Thursdsy 16th , continued

Fuelled with wine and cheese we continued on our merry way, next stop Museo Storica delle Giostra , a museum on the history of the amusement park!
Really an amazing story, this tiny rural town of Bergantino was in bad shape with poverty, unemployment etc. Things hit rock bottom 1929 , a short while after this some locals hit upon the idea of making fun fair park rides , they say that now amusment park rides for the whole world are made in the area!
Some wonderful examples of working 'music boxes '



assorted mementos of fair grounds

Thursday, 16th

Off we set, a short 17km cycle to a Granda Pandana cheese factory.
10 farms supply 16,000 litres milk a day, takes 500lt to produce 1 wheel of cheese.

Lyn standing next to some of the cheese wheels.
some of the 30,000 cheese wheels, weighing about 36kg each , not rocket science to work out that there is a lot of money here.
Tasting of cheese & wine at 10am, oh dear, well someone has to do it.

Patterns of Ferrara

Adria to Zelo

An early start , began cruising 7am, passed through my first and only Italian lock. 10ish we moored and rode the 35km to Ferrara. Rode along next to the Po river for a good 10km of the way.
Extensive planting of poplar trees along the Po to help against errosion that occurs when flooding
the mighty Po river

Got to Ferrara , ( UNISCO listed town) Usual colourful history that has gone on for hundreds & hundreds of years, wont even try to go into it because
A) not enough hours in the day
B) never get it right anyway
C) are you interested?
However great town and had a lovely time wandering around for a few hours



Castello Estense

Umbrellas
Via delle Volte , medieval street

Cycling in Ferrara , well what can I say? ...... its very popular and looks weird. EVERYONE cycles with their seat down as low as it can go , knees are up under their chin as they cycle over the cobblestones
cobblestone streets, teeth jarring

Chioggia to Adria

After our visit to the fish market we got going, weather cleared to a gorgeous day, lucky again with the weather, thunderstorms skirted right around us. 50km cycle today through a variety of landscapes. Mozzies through the forest enormous and vicious.
I was sweeper today, tail end of group as we headed towards the beach.

Endless private beaches with endless rows of umbrellas, thank goodness we aren't here in July or August, it would be horrendous.

' The Vally' man made lagoons where they fish farm, also a haven for birds, supposed to be flamingos but we didn't see any

Chioggia Fish Markets

Huge seagulls hang around on the off chance of some off casts from markets

Lyn outside the fish markets

one of the many characters in the markets




So much gorgeous seafood, theses are some of the more 'off beat' offerings.

Chioggia

A busy fishing town, lots of activity around the port.



net cleaning

out for a walk and what better way to soak up the atmosphere than a stop for an apero.