July 10, 2012
Roads flooded: please advise: Ravenna - Venice
I FORGET who sent that telegram about Venice, the one that said the roads were flooded and asking for advice. Some wag or other. Anyway, that was our destination, or at any rate the inland town of Mestre. And I'd tell you we did interesting things and met fascinating people were it not that it was a perfectly ordinary day in the flatlands of northern Italy, picking our way along lesser roads to avoid the traffic for Venice.
It's possible, too. The more there are busy roads, the more traffic will join them. So, stick to lesser ways and follow them as they squeeze into the funnel of converging highways and you can usually get anywhere without too many tears.
And so it was with Mestre. Just as things started to heat up - other than the weather, that is, which has been a sweaty 37 degrees for days now - so we spotted a path through woods. It didn't last long but when it ended it became first a conventional bike route and then a succession of roadside bike paths that took us within a few hundred metres of our hotel. It wasn't perfect, naturally, because the paths were laid after the roads. But for making the most of the situation and for giving cyclists a secure way to one of the world's favourite tourist destinations, Italy once more deserves unreserved praise.
This afternoon we took the bus over the spit into Venice itself and did all the things that you're supposed to do there.
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And since our tickets for the public transport and the water buses are valid for 24 hours, we shall go back tomorrow and do them all over again. For we have no shame.
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