Days 37 & 38 – Venice

Tuesday 23rd August was day 37 of our travels.

Once again we left as early as we could after breakfast and once again it was down and down further to the plains of north east Italy. The day’s ride was very uneventful except for the traffic. If I hadn’t have become an Italian for the day we’d still be out there on the road somewhere 🙂 Norma doesn’t like Italian drivers and much less Italian motorcycle riders 🙂

The drama of the day occurred when we arrived at our hotel near Venice to receive an email that informed us we’d left our passports in San Marino. Now that’s a whole lot more annoying than leaving my laptop behind, especially as it wasn’t my fault, but it was my responsibility. The hotel staff had as usual taken our passports for details, I’d asked for them back but “The copier isn’t working, we will return them” Right! They’ll send them to our hotel in Mandello de Lario. Hoping hoping.

No pics on day 37, pretty boring journey actually. 217klms and I hope no tickets 😉

So today is day 38, August 24th and we were woken by messages from concerned relatives and friends as to our wellbeing in the wake of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that had struck the Umbria region in the early hours of the morning.

We were of course just fine but that would possibly not have been the case if this had happened 3 or 4 days ago when were riding through some of those exact same towns that have been devastated, and indeed we stayed in Castelluccio, which reports extensive damage, on Saturday and Sunday nights – it’s the place I had to return to for my wayward laptop.

It is easy to see why these very old, and I mean really old, villages have been demolished to such an extent because they are so weathered and time worn – basically stones and mud really. Beautiful for sure and with such romance and nostalgia they draw tourists in their droves, ourselves included. Such history, such culture, such a pity.

Today it was Venice. We caught the bus early and had the place virtually to ourselves for all of 20 minutes. Bought a coffee and macaroon (cos it was the cheapest thing on the menu) at Caffe Florians in the Piazza San Marco and listened to their four piece orchestra and paid the man 36 Euro for the pleasure – ain’t going there again 🙂

We walked the lane ways, crossed the bridges, battled to tourist hordes, took a long ferry ride out to the outer islands, braved the tourists once again and took far too many photos. Here’s just a few.

A few more. And yep, that tower in the bottom picture is leaning that much.

Just a couple more.

And that’s enough.

Tomorrow we head into the Dolomites in the Italian Alps. Norma can’t wait 🙂

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