Italy 2001	16 september – 10 october	1150 km / 25 days
		Sofia/Vinkovci/Rieka-Triest-Venice-Bologna-Firenze-Pizza/Rome/Naples/Barri (see map)

ITALY THROUGH THE VISION OF A BIKER

author: Emil Milev – published in journal "Odisej" 4/ 2002

A bicycle tour round Italy is a not very simple adventure. Our small goup’s decision to make use of the “luxory” services of the autobuses to South Europe promised additional emotions along the road in the countries of former Yugoslavia. In the early September morning Bulgaria sent us with a monotonous rain. We said “It will be all like one o’clock”. How could we guess there would be no clocks at all!

In order to save time we had to use the Yugoslavian railway services. The prices were a bit lower than ours. On the other side the official prices for travelling together with your bike costed like travelling with another person. Our hard negotiations showed there was a non-official price list as well. Above all, we were on the Balkans. The total showed that the way from Tzaribrod to Shid (on the frontier of Croatia) with three times transport changing in Nis and Belgrade costed only 11 Euro per person.

The Croatian custom-house officers looked suspiciously at the man and the two women staying in the cold at 3 o’clock in the morning, dressed like bikers. This was the hardest frontier to be passed. They even turned us back a hundred meters further after they had let us in. After long negotiations the misunderstanding was repaired. We were on our way not to be let us in because of a lack of money as we had money for one month’s stay in the Shengen countries! Well, it was explainable as it was not their obligation to be acquianted with the currency of the Italian lire which we had in us from Sofia.

After all these troubles we didn’t notice the 50 km to Vinkovci, and the night trip to Rieka was a real luxury which costed only 22 Euro together with the bikes. We met the warm sun for the first time since our trip started in this pleasant town at the Adriatic. The rays not only raised te thermometers but also our temper. Unfortunately, not for long. The Slovenian mountains gave us the chance to check our rain equipment, but this was only a general rehearssal for what expected us in Northern Italy. Yes, we hadn’t expected our excursion in the South Europe to be like this.

Being still under the impression from the attractive underground canion in the cave of Skochanska hole, we arrived at the Italian frontier at Bassovica in the mountatin of Ciciaria, groung over Triest. During our long biking downwards to the town, our joy from the fast check was replaced by a slight upset. Were the custom-house officer in the little frontier station experienced enough in order to provide all the necessary as we had not a single seal in our passports neither our data had been ever introduced in the international computers. How could we prove we had entered the country legally? Lucklly we hadn’t to prove it until the Bulgarian-Greek frontier in Promachon, where the Greek custom-house officer stared a looong time at the single Slovenian seal from the frontier with Croatia. I am explaining all this in order to disperse the rumors concerning the possible troubles in entering the Shengen countries (at least for people who have similar aims).

There is all in Triest: an old fortress on the hill, an Orthodox and a Catholic church with high architecture value, a beach, the palace ot Miramare situated 7 km away from the town, a lovely garden and a park on the Adriatic coast.

We fastly forgot the next 200 km to Venice. We only noticed the nameless little rivers on the map, which practically were larger than the Iskar river ( bigest in Bulgarian).

A colleague joined our group and he was sorry he hadn’t succeeded to start with us comparing the 100 Euro he had given for the bus ticket Sofia-Venice to the 33 which we had plus the unforgettable meetings and adventures.

It has been written a lot about Venice. I will not repeat it. I will only mention that we did something unnormal-a bike sightseeing! We tried not to pay attention to the indignant remarks of the people in Venice when entering this archtecture reserve. Soon we could feel the reason for that, together with the overloaded bikes. The little bridges over the channels have been built in the times when bicycles hadn't existed at all. Until the evening when we were leaving the town we had an active of passing the stairs of at least 30 bridges; on the big one – the bridge of Rialto over Canale Grande we were an attraction for the tourists' cameras. It was amazing that in spite of the tiredness we have kept the memories of all that was worthy: the San Marco square, the palace of Dodgers, the Sigh bridge, etc. Well, may be we established a precedent

	The sightseeing of the historical towns of Padiva and Vicenza happened among the rain drops which followed us till the town of Romeo and Julliette. We made all the obligatory rituals in front of the statue of Julliette in the yard of the house declared to be hers (photo), and we preconditioned a long and happy love for us.
	Another remarkable place in Verona was Piazza Bra and the amphithetre Arena (photo) built in the 1st century A.C. – a little copy of the Rome Colloseum. However Arena is still functioning as a Summer theatre and an opera.

Thirty kilometers westwards a lovely view from the cost of Guarda lake appeared. There were good conditions for a summer vacation in the lots of camps and the water was clean and suitable for bath-taking even in the end of September. We tried it!

	An obligatory stop was Guardaland – a good rival of Disneyland. Probably the only road for bikes took us from Lago di Guarda to the valley of Mincio river – almost up to Mantua (photo). Soon, being traced by lots of mosquitoes, we crossed the Po river. It reminded us of the river of Danube in its upper stream. As a whole the rivers in Northern Italy were impressive.
	We travelled through a large “Tracian” like lowland. We passed quickly by the beautiful towns in Emilia-Romania – Parma, Reggio di Emilia, Modena and Bologna (photo). We got confused by the enormous information and impressions from the cathedrals, babtisterias, palaces, etc.
	35 kilometers south-eastwards from Bologna in the foot of the Apenins is Imola (photo) – the town of Formula1. The racing track here was related with the successes of the team of Ferrari. It was strange it was situated in the middle fo a park used for quiet rest. We asked ourselves if the local people did notice the noncorresponding noisy “fire balls” and the calm rest on the green grass?

