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Chapter 2: The Three Musketeers.

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Buon giorno Itália! Time to raise camp and hit the road! 

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The old man pedaled hard and seconds later he overtook looked at me, held out his hand and waved for me to follow him: 
- Vieni per un café? - He said. 
My curiosity was so big that I obviously accepted! 
- Oh, si! Andiamo! - I answered at a glance.

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Once again - as always -, we went out to the front area of the camping ground, which where the reception was usually located, as well as a bar or some place with internet access where we could relax, and the cyclist I met this time was an Indian, Yogesh. He was also staying overnight at the same camping and had been cycling since Faro, Portugal, heading for - wait for it - India! We sat there chatting until around 10 PM and decided to set out together the next day. Alright, now there were three of us, the three cyclists! Or the three "Biketeers"? Nah... Musketeers! 

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He left his job and went on a motorcycle adventure through Central America all the way down to Bolivia, after this adventure in the Americas, he took a flight to Faro in Portugal and from there he started cycling, his idea was to cycle to India! And a little lightbulb - just like the ones on cartoons - lit up over my head... Huh, pedaling to India, doesn't that sound rad?! He had a really modest bicycle and a backpack tied to the back, with a quite modest tent and sleeping bag, he was a great example that everything comes down to willpower, regardless of the gear. 

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Yogesh and Josep also realized this, that crowd was suffocating us, we were so used to the peaceful roads that the rampant tourism in Rome upset us, and so we decided to return to the camping ground. And Rome was really great, around every corner was a magnificent piece of history that I don't even know how to begin telling, and Nhanderecó and I were also part of that now, where blood was once shed, and victories and defeats were acclaimed, I was now cycling. 

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And so it was another day. Different, but the same. This time there had been an important farewell in this story of many comings and goings of people and places. The Yogu Boy was gone, back to his Ithaca, there are only two combatants left, the Tupi-Latin-American and Ciabatta Boy, with their faithful aluminum companions, who would carry on towards the unknown, headed North!

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The funny thing about his story was that he hadn't made any plans regarding traveling on a bicycle, he was on vacation in Nice, France, and out of nowhere decided to extend his stay, bought a used bicycle, a pannier and a tent, and took off cycling towards Rome... And I'm the crazy one?! 

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And in the midst of all that talk, Bruno suggested an agreement, if we spent the night there - and paid for it, of course -, dinner would be on him... Hmm, done! And what a great dinner it was! 

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Civita di Bagnoregio, a really beautiful "lost" little town, somewhat abandoned in some parts, yes, but well, it's 2500 years old! That was definitely another trip back in time...

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After the tents were set up, I went to prepare our dinner by the light of lanterns, not candles. I made tuna and rice with some sachets of tomato sauce and mayonnaise, I mixed everything together and it looked - yummly strange - great! We wolfed it all down! We managed to wash our things, I scraped off as much dirt as I could from the pan and the dishes, put the garbage in a bag and we hung it up from a tree to throw it away the next day, and we each went to his own tent to try to get some sleep. 

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And we followed towards Siena, the route was quite beautiful and quite hilly, full of curves, always veering to the right, then to left, and so on, which made the path seemed longer, but it was quiet. 

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When we saw the way from Siena to Florence on the map, we thought that the route would be, in a way, quick, because it was somewhere around 60 kms from one city to the other. We were mistaken, as it turned out, not because of the distance in kilometers but because of the time it took us, we thought we could get there after three or four hours of cycling but we only arrived at nightfall, around 7:30 PM! 

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And right off the bat I saw the beautiful Basilica of Santa Maria dei Fiore (or Duomo di Firenze), one of the most famous churches in the world! 

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We walk under that drizzle a little longer as the city became even more beautiful under the glistening rain, with its wet streets and dim lights illuminating works of art and alleys along the way. Definitely a trip back in time, you just had to close your eyes and open them again, and voilá, you found yourself a thousand years - or more! - back in time! We stopped at the Piazzale degli Uffizi to wait for the rain to end and get some rest. We sat in the hall outside the Galleria Museum, which is next to the Galileo Museum in the banks of the Arno River, which is one of the most important museums on the planet, it was an honor to be sitting there - dirty and wet - and a pity I didn't have more time to contemplate gems like Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera", as well as works by masters like Filippo Lippi, Da Vinci, Caravaggio and Michelangelo! A great reason to come back! 

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We soon found out that October 4th is St. Petronius' Day - the patron saint of the city of Bologna - and the people on the streets prepared the main square for that celebration. We then kept wandering, walking around, past the Asinelli Tower - Le Due Torri, Garisenda and Asinelli -, which are a symbol of the city, and it's said that when they were built, they were considered the tallest in Europe at the time. 

Wanna know what is like to cycle and venture across Europe? Find out all the details of this adventure with the book "Into the Corners of Europa", now on sale in major bookstores and digital platforms!

For more details click on the links below.