The Italian Lakes and a Trip to Venice
Lake Como
I have always wanted to visit Lake Como… but I hadn’t imagined that our journey there would be as dramatic as arriving into Italy over the Splügenpass.
We had stayed in a campsite at Campodolcino after descending half the mountain the previous afternoon, and the day would be mainly downhill, alongside scenic streams and lakes until we would reach the famous Lake Como. It sounds idyllic, and it almost was, if it wasn’t for the constant drizzle. We didn’t mind the rain though, we were grateful that we’d had calm weather the day before - particularly that the thunderstorms which had greeted us in the night hadn’t struck whilst we were at a higher elevation.
When we were researching a suitable campsite on Lake Como, I saw that this particular campsite offered ‘bungalow’ rooms. They consisted of a double bed, chest of drawers and an electricity socket for €40, and we decided to treat ourselves for the two nights we were there - when the rain became torrential both the evenings, we were very pleased with ourselves.
The plan was to have relaxing and gentle day off where we would get our laundry done, and spend time on and near the lake. A plan thwarted when I realised that in my exhausted state that morning that we had left the previous campsite, I had left my backpack behind in the bathrooms.
That night, I tossed and turned in the bed. Was it worth going back to collect the bag? Financially, I weighed up how much the bag and its contents were worth, and tried to see what toiletries were available in the local supermarket. It’s surprising how things add up: sensitive face sun cream, chamois cream, sudocreme, bite relief cream - and the tiny, ultralightweight and packable bag itself. I also had to weigh up our time, knowing that Zach would be selfless and agree to join me if I decided to go and get it.
In the end, it was the train journey itself which tipped the edge. We had cycled past the train line the previous day, and was the most scenic train journey I’ve ever seen. Public transport is reasonably priced in the area, and Zach was quite happy that the changeover times between trains and busses meant that we had time to stop for coffee in these quaint Italian towns and villages. He wasn’t as thrilled about the early start (or missing the first bus which we had gotten up early specifically for), but this did mean that we arrived back early afternoon.
We had budgeted to rent a kayak on this day off, and when we organised this with the campsite, the boat guy exclaimed “no need to pay, take as long as you want!” Paddling out on Lake Como was a lot of fun: we crossed to the other side of the lake in exploration with not another sole on the water - and most importantly - didn’t have a domestic in the middle of the lake.
Lake Iseo
Leaving the idyllic Lake Como was not idyllic on a bicycle. There are no cycle lanes, and the traffic on the duel carriage way is busy. Once you are further away, the cycle paths start, these were gravely, slow and very scenic.
There were few mishaps to start the day, including Zach hitting a cycle path gate/bollard entry and breaking one of pannier hooks (quickly fixed with a trusty zip tie) and the route taking us to a non-existent ferry… which in turn led to us trying to cycle up a very steep hill out of the gorge (Zach successfully, me left trying to walk the bike, which is harder than cycling it).
There were a few bike shops in Bergamo, and the first one we visited luckily stocked the niche replacement Ortlieb part Zach needed. It was also highly amusing watching Zach trying to describe what Chamois cream is to the salesmen - they don’t really sell it over here.
We stopped in the first campsite we saw on Lake Iseo. The area was pretty busy ahead of the bank holiday weekend, I could see why, the lake was beautiful!
Lake Garda
It turned out to be a bank holiday in Italy that Friday, so when we cycled through Bresica, a very quaint town, there were big crowds of locals and tourists and lots of things being set up for later in the day.
That night, we were turned away from our first campsite as they were fully booked! Luckily, the next campsite was just a few kms away, and they had some space.
The bank holiday did mean that the campsite was heaving, and that they had live music on until past 11pm… a bit of Nesom Doma… but mainly less traditional Italian music.
It was finally the day we were going to reach the Mediterranean Sea at Chioggia, but before we arrived, we cycled through Verona at lunchtime. As it was a Saturday, the crowds were predictably intense and overwhelming, all there to see the many historic buildings - including Juliet’s house from Romeo and Juliet. We had lunch on a bench overlooking the 2,000 year old, still functioning amphitheater!
The main streets were filled with tourists, but Zach had predicted this and had pencilled in a cafe stop away from the chaos.
The next 35km flew by, and whilst we were having our afternoon snack stop, we were approached by a man on a bike. He turned out to be 82, and he had a great track stand party trick (see video). Even though we chatted for a good 20 minutes, we could only grasp some of the Italian. Things we did understand - something to do with asparagus - he kept saying the word and had a T-shirt with this on. We think he is either an asparagus enthusiast, or entrepreneur!
He mentioned Eddie Mercks, and we wondered if he was trying to tell us that he used to race against him - he’s clearly a very competent cyclist. He also showed us pictures of what we assume were his grandkids cycling with him!
That night we stayed in a campsite at Chioggia, just next to the beach.
Our plan for the next day was to make it to the Lido. The Venice Lido is an island just East of Venice, and just a 15 minute ferry journey away from the famous city!
Arriving at the campsite on the Lido entailed getting two ferries, and cycling along different islands - it was beautiful, though it was initially a little stressful to get the ferry from Chioggia as there were limited bike spaces. Luckily, Zach had the quick thinking to reserve our bike spaces through the online app which effectively let us “jump the queue”, and guaranteed we’d be able to get on the ferry. We bought 48 hour travel passes, so this would take care of all our transport whilst we were in Venice.
We arrived at the campsite around 2pm, put up the tent up, put a wash on and relaxed, before walking down to the beach. There were only two other tents, both other cycle touring couples!
The next day, we hopped on a bus to reach the ferry terminal, and before we knew it, we were on a waterbus to Venice.
Venice
I was expecting Venice to be heaving with people, but the rain, and weekday meant that it was actually quite quiet.
We had splashed out and bought museum passes for those in the San Marco square - which included Correr Museum and Doge Palace. There is a free app with audio guides as you go round - so we really enjoyed using this to make the most of the experience.
Besides this, we spent money on Gelato and coffee - as we had taken our own sandwiches for lunch - so it ended up being a pretty reasonable day out - for Venice’s standards at least!
It was lovely to walk around the city, seeing all the canals and the ingenious ways people have adapted to not using any cars (lots of trolleys). My favourite part of the day was definitely Doges’ Palace, which was once the official residence of the elected leaders (the doges) of the former Venetian republic. The rooms are extraordinary, richly decorated and just mesmerising to walk through. I loved the contrast to the prisons which are also part of the building!
