns out he had recently visited Boston and has family in New York. We chatted and waited for the ferry together. We ended up cycling the length of Lido together. We took the big car ferry together. The island bus actually took the ferry too. Can you imagine taking a bus that boards a ferry to the next island? Crazy! We parted ways at the other end of Lido after taking photos with Venice in the distance. He went off to try to get his bike over into St. Marks Square to take a photo. We really hope he made it!!!! ( Fabio if you made it send us a photo!!!) and we went off to find our hotel. The rest of the day was pretty easy. We checked in, locked up our bikes in the back garden, carried all of our bags upstairs, slept until the temperature went down. Went to the beach on Lido and then headed over to Venice! We took photos in St. Marks Square and got lost in narrow alley ways. We listened to accordion music while eating gnocchi and lasagna. We had a great first night in Venice but we are a bit freaked out by the sheer number of tourists and how much English we are hearing. Our bikes are safe but we don't want to leave them alone for long. Even though we cycled today, it really is the end of this tour. We will see the many islands of Venice for the next few days, drink wine and buy Murano glass. We might try to take a train to the city state of San Marino. Then we are off to the UK to see friends and family. We jump back to Venice to pick up the bikes for our last flight home. What an amazing adventure. We enjoyed ourselves. We feel good. We aren't ready for it to be over yet but we never really are. For the last time until the next time... The World is Ours!!!
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