Well, the other side of the pass was Italy... The first thing I did on the Italian side was stop for pastries at Brennero (the Italian side of Brenner) and take a break. Continuing south was downhill all the way, following the river Isarco sometimes on the road and at other times on a cycling path along the river. I stopped for the night at a small village, Bronzolo, and took a room in an Albergue.

In the morning, continuing down the river, I got to Trento around noontime and stopped for snacks and a rest. It was getting really hot and even though the road was mostly downhill, I was slowly getting cooked under the scorching sun. All the way down the river, it's vineyards and fruit trees, and I sampled some fresh figs... hmmm so good ! In the afternoon, now following the river Adige, I rode to Borghetto and stopped at a small roadside inn for the night.

I continued cycling south, but instead of turning east for Verona, I turned west, following the southern shore of lake Lago de Garda, towards Milan. It was getting very hot again so I stopped at Brescia for refreshments. At Chiaro, I stopped again, got myself a 2 litre bottle of iced tea and drank half of it on the spot... and finally stopped at Mozzanica (about 45 kms east of Milan) for the night.

I left early in the morning and though I cycled lazily, I was in Milan before noon. Quite a grand city...

Milan's pretty big and it took me a while to get from the outskirts into the city... As I'm cycling my way towards the center, I'm surprised by this scene... my first glimpse of the Duomo, Milan's greatest church. Below are more views of the Duomo.

I spent an extra day in Milan to wander around a view the sights....

From Milan, I left south, towards Genova and the Mediterranean Sea, from where I intended to cycle the coast south to Rome. The day was grey and really humid, but at least it was cool. About 10 kms north of Pavia, I stopped at a little village for a break. There was a bike shop and browsing, I talking with the owner, he found me some bearing caps for my pedal.

I found Pavia uninteresting and continued on. The weather was getting progressively darker and at 3 PM, I took a break in Arquata (about 40 kms north of Genova), it was very dark by then and I decided to stick around for the night... Well, it started really pouring and that went on for the next couple of hours...

Good thing I had stopped at Arquata yesterday... the first 25 kms south in the morning were all steeply uphill to the Passeo dei Giovi (about 500 meters).It was cool in the morning after yesterday's rain and I didn't sweat too much... Then it was downhill all the way to Genova where I got stuck for a couple of hours on account of more pouring rain.

Genova's a pretty big city and I didn't feel like spending more time there after Milan, so I continued down the coast when the rain let up and took another break at Recco, a small village on the coast...

Then I continued on for a few more kms and stopped at Rapallo for the night.

In the morning, the sun was shining and it kept shining all day.

The first 45 kms south on the coastal road were all uphill for a gain of 615 meters at the Passeo del Bracco and what a view...

The pass looked down at Cinque Terre, on the Mediterranean side and a lot of other travellers had told me that this area was just beautiful... Too bad I couldn't spend much time here... Above are pictures of the area...

Beautiful... Isn't it ?

From the pass, I cycled a small mountain road going to Sanzara, avoiding La Spezia on the coast, and cycled on to Castelnuova Magra where I spent the night.

The morning was cool but sunny, so the cycling was good... After the first 20 kms, I had a flat on the rear tire and noticed that I had a slow leak on the front, so I fixed both of them. Not bad, though, 12,000 kms on the front tire and a total of two tires on the rear for the same distance... I got to Pisa just before noon and spent a bit of time checking out the sights...

Within Pisa, the walled area with all these monuments is just beautiful, but the rest of the town is pretty ordinary, so in the afternoon, I continued down the coast to Liverno, which wasn't all that interesting but I stopped for a snack and then continued on to Cecina where I stopped for the night.

Continuing down the coast in the morning, the sun was shining, but then the wind started blowing and brought clouds. I had to leave the coastal road (disallowed bicycles) for the hills and in the afternoon, I passed by Grilli, a nice little village on a hilltop, and then, cycled on to Grosseto where I spent the night.

South of Grosseto, I couldn't ride Titus on the coastal highway either so I cut into the hills inland. It's tougher cycling, up and down low hills, but the Tuscany scenery was just beautiful as can be seen in the panorama, near Magliano, below...

A little further on, as I stopped to photograph the hilltop village of Capalbio, I met an Italian cyclist, Max, who having lost his job was spending time touring his country. We cycled on together to Civitavecchia where we spent the night at a camping by the Mediterranean Sea.

We both leave for Rome in the morning, and Max decides to ride the highway, so I follow him (Max was saying that the chances of being stopped on the highway are minuscule, and that the coastal highway was the only good road to Rome). By mid-afternoon we're in the Plaza Popolo and go our separate ways... I'll be getting a room here waiting to connect with my friend, Marie-Hélène, arriving at the airport in the morning.

Overall, Italy... I had high expectations... and was a bit disappointed !

From poor little villages in the northern Italian Alps to the rich cities like Milan... Prime resort islands like Capri... History filled areas like Pompei and Rome... World marvels like the leaning tower of Pisa... Charming people... and the list goes on and on...

However, Italy is dirty... it seems that if there's a hole in a wall, a space between two buildings, a break in the vegetation on the side of the road, a crevasse between rocks, Italians will fill it with garbage... It's a real shame...

As well, it certainly appeared to me that Italians couldn’t cook... I've had pasta that was overcooked and pasta that was still crunchy... seldom "al dente"... and portions are all minuscule... you'll leave hungry if you don't take an entrée, primari and secundi plati as well as dessert... I've had some really good meals, but they were the exception... Again, it's a shame...

And Italy is expensive... Cheaper than Norway for sure... but the quality wasn't there, either in food or in accommodations.

As a manner of excuse... most Italians I've met were unhappy... They've had to clean up their economy big time to measure up to the rest of Europe for monetary unification... that meant eliminating most if not all of the underground economy. This is evidenced by the sheer number of "guardia de financia" present everywhere... and it has taken a large bite in the disposable income and profitability of many individuals and small businesses... and many are unhappy.

Another irritant is the sheer number of cellular phones... it seems like every Italian has one and uses it continuously... I was told by an Italian (Max) with whom I cycled a few days that a recent survey showed that playing with one's cellular phone was the main pastime for Italians after television... Wow !

Aside from that, it is a beautiful country with endless offerings...

Since, Marie-Hélène is not a cyclist, and we would be spending a couple of months travelling Italy and Greece, I shipped Titus back home and continued on by bus, train and ferry with her.

So this is the end of my cycling travelogue for now. 12,195 kms from Paris to Rome via Morocco and Norway (pretty circuitous route, eh !). In early November, I returned to Montreal, Canada (my home) and am planning my next tour with Titus.

If you would like to see my photographs for the rest of the trip, as well as a greater selection for those countries that I cycled through, they are available here.

JULIEN & TITUS' CYCLING TRIP

> HOME > TRAVELOGUES > EUROPE (2001) > GREECE

I've been told that as much as 60% of Greece's economy is made up of tourism... No wonder !... Beautiful scenery and weather, charming people, lots of history, great food and a network of little islands that will make you think that paradise still hasn't disappeared from this earth... And it's inexpensive as well... In fact, it's the cheapest country I've visited in Europe !

Get yourself there... you'll love it !

JULIEN & TITUS' CYCLING TRIP

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JULIEN & TITUS' CYCLING TRIP

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Total distance cycled is.... 12,195 kms