E5 – Islands of Venice

Meteo Blue is predicting another strong bora with winds up to 50 km/h and low temperatures (around 14 degrees Celsius) for today. Not exactly fun for a trip across the narrow islands to Venice. We're still getting tickets for the three ferries we'll need today. A single ticket costs 9.50 plus 1.50 per bicycle and ferry. The single ticket is valid for 75 minutes. This isn't enough to take all three ferries from Chioggia to Venice. The bike ride on Pelestrina or Lido takes longer, so we always missed exactly one ferry. It's worth getting a multi-day ticket (€25 for 24 hours; €35 for 48 hours; €45 for 72 hours) plus the three necessary bicycle tickets. It depends on how long you're staying in Venice. With the VeneziaUnica card, you can buy all the necessary tickets for public transport and cultural visits online in advance. The card can be printed out at the vending machine using a QR code or PNR code. On the way, we stroll through the daily small fish market. It is well-shielded on all sides to prevent the seagulls from grabbing their food directly from the counter. The vendors throw leftovers back into the canal to the birds. During the crossing, the small boat rocks quite heavily. On Pelestrina, the houses, or rather the wall facing the sea, protect us from the wind. Next, we take a car ferry to Alberoni on Lido. Luckily, it's warm enough for us to enjoy our lunch break on a bench in the park. With bicycles, you have to take the car ferry from Lido-St. Nicolo to Tronchetto. This runs approximately every 50 minutes. We first tried the ferry dock for the vaporettos in Lido, which you pass automatically. The vaporettos to/from Lido don't carry bicycles. We shortened the wait for the car ferry with a Campari Spritz to celebrate the end of our bike ride and packed our helmets in our bags, as we won't need them again until we get to Linz. The bicycle entrance from Tronchetto to Piazza Roma is very well-designed and safe. We easily reached our accommodation behind the large parking lot at Piazza Roma, or rather, Sant'Andrea. It's a good thing we arrived safely! Casa Sant'Andrea S. Croce 495 30135 Venice Tel. +39 041 2770945 Fax +39 041 2776429 Email: info@casasantandrea.it

Today, at the end: jump the island, along the islands runs the "Ciclovia delle isole Venezia" short: E 10. So we reached Venice by sea, by ferry.

Beautiful island tour from Venice to Chioggia. If only it hadn't been for the heavy rain. It was still fun! 👍

We arrived in Venice by train and found our way over a stepped bridge to the ferry terminal in the direction of Lido. Already from the ferry we had a beautiful view of the houses and buildings of the city. We continued by bike to the next pier. The ferry took us to the second island, Santa Maria del Mare, which is significantly less populated than the Lido. By bike, mostly along the shore or through small villages. Then to the third feeder. It was very busy here, many cyclists, and we had to wait until the third ferry to go. As a reward we were able to marvel at a beautiful sunset. In Chioggia, after sunset, we checked into a small hotel and went for a bite to eat.

From Mestre to Chioggia is one of the most beautiful cycling routes. Of course you have to use the ferry more often. The islands off Venice are really beautiful and not so crowded. However, on Sundays there is also a lot going on here and at lunchtime the Redtaurants are all fully booked.

Today we started our bike tour through Northern Italy. With an overcast sky and some rain, we first drove to Venice. From there by ferry to Lido. The island is only about 200 m narrow, but a good 11 km long. Miles of sandy beaches, the cinema palace (film festival every September) and the Hotel Exelsior are worth seeing. After another ferry ride and island crossing, we crossed over to Chioggia. Like Venice, Chioggia has romantic canals, narrow streets and palazzi. The oldest streets date back to Roman times. Chioggia has a very large fishing fleet and a historic fish market.

Interesting island hopping via the Lido di Venezia to the very idyllic Chiaggio, the 'Little Venice' in the lagoon

The crossings of the island of Pellestrina and the Lido are very interesting. A sore point is reaching the Venice S.Lucia FS station from Tronchetto: poor road signs and difficulty in crossing the Costituzione bridge (with steps) on the Grand Canal.