Crossing the Rubicon and Other Bodies of Water- San Marino to Ravenna to Ca Tiepolo

​The departure ride from San Marino was the thrilling downhill we expected but there was a fair amount of traffic on the narrow windy road so a little more breaking was necessary than hoped for.  The terrain changed drastically this day.  We left the mountainous interior and now we were heading into the flat coastal plains.  

Our expectations were not high but we were pleasantly surprised by beautiful farmlands and vineyards.  Albeit everything on flat terrain, they were still beautiful.  

We were aware that we would be crossing over the famous Rubicon River today.  If you don’t know the story behind the expression crossing the rubicon (past the point of no return) , it refers to Julius Caesar leading an army across the Rubicon in defiance of the powers in Rome. He ended up chasing down and destroying Pompey’s army and returning to Rome victorious.  However, as you can see, today it looks like little more than a drainage ditch but nonetheless the press of history was strong!

We passed through a couple of pretty towns on our way to Ravenna such as Santarcangelo. 

We were riding through the outskirts of a small town that didn’t seem particularly interesting but then we came around the corner and saw this!  One, it was our first time smelling salt air and this was no ordinary port.  It was basically an open air maritime museum.  The boats were all historic Adriatic boats. The town was teeming with lively bars and restaurants. 

We then reached the Adriatic coast and were kind of underwhelmed by it.  Beach resort after beach resort. Pretty tacky and overdeveloped.  Neither Jim nor I took any pictures except for the working marina which was worthy. 

We were soon out on quiet country roads following irrigation canals in the midst of vast agricultural fields.  Once again more visually interesting than expected and lots of bird and animal life along the canals. We stopped for lunch along one of the canals and watched the turtles. We also saw a very large prehistoric looking fish swim by! 

Then another change in scenery as we entered some incredibly beautiful salt marshes.  There were these fishing shacks along the river as we approached.  They must lower the nets to scoop up fish.  I wonder if it is for sardine runs or something like that. 

Then into the salt marshes that were full of bird life including flamingos.  Didn’t expect that!

Then as we neared the city of Ravenna , we stopped at the Basilica of Saint’ Apollinare.  Jim stayed with the bikes and I paid the small entrance fee to see the Byzantine mosaics.  

Then onto our hotel which was right near the lively main piazza of the city.  We walked around that evening and took in the feel of this lovely city. 

The next day we were doing things a bit differently. We hopped a train first thing to take us to Ferrara.  We had some time there before we caught our next train to Codigoro.   We did a quick ride through the historic center.  They have a magnificent castle totally surrounded by a moat as well as many other splendid historic buildings.  

Then once we disembarked in Codigoro we had about a 30 mile ride to Ca Tiepolo.  There were some noteworthy sites along the way. 

This was a natural area that you had to enter through this double gated system. You couldn’t open the second gate until the first one was closed. We were joking that we felt like we were entering Jurassic Park. It was a lovely park following the coast and salt marshes and most of it was in the shady pines. Once we emerged we were more out in the open following the coast and there was quite a headwind for many many miles. 

But once again lots of bird life and we passed a few working fishing towns. One of the highlights was we had to cross two bridges that were made of 

boats. 

After the second bridge we were rewarded with the wind in our sails for the last 6 or 7 miles to Ca Tiepolo.  Overall it was two days with amazingly varied scenery.