Bike tour in Italy

Ann with the foldable bicycle in its suitcase.

My husband, Fred, and I, along with 13 others and two leaders, in June ’05 participated in a 16-day bicycle tour of the lakes region of Italy sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (www.uwsp.edu/hphd/bikehike).

Many colleges and universities offer adventure travel programs as part of their community services. Although such tours are organized assuming that everyone is near the college, for this trip there were no restrictions other than adequate physical fitness to bicycle 50 to 80 miles a day on rolling terrain.

Also, if we wished to use their flight plan, we had to start and end our trip in Chicago. Otherwise, we could just meet up with the group in Italy. We opted to make our own flight arrangements and allowed a couple of days before and one day after the bicycle tour for some independent sightseeing.

Including airfare from Chicago, luggage transport between hotels, lodging with breakfast and six dinners, the tour cost about $3,300 per person. As we made our own travel arrangements for air and extra lodging before and after the tour, the cost for the two of us, including the extra meals, was about $7,200.

On June 9 we flew Alitalia from Washington Dulles to Milan ($1,188 round trip) and took the train ($6.50 each) to Stresa on the west side of Lake Maggiore, where we spent two nights at Hotel Italie et Suisse (www.italiesuisse.com) at $116 per night.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Stresa, a lovely, picture-book town where we strolled along the waterfront and rode the funicular.

On Sunday we took the ferry (about $8 each, with luggage) over to Angera on the east side of the lake (north of Milan) and joined the other members of the tour. We brought our own foldable bicycles for this trip, although some of the group rented bicycles in Italy and others shipped their road bicycles from the U.S. Our bicycles, when packed in their suitcases, each flew as one of our pieces of checked luggage.

Our group spent two nights in Angera, giving us all a chance to check out our gear and meet everyone.

Ann on the Scara River Bike Trail on the north side of Lake Garda.

On our first full day of cycling, we went from Angera to Como on Lake Como, a distance of about 55 miles. The cycling part of the trip was self guided, though we were given some general guidance on the routes to take between towns. We would meet up with the others and the tour leaders for dinner at the evening accommodations.

The first day was our hardest, as this portion of the route had the most hills and it was raining. The weather then turned sunny and during the next two days we had time for a boat trip as well as touring around Como.

Next we cycled 50 miles to Romano di Lombardia, a small town south of Bergamo, and spent the night.

On we went, 75 miles to Lazise, a small town on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. As we were there for three nights, we had time for bicycle tours around the lake as well as a day trip by bus to Verona. One of our leaders, Mark Koepke, an art historian at U.W. Stevens Point, led us on the tour of Verona’s many interesting churches and architecture.

Finally, we cycled 82 miles to Monselice, a small town south of Padua. We spent four nights there, so we had time for some cycling through the rural countryside as well as a day trip to Venice, with Mark pointing out the tour highlights.

The group was transferred by bus back to Angera, staying another two nights. We spent our free day repacking our bicycles and gear, early the next morning boarding buses to Milan’s Malpensa airport. We were dropped off at our hotel near the airport, and the rest of the group flew home. After checking in to the First Hotel Malpensa (info@firsthotel.it), at $158, we took the shuttle back to the airport and caught the fast train into Milan (about $15 per person, round trip).

We spent a fascinating but very warm day (100°F) touring the town center, including walking around on the roof of the Duomo, the main cathedral. The views over the city were impressive, as were the incredible gargoyles on the eaves. Later, we were happy to retreat to the air-conditioned train back to the airport, where we took the shuttle back to our hotel.

Ann on the roof of the Duomo in Milan.

At the airport the next morning, checking in was rather a zoo, since many flights had been overbooked, but at last we were issued tickets and ran to our gate. As we were boarding, we realized we had been bumped up to business class. Thank you, Alitalia! We thoroughly enjoyed our restful ride back to the U.S.

Reviewing our trip, we were impressed with the Italian drivers and their friendliness toward cyclists. Only our first cycling day, in the rain to Como, was stressful because we were not yet used to cycling in traffic. We soon discovered that Italians are accustomed to seeing cyclists and are courteous to them. After that, we were more relaxed and able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lakes region.

When we stopped for lunches in the small towns along the way, the other customers and staff were always curious about our tour and surprised to find Americans on a bicycle tour. We were sorry that our Italian was so poor that our conversations were limited.

ANN ABELES

Frederick, MD