June 25, 2025
Tessera
It’s our second day at the Venicegreen Agriresort and the final day before we fly home. The bungalow was super comfortable and we both slept well. This is a luxurious twist on camping, truly glamping, and a good fit for us since we still consider ourselves campers. Nowadays we camp in in a small popup trailer, but the tenting life was our default way of travelling by bike for many years. It was only when we fell in love with riding the high mountains that the tent and sleeping bags went into storage and full breakfast buffets became the norm. That’s when we realized how much better we felt on the bikes having had a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast, and we haven’t looked back.
Our original plan was to return to Venice the day before our flight home. But we have so enjoyed the relaxed pace of this trip that we added a second night to the booking at Venicegreen Agriresort to give David more time to pack up the bikes. We had made this decision about a week ago and felt fortunate to snag a second night. As it turned out, several tents and bungalows were available.
We had seen the bungalows when we stayed here at the beginning of the trip and thought they would be a great alternative to a traditional room, especially in the summer when it’s nice to sleep outdoors or, at least it is on Vancouver Island. Overnight, the temperature had only cooled to 24 degrees, but it was a glorious 19 degrees inside our bungalow. And, there were no mosquitoes to bug us. Now, this is the life. I highly recommend Venicegreen if you are coming to Venice and would like a little breathing room, but don’t want to stay right in the city.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We were to change rooms this morning into a chic room in the Hare’s cottage, a converted two-storey home on the property. At least, that’s how Bianca, the young, energetic receptionist, described it. In the interim, David would disassemble and pack up the bikes, and I had some travel details to work on. I’d made the mistake of booking the flights with my middle name and wanted to deal with it before we arrived at the airport counter.
The property here has many garden lounging/relaxation areas, so he chose a spot among the palm and banana trees under the jasmine arbours and got to work. By 11:30 am, the bikes were packed in their Samsonites, the panniers and contents were transferred to the carry-ons, and we were ready to move into the new room.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Bianca offered to transport our bags on her golf cart to the Hare’s house, telling us this was the most fun part of her job. Sure thing! We stacked all the cases and bags on the back of the cart and jumped in the front seat. Bianca and I headed down the gravel road to the Hare’s House while David walked behind and picked up the luggage that fell off the back when we turned the corner 😜😆.
She led us to our chic air-conditioned room in the Hare’s Cottage. Truth be told, we were pretty happy with the bungalow but this room was great, too. The bathroom alone was almost as big as the sleeping area, and we appreciated having the ground-floor room after all the lugging we had done up staircases in the past several weeks.
What to do, what to do?
It was only 1 pm, and the morning’s missions had been accomplished, so we batted around a few ideas of how to spend the rest of the day. A 25-minute walk from us is a ferry/water taxi to the Venetian island of Murano, but the choice was to take the short bus trip to Venice and enjoy the sights there. We’ve been to Venice before and weren’t considering visiting, but why not? We were exempt from the tourist tax in Venice as we were booked with a hotel (it’s only in effect from Friday to Sunday anyway), and besides that, it’s not clear who sells it or who checks for it. For all the fanfare and hype in the international news, it appears to be a non-event 🤔.
The walk to the water taxi would have been OK first thing in the morning, but in the heat of the day, it would not have been enjoyable. Bianca sold us the bus tickets for just €1.50 each and directed us to the bus stop at the end of the driveway. The air-conditioned bus arrived in about 10 minutes, and we were on our way to the Venice bus station, located next to the train station, which is right beside the ticket booths for the vaporettos.
In Venice
Walking down the steps of the train station, my memory of sleeping on the steps in 1980, after watching a ballet under the stars in St. Mark’s Square, came rushing back. I pictured a young 24-year-old me on the polished granite steps, wary of pick-pockets and transit police. That wouldn’t happen today, but overall, neither of us noticed any particular changes. Perhaps it was cleaner than in 2009? And, the waterways seemed busy, but those vaporetto’s still ply the canals, and they don’t look any different.
There was no lineup at the ticket booth, which I took as an encouraging sign that the city would not be overrun. Fingers were crossed that there were no god-awful cruise ships in port. Our idea was to take a vaporetto to the end of the line, St. Mark’s Square, and then wander back to the bus station, just observing the scenery, the vibe and vignettes that make up Venice. The No. 2 vaporetto soon arrived and we hopped on, taking a spot just behind the captain. The waterways were active and choppy due to the boat traffic, whether it was the pleasure craft, the crews moving materials and workers from site to site or the water taxis and the vaporettos. Our route took us out of the lagoon and around the outside of Venice to Piazza San Marco.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Thank goodness there we no cruise ships today and this megayacht only holds 12 guests. Yes, yes, we are tourists too, but don’t we all want the place to ourselves? Anyway, this boat, the Kismet, is here for an international yacht show... and is available for rent for a cool €5.4M per week. Gee, divide that by 12 and what a deal you could get! The Besos wedding was taking place tomorrow, and I did wonder if some of their guests had arrived this way.
Venice felt very familiar, as though little had changed since 2009 when we were last here together. I imagine there are exhaustive regulations in place to protect it in its historic form. There is no other place quite like Venice. It has earned its place in the hearts of millions and deserves the care and attention, including that city tax.
Crossing the Ponti dei Fuseri, we were treated to a gondolier show, quite by coincidence. One by one, about six gleaming black Venetian gondolas passed under the small bridge we were sitting on, eating our lunch. Along for the ride on one of the gondolas was an accordion player and an animated singer with a fabulous operatic voice. We listened as he belted out his favourite songs and the sleek boat slipped along the canal, skillfully guided by the gondolier in his traditional red and white striped shirt. The lyrics, “May I have this dance for the rest of my life? I’ll be your partner and you’ll be my wife,” echoed up and down the canal and made us smile. These guys loved their jobs! The show for us was free, for those on the gondola, priceless.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We made our way back to the station and caught the bus back to Tessera. These warm temperatures are six degrees above normal for this time of year, so we and everyone here are feeling it. After a short rest and shower, we walked the laneway through the corn fields to our favourite restaurant for burgers and beer and a little reminiscing about this year’s extraordinary cycle tour.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I visited the donkeys and goats in their farmyard pens before calling it a day.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 9 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 5 |
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago