Tour of Italy part 2
The next couple of days of our cycling and culture trip of Italy saw us head South for Bologna and a full day of history and Art. The route looked pretty flat so we planned two 100km (or Grande Fondo) days. Hopefully we weren’t going to regret it.
Day 4
We set off from our lakeside accommodation on a combination of slow cycle track right by the lake and fast road. After a while one bit of lake looks much another. Quite frankly the lake Garda doesn’t need to be that big and half the size would have been plenty. Note for future lake designers.
We eventually headed away from the lake and soon found a very long cycle track by the side of a river. Which again went on for far too long as although the cycling was easy there was little change in the scenery.
We did, however find a river side cafe where we had a late lunch
After more miles of dull cycling we arrived at Montova and todays only glimpse of culture which was the town castle which we had to cycle round.
For our overnight accommodation we had found somewhere a little way out of town on a working farm. It was the best stay to date and supports the theory not to stay in big town hotels if you can avoid it.
Day 5.
This was another long flat stage that would take us all the way to Bologna. 
Again it was pleasant cycling on a lovely day but not much to see as a lot of it went along by the railway line.
There were, however two hazards. Firstly the number of flying insects about and secondly the lack of anywhere to eat along the cycle path. This meant we survived the day on a snickers bar and some biscuits, chalking up another learning opportunity for the trip. No culture was spotted today.
A quick note on cycle path which was officially part of Eurovelo 7 and had fantastic signage all the way with big sunshines painted on the road to make sure you couldn’t get lost and surprisingly for once we didn’t.
Day 7
This morning Mrs Crusader woke up with her face swollen and one eye closed. This was due to an inconveniently placed facial insect bite and unfortunately Mrs Crusader is rather prone to them spreading. Two Farmscia visits and many euros later we had the best over the counter treatment Italy has to offer. Hopefully the swelling will go down enough to continue by bike tomorrow as cyclops can’t cycle in that state.
In the meantime we were booked on a walking tour of the old city so we could finally get stuck into the cultural part of the trip.
I learned that
1. medieval buildings have pointy arched windows where as renaissance have round ones.
2. They nearly built the cathedral too big so the Pope had to tell them have a rethink and not build the side wings otherwise it would be bigger than his and what would God say then?
3. Bologna Is famous for its two towers although one of them is on the hoof which seems a feature of towers in these parts.
Sadly Mrs Crusader could only see half the tour so only thinks Bologna has one tower.
After this we headed to the cake shop that had been recommended which was excellent although sadly no hot chocolate until next week when apparently winter starts.
We then wandered round for a bit and looked at old things before heading back to ice the poorly eye to give it a chance to be open for tomorrow.
We held a planning meeting and decided we would do a two day ride out to Pisa (more wonky towers) before heading to Florence for our next full on cultural stop. After that plans are unclear.
277 miles cycled to date
Cultural highlights
Day 4. Montova Castle
Day 5. None
Day 6. Bologna square
Map of where we have gone so far by Mrs Crusader
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