To Bassano del Grappa

July 8, 2022

A short 11km ride to begin the tour brings us from hotel to Venezia Maestra train station.

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Our only objective for today is to ride the short distance to Venezia Maestra train station and get ourselves to Bassano del Grappa, a direct one hour voyage away.

We were both weary and tired this morning as jet lag was reluctant to release its grip. I was ready to get up at 1:30am and begin the day, and I spent the next few hours tossing and turning and checking the clock to see if it was a reasonable time to get up. At 4:30, I'd had enough of playing the pretending to sleep game and decided to get up, write the first post of our journal, put the kettle on and have an instant coffee.

Can a ten jammer breakfast be a ten jammer breakfast without having ten jams? Who knows, but take a look at this spread. Sue and I can easily see ourselves get quite used to this every morning.

There is a controversial debate in the CycleBlaze community brought on by that trouble maker Steve Grampies surrounding the criteria for rating the hotel breakfasts. The question is proposed to the Classen family: Can a breakfast be a 'ten jammer' breakfast without having ten jams on the table?

As Sue and I are neophytes when it comes to our experiences with hotel breakfasts, we're going to wisely stay out of this debate. But, we can't wait for the more experienced CycleBlazers out there to weigh in on this topic.

All kidding aside, the fact that breakfasts are often included as part of our hotel stay is a real game changer for us. As much as we have enjoyed camping and eating breakfast 'en plein' on our previous tours, we sure can get used to this.

Waiting for the train to Bassano del Grappa.

Although today's ride was a short one, we enjoyed a pleasant ride on mainly dedicated cycle paths to Maestra. The rain that was with us last night was pushed on, and we enjoyed a great sunny day with temperatures that we not too hot for riding this morning. But, it was expected to get much hotter later in the day.

We were lucky to have one of the newer trains that you could just roll the bikes on to. Hang in there, guys. Not punny! Cue crying trombone music now.

Upon disembarking the train, we rode the short distance into the town center of Bassano del Grappa. We were both immediately charmed by this town. We'll let the photos speak for themselves.

We're in Bassano for two nights. Today we are going to ride to Asolo for a short day trip, just to try to spin out the jet lag from our bodies.

Sorry for the bad lighting, but this will not be your first chance to look at the Ponte Vecchio. We're here for two nights, so we'll sure to come back for more photos when the light is better.

Susanna contemplating tomorrow's ride. We are headed north along the Brenta through that gap center frame in the Ventian Alps.

View from the Ponte Vecchio up the Brenta River. We are looking north here. Tomorrow we follow the Brenta towards Borgo Valsugana.

After wandering Bassano's quaint streets for a couple of hours, we were done. We headed back to the hotel and collapsed for a few hours. At 4pm, I opened one eye to check the time and I nudged Sue awake exclaiming that we better get up and out the door for more exploration, just so we can try to get adjusted to the nine hour time difference we were experiencing.

What an amazing place Bassano is with its towers, church spires, open squares and amazing location along the Brenta perched upon a high ridge over looking the mountains to the north.

Bassano del Grappa was also the sight of some very fierce battles during WWI, with the battle for Mount Grappa being among them. It is also where Ernest Hemmingway drove an ambulance during the war effort, also becoming the protagonist for his famous novel, A Farewell to Arms.

Stick a fork in us, because we're done! Heading back to the hotel.

Bad kitty. Not because they are in kitty jail. It's because when I went to pet them, they took a good nip at my hand. I should have paid more attention to their expression. Would you pet this cat?

One chore that was on our agenda was to purchase chamois cream. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's bum cream so you don't get a rash on your back side from all that cycling.

We Google mapped out a bike shop and headed over. What would commence was a great game of charades with the non-English speaking bike technician, trying to emote what I (Sue) wanted. Try to imagine Marcel Marceau asking for bum cream. That's what it looked like. The 'aha' expression arose on the bike technician's face when he finally understood what I wanted. After all that embarrassing gesturing, it turned out they didn't have any. Good times.

At that, it is now time to put ourselves and this journal to bed for the night.

Today's ride: 11 km (7 miles)
Total: 11 km (7 miles)

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Suzanne GibsonLooks like the beginning of a great ride!

I noticed at the end of your tour you plan to cycle from Riva to Limone on Lake Garda. We drove that stretch in April and saw many cyclists on the road, but it was a very tight squeeze with all the traffic. It's a road I wouldn't want to cycle, even in my younger and braver years. It was the Saturday before Easter so maybe there was more traffic than usual, but I think in the summer months it might be pretty busy, too. Just a heads up, you probably have chosen the route for good reasons.
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1 year ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Suzanne GibsonThanks for the advice Suzanne. We'll definitely assess the situation the closer we get to Lake Garda.
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonI love the story about trying to find chamois cream! I hope you find some. I couldn’t get by with out it and alway bring plenty with me. Have a great trip.
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1 year ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Rachael AndersonHey Rachel. It was kind of comical. The guy told us to come back the next day. So we did. And, guess what? The bike shop was closed. Our bums are angry! We still haven't managed to find any!
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1 year ago

Bob KoreisYour photos have me pining for a return to Italia. I'm always torn between places that do and don't provide breakfast. If a place doesn't that means I have room in my stomach to check out a local pasticceria.
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1 year ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Bob KoreisHi Bob. Thanks for writing. You've got a great point there. Hope you get back to Italy sooner rather than later. Glad you enjoy the photos.
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1 year ago