We have had an amazing few days in Verona. It was really hard to move on as Verona offers so much for a small city.
The route out of Verona heads south initially where the Adige River flows through the Veronese planes, taking a roundabout route to the sea. The surrounding countryside has changed as it is cultivated with many fruit and vegetable farms. As we passed through the towns of Zevio and Belford, we saw many apple orchards and we also saw trees laden with fresh nectarines, peaches, apricots - yum.
After about 30 km we could see a castle and fortified walls in the distance, as well as vineyards as far as the eye could see. Clearly, we are approaching Soave, home of the Soave vintners. Leaving Verona, we knew that there would be many more gems to see down the road - and as luck would have it, our next stop was the little gem of a town... Soave.... the home of the excellent Soave white wines and the home of a beautiful castle. The heat had sapped us of our energy and because of our late start from Verona we decided to stop in Soave for the night. We found a 4 star hotel with breakfast for 69 euros. It turned out to be pretty fancy but the price was right and Mary Ellen is feeling like a cold is coming on so perhaps a little pampering is in order.
The Porta Palio Hotel turned out to be a great hotel for our needs - incredible breakfast buffet, secure place for Seavo, good location and the right price. We recommend the larger double if you can get it. Overlook the worn, dated exterior as the interior is refurbished and immaculate. The first 2 nights, we were given a special room on the top floor with a view of the rushing canal behind and the neighbourhood. We enjoyed the balcony and having coffee on our Helinox ground chairs.
The Roman Arena in Verona, built in the 1st century, is still in use today. Today it is famous for the large scale operas staged here, concerts like Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen and it has hosted the final presentations for the Giro d’Italia Cycling race 4 times. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. In ancient times, gladiators, games, etc were viewed by over 30,000 spectators, who came from far and wide. Today, for security reasons, attendance is limited to 15,000.
The Italian man on the left approached and told us that his Brazilian wife’s parents were visiting from Brazil and that they would to see our bike. His mother in law is blind and she was curious about our bike. Her hands glided over our bike with a look of wonder on her face while her husband described every detail of the bike. It was a special moment for all of us.
This dog came toward us in a very aggressive manner. His owner kept calling him. But the dog ignored him and continued to advance on us barking loudly and growling. Eventually the dog calmed down when he saw we were not a threat.
Baby muskrats - pretty cute, especially when they came out of the water and up the bank walking as one, curious but taking safety in keeping in constant touch. Mom had just swam off and they were off on an adventure.
The Verona Forced Run was held yesterday and we got to ride along the course along the river. The course was loaded with a lot of mud, barbed wire and other challenging obstacles. We prefer the challenges and joy of cycling to the pain that we can imagine participants go through in this event.
We escaped the furnace like conditions outside and went in to a huge Costco type store to look for cold drinks and yogurt for lunch. Barry found this amazing coffee vending machine with 47 different coffee options. As well you could watch as each individual coffee was being prepared, freshly ground with a built in tamper. For just 50 cents you can have an excellent espresso, macchiato, whatever you like.
Today is another extremely hot day. The heat was really wiping us out and we had to do a hard climb up to a hilltop village. The panoramic view was worth the hard work.
When we got to Soave there was an antique market happening down the Main Street. People were really interested in our bike. An older Italian man on a road bike approached Barry and showed us videos on his smartphone of him balancing on his bike and even riding backward. Mary Ellen was surrounded by a group of people who had clearly spent time in a Soave wine bar. Many hand and cheek kisses were given as they expressed their excitement for our bike and Canada.