Leaving this strange place we expected the challenge of the Northern Apenines which parted us from Toskana. The ridge of Scarperia – 882 m over the sea level was the object. But the dangerous lion came to be just a small pet. The way up was long but bearable, moreover it passed by the picturesque regions on the river of Santerno. The little town of Scarperia was the Imola of Toskana with the training race track and the charming castle where one can find an unique collection of knives made by the local craftsmen in the centuries.

Firenze is the pearl of Toscana – an illustrative history for the Middle Ages greatness and the birth of the Rennaisance. The most characteristic example for the Toscana architecture is the complex on the square of Saint Giovani – the Gothic cathedral unit Santa Maria del Fiore, the babtisteria and the bell tower projected by Giotto in 1334. The cathedral is also a veteran. It was started in 1296 and was finished in 1436 with the Rennaisance dome of Bruneleski, picured by the frescoes of Vesari. As a some of the great artists and masters have left their work whole in Firenze, worthy not only for Italy but for the all the world. A proof for that can be seen in the museum next to the cathedral (“Pieta” of Mikelangelo and sculptures of Donatelo) as well as in the church Santa Maria Novella (“The Hole Trinity” of Mazaccio, “The Crussifiction” of Giotto).

When speaking of masterpieces we have to admit that most of them are collected in the famous gallery “Ufici” (photo). It was built under the project of Vasari and established in 1581 by the Medicy dinasty. Unfortunately due to the great interest and the access limitation the visit was impossible for that short time in the town. We had to wait till the next day afternoon having in mind that it was not the toursit season in Otober especially after the event on 11 of September in USA!

On the square Signiora next to Ufici the most important secular building is situated – Pallazo Vecchio (The palace of Elders). The exhibition there tells about the way of life of the Florentian aristocracy. The bridge called Vecchio over the water of Arno river with the expensive juwelleries reminds a little bit of the one of Kolio Ficheto in Bulgaria but it is 6-7 centuries older!

On the opposite side of the river are the palace Piti (residence of the Medici’s and later on belonging to the Savoy dinasty, when the town was capital of Italy) and the square Mikelangelo (photo) having a beautiful panorama looking over the whole town.

Is your head aching from all this information?

The easiest way to fresh yourslef is to press the pedals along the Toscana roads. Each of the towns in the region has its own particularities but as a whole it copies the Florentian style. I will only mention the old part of the town of Luka which is very good preserved.

The only interesting in Piza is the complex on Piazza di Miracoli (The square of Miracles) – a cathedral a tower a babtisteria. The place is impressive not only because of the architectural paradox “the inclining tower” (photo).

Time was running fastly. We had to use a train from then on. We made use of the so called “regional” trains. These are passengers’ trains which had a luggage place for bikes. Giving 3-4 $ you could transport your bike with whatever train you want for 24 hours. Their speed is impressive, for example Rome – Naples (320km) for less than 3 hourse (the mean velcity is over 100 km/h)

This fast advance with the bikes gave us the opportunity to take a look at the most interesting places in the Italian capital for just one day, well, almost running. An advise for you – your visit to the Colloseum (photo) should be early in the morning, later on the queues become enormous. The ruins of the luxorious neighborhood on the hill of Pallatino and the remanings of the Forum are near by

The other accent is the Vatikan church San Pietro. If you want to refute the aphorism “ To go to Rome and not to see the Pope ” you will have to be on the square in front of the Cathedral around 11 o’clock.

Southwards from the Italian capital we seemed to be in a completely different country. The holes on the roads, the impolite drivers, the houses with old cars which were sold and even the women digging with hoes in the field. The seemed to me familiar.

In Naples we had an accident – an almost successfull robbery done by a motorbiker during daytime. Luckilly they couldn take away the wallet full of documents of one of our girls neither to take her down to be run over by the vehicles. The previous time I was here I was a witnesss of a similar thing but with worse end. How could we enjoy the typical atmosphere of Naples and see the interesting places after all this? We found ourselves quickly at the railway station and giving 13 Euro with three times changing the trains we were in Bari.

The middle of October here can be compared to the June hot days on the Bulgarian Black sea. We ended the season with one day sunbathing and the ferry of “Venturs” took us to the Greek coast Igumenitza for only 35 leva giving us the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful view of the island of Korfu. We chose the cheapest ferry. The ones who prefer the luxury and the higher speed can make use of the services of “SuperFast” but the lower prices there are three times higher than ours. Some truck drivers took us in their TIR’s and we didn’t struggle with 2000 meters high mountains (a nightmare for the bikers).

The total for theis Italian month full of unforgattable impressions and events! We had 210-230 Euro less than before. We used the “Stargazer” hotel so this sum was used for transport, food and entrance taxes.

A propos, if you have student’s or youth card you can economize up to 40% of the last item.