ITALY BY BICYCLE

Flat Hawkster came across the outdoor hockey rink in Bolzano.   There is a local professional hockey team (Bolzano Foxes) in the town that often has former NHL players.

Flat Hawkster has just completed a long bike tour that was over 350km in length and took him through countless towns in Northern Italy over 10 days.  It was a great perspective on the Italian countryside and provided Flat Hawkster with access to areas that cars cannot get to.  He enjoyed the amazing views, small towns and impressive bike paths that led him safely to each destination.   His trip started in the mountains of Bolzano, Italy and ended up in Venice.  The journey was relatively flat as it followed canals or rivers along the way and there were only a few hills to climb.  However, the first day was a shock for Flat Hawkster as the distance was 75km!    He was not used to that much riding and his legs (wings?) were burning afterwards.  After three days he joined up with 30 other people as part of a bike/boat tour.  The group cycled during the day and met up with the boat in the early evenings for dinner and a place to sleep.   Flat Hawkster met a lot of interesting people on this tour from Canada, the United States, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, France, Norway, and Australia. Despite all of the nationalities, communication was not a problem because everyone could speak English.  It was a great trip, filled with plenty of fun memories and reminded Flat Hawkster of how Hawthorne’s grade 6 students must feel each year after enjoying a few days at camp.

This is one of the many tunnels that were carved through various mountains to create a flat route for the bike paths.  The picture below shows some of the views that Flat Hawkster was treated to.

After a long day of biking Flat Hawkster had to take a ferry ride across the length of Lake Garda.  It was long (5 hrs) but plenty to see as the ferry stopped in a number of small, ancient towns along the way.   When the ferry emptied (below) at one point,  Flat Hawkster was worried that maybe he was going the wrong way but it all worked out.

The next three photos feature moments from the trip from Pescheira to Mantova.  There was a lot to see.  In the picture above, you can see an ancient fort surrounded by a moat that was filled with fish.

This is the tour group that Flat Hawkster joined.   He was a little off task while the tour guide was explaining how Venice had built the world's large inflatable dam.  It was pretty cool technology but they are not sure of when or if it will ever be finished:)

This was the fish market in Chioggia, Italy.  There were a lot of temptations here for Flat Hawkster.  In the photo below you can see Oscar who was on this same bike tour with his family.  They had just spent a number of years living in Dubai (the Middle East) and will soon be moving to Australia.   Before going back "Down Under" they were doing a long tour of their own that will see them travel through England, France, Italy, Africa and Orlando, Florida.  Flat Hawkster thinks that Oscar and his sisters (Emily and Isabelle) will really enjoy their Disney experience.  

The trip concluded in Venice.  Flat Hawkster entered this city by boat because that is really the only way to do it.  As many of you may know, Venice was built on the water and instead of streets there are canals that provide transportation.  As a result, everyone moves either on foot or by boat.  The taxis, police, ambulances, garbage companies, everything happens on the water.   This means that the water is very busy with boats and there are very few, if any, traffic laws.  Flat Hawkster enjoyed watching the craziness as there were so many near accidents but, despite the lack of rules, everything seems to work out just fine.  Venice is a beautiful place where the tourists outnumber the locals by a wide margin. Well before tourism, Venice was known for centuries as a bustling port which hosted ships from all over the globe that were eager to trade their valuable goods. There are plenty of challenges however as the city is often flooded and has elevated paths (staging) that allow people to move around.  Nobody lives/sleeps in basements because they are often filled with water.  It is an amazing city and the most unique environment that Flat Hawkster has visited so far.

An example of just how busy the waterway can get in Venice!  In the picture below you can see one of the many famous "gondolas" that are everywhere in Venice.   It can be a very expensive ride ($100) but Flat Hawkster found a deal for $2.50.  It was a short ride but cool nonetheless.