A Cycling Guide to Venice.

Venice will be host city of the 2016 Para-olympics, the municiple government has stated that its rich cultural heritage, and natural beauty make it the perfect location for such a high profile event, despite lacking a stadium the mayor is confident that the games will provide the kind of economic revival the township needs to break its dependance on tourist dollars. 'It will be a huge boost for tourism' stated the mayor, who has already before the bid succeeded been filling in extra canals to make way for the Olympic Village.
That's another strange thing about countries that have man made attractions older than 200 years. Disability access is not on the menu. Whether it's Inuyama castle in Japan, Angkor Wat, or the entire city of Venice beyond the train station doors if you are in a wheelchair you aren't getting any sympathy from history there.
I kind of wonder what happened to old venetian invalids back in the day people who aren't tourists lived there, did you just see their bloated corpses face down in the Canals?
At any rate I noticed mothers with prams negotiating the un-wheel friendly streets of Venice and occasioanally offered a hand when we were going in the same direction. What I didn't see where italians laughing and pointing at the idiots with their prams trying to negotiate the quaint little bridges.
Unlike when I attempted the same (three) bridges between my bicycle and freedom.
But something has come over me in recent days, maybe since meeting Benno no matter how briefly or incidentally, I have just lost all self consciousness of riding a bike where most would never concieve of riding a bike. And surely the least practical place for bikes, possibly the least practical in the entire world, would be Venice. For sure, Venice is even less friendly to cars and I am sure, none have ever made the attempt, but being in the unique position of being just a regular tourist, and a bike tourer, I attempt to train to major destinations and ride where I can.
And so I paused to take a few snaps of Rosante in Venice, thinking, these at least won't have three friends on facebook posting the exact same photos two weeks either side of my visit.
There's no way you can overestimate Venice, the atmosphere is just too unique. It truly is world heritage, if you needed desperately to impress an alien civilization with heritage, you would take them to Venice.
But that said, after wandering the Canals for 8 hours there isn't much to do. Because the moment you step indoors anywhere that isn't a glass or mask shop, you are in any other town in Italy, if not the world.
Same same for its big cathedral, yes it has gold and yes its big.
But one experience few people can boast to share is when you carry your bike up and over three bridges, then ride it across the lagoon on a bike path just for you and peddle all the way to Padua.
So there, bikes have a place everywhere.