Humanity

At that campsite yesterday I was surrounded by a bunch of moron longterm campers. First they weren't happy they could no longer use my pitch as a parking lot. Then one of them initiated a shouting match with a random person who happened to walk along the path by his campervan. By 21:00 most of them were drunk beyond hope and since they continued to use my pitch as a shortcut, one of the idiots tripped over a rope of my tent. I didn't notice until the morning that they must have removed the peg and thrown it away. How petty. Beaches seem to attract the worst sort of people.

Delta

Thoroughly annoyed that I lost a peg I left the campsite for the Po delta. Until Chioggia I took the busy Venice road that had a constant flow of heavy traffic going. Scenery wise it wasn't what I expected. Less swampy and much more agricultural-y. Fields, grachten and dikes. Reminded me a lot of the Netherlands, just with less wind and cows. There were some actual mangroves lining the Po river but I assume the wild part is closer to the coast.

The Venice Lagoon

Crossing the lagoon involves multiple hops on a ferry. The first one from Chioggia to Pellestrina was hopelessly over capacity regarding bicycles so I had to wait two boats until I had advanced enough in line for the next one to let me board. That was ninety minutes after I arrived. Luckily the other two ferry trips went smoothly.

On the lagoon there's incredibly little to see apart from some smaller towns. The sea is walled off with an fortified dike with a forgettable view from the top. As you approach Venice it gets more interesting. The iconic, artistic facades exude an aura of prosperity amassed over a time of many centuries.

The view from a distance shall suffice. Knowing it's not very bicycle friendly I skipped the sightseeing. And got on the final ferry to Punto Sabbione. That one passed by very closely to one of the exit channels from the lagoon with its enormous ship guiding and wave breaking structures.

I've yet to warm up for this corner of the country. It's rather boring. I blame it on the lack of mountains but also the kinds of tourists it attracts: in that last supermarket I visited customers talked only German and Dutch, the staff defaulted to speaking English. A striking difference to the remainder of Italy that I've traveled in so far. (Except Tuscany which is a Dutch colony for all I know, but that at least has gorgeous mountains!) Many bike tourers though in these parts, especially on the lagoon. Where further south I met mostly Italians and Swiss on bicycles, up here in the north they're exclusively German or Austrian. None so far on today's campsite but it's not overly crowded either in here. Let's hope for a quiet night.

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