My way to Venice

Hello beloved friends (and other followers),

This time is my blog in English, so that my friends from DEKAMER can understand it as well. The 16th of June I left Dalyan and went to Kaş to see my father. I cycled to Ortaca and had a beautiful ride. The temperature was nice and smooth. Waiting on the bus was a bit horrible. I wait more than 1 hour for a bus that was already full. So I took the bus to Fethiye and changed there buses. I left the centre at 9 o’clock in the morning and at 5 o’clock in the afternoon I arrived in Kaş.
I enjoyed my time in Kaş, just quiet and try to get use to my holiday. The first day at the beach was pretty boring, but the next day I went diving. Kaş is a bit a dessert in comparison with Dahab and the Red Sea, though it was nice to see some red see stars, amphora, and a few fishes I don’t know the name of.

Via Meis (Kaselorizo) I took the ferry to Rhodos. The first boat was nice and small, the next one was a really big one! I will post the photo’s later, somewhere. Rhodos city is beautiful and it’s a bit like the cities in France that were build in the Middle ages. Everywhere in the old town you find buildings from the 12th until the 15th century. There is a big wall, and several towers and small castles. It was wonderful to walk through the streets. And I definitely want to come back and show it to my lovely girlfriend.
I went to the Aquarium, a small aquarium with several fishes and other sea life from the Mediterranean sea. Saw some Murrays and Eels, and even some rays. And I went to the Archaeological museum, that was full of old graves, pottery and some statues of ancient gods. The most spectacular I found the ocular from the 2nd century BC, which the Greeks used to make small and precise carvings in bone and pottery.

This morning I woke up at 2:30 AM and packed the last stuff. My bike was prepared at 3:15 AM and I left. There were some people on the streets, drunk, who just came out of a pub. I found my way out of the city pretty easy. And followed the main road to the south for several kilometres, with the sea on my right side. It was full moon and it reflected in the sea. I love the sea! I love my life!

At the airport I had two hours, before my flight took off. Sadly I needed all the time. First I had to get my ticket, then I had to buy the ticket for my bike. The flight bag was not good enough, and they were not so happy with me (and I was not happy with them at all!). Finally they took me to the other departure hangar, so someone could wrap my bike in plastic. I thanked the guy. And one hour and fifteen minutes later I could finally check in. Than it took me another fifteen minutes to get rid of my baggage and I had to go quickly to my gate.
The flight was pleasant and quiet, I slept a bit, looked out of the window and enjoyed the view of the Greek islands. I landed on time in Athens. There I spend some time in the relaxing area, look at some shops and was amazed by the terrible high prices of some stuff! How can people pay thousands of euro’s for some shoes, just on an airport... But okay. My flight had some delay and we were off to Venice. I slept again some time.

At the airport in Venice I found my stuff and was busy for 30 minutes to put my bike together. Tourists and other people were staring at me, but I don’t care, I’m a strange Dutch person, who cares. At the tourist information I asked for information about camping sites near Venice. They looked at me, as if I was mad! How would they know? I was astonished, but I just asked how I could get there with my bike (without taking the highway).
Outside I realised I had a flat tire... my first one, I thought. But when I took off the baggage, let the air escape and put the outer tire where it should be, it was alright again (and 2 days later it still is). So I asked several times the way to Mestre, and found it.
Some of the people who will read this blog won’t approve, but I cycled on a provincial road, where the Italians drive their own 70 km an hour. Usually 90 km an hour. But I enjoyed and found a nice camping site, called Rialto Camping. I checked in, set up my tent, text the most important people that I arrived safely and slept.