This week's adventure was planned about a year ago after the Eugene to Portland bike ride. It was decided that the next trip should be something special and somewhere gorgeous. Italy on a canal bike boat tour won out over the Croatian coast where we'd be in the Adriatic (with at least one seasick companion) or a similar canal route in the south of France. This tour is a great combination of bike rides, tours of interesting castles, museums, landmarks and cruising. The France trip had mostly winery stops which might appeal to some, but our group of cycling tea-totallers decided on a bit more touristing over 'tasting'. We joined the boat in Mantua and disembarked in Venice a week later. Anyone wanting to really get a look at the lovely ship can see it in detail here:
Ave Maria Boat
http://maps.google.com/maps?layer=c&panoid=cMC1Rr2LPYsAAAQp0vNeTw&cbp=1%2C139.77649%2C%2C3.0%2C-6.9783015&cbll=0%2C0
Our guide Hein was from Holland and really made it a great and entertaining week for all. The chefs Giuliano and Sylvia made sure that no one lost weight by feeding us amazing food every night. Highlights of tenderloin of pork, swordfish with a side of fresh octopus salad, Guinea fowl in a pomegranate sauce, duck ragout pasta, gorgonzola&pear pasta, lasagna, molten chocolate cake, panna cotta, almond shortbread...well...you get the jist. And for my chefs (Amy, Gerald etc...)there will be pics.. As promised.
Oct 3rd was check in, dinner and orientation. We dropped our bags and then walked through town to get a look at the huge Gonzaga castle which covers a tremendous amount of the old part of town. Dinner was fantastic medallions of pork tenderloin
Oct 4th we did our first ride, an out and back of only about 40 kilometers. We got to ride along the lake path for some of it which was very pretty.
Our first stop of the day was the famous church of the blessings where there was a crocodile suspended in the middle of the church and many rustic paintings by grateful parishioners who'd survived various calamities.
Lunch was alongside a quiet country road and then a short ride to the boat. After dropping the bikes there our guide took us for a walking tour of Mantua. More Gonzaga estate and history.
Oct 5th was a bike ride to Zelo but since Lisa and one other lady weren't able to ride I joined them and Roberto (a hired driver) for a mellow and personalized tour. We visited a quiet and impressive church, where all the walls and ceilings were Trompe-l'œil frescoes to look like reliefs, marble columns and even a full cupola with windows! We followed along with the riders by meeting them at their stops. First was the smallish castle that was part of the giant Gonzaga heritage. It is in the process of becoming a museum all about the Po river and is not yet open to the public... but Hein got a key from the mayor, so we got a tour. Then on to the lunch stop at the 'Cat Asylum' which was a picnic table/bbq area pullout along the road that had two houses specially designed and built to be a cat sanctuary. They were decidedly less interested in our group then we were in them and their cute little bunk beds.
The last stop of the day was definitely the best. We toured the museum of the history of amusement parks. Turns out almost all carnival rides came out of this one area of Italy and are still made there today. So if you are my age or older and wondered why the Carnys always seemed to be Italian gypsy folk, that's because originally they all were!
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