Travel report: On the road with Radweg-Reisen from Venice to Poreč
From our guests Andrea and Heiko
"On the road again ..."
In 2021, we booked our first tour with Radweg-Reisen and were really excited. It was clear: we had to go again in 2022! We looked online, in the catalog ... and had far too many routes that we really wanted to do.
In the end, we chose the "Cycle tour along the Adriatic to Istria". The tour was organized in cooperation with an Italian partner tour operator. Once again, we were supposed to arrive/depart by train (by Nightjet), but due to construction work, this was suddenly not possible. We were forced to reschedule, using other train connections for the arrival and a flight for the departure, and came to the following conclusion: Arrival and departure by plane is recommended.
Show more Show lessDays 1 and 2 in Venice:
We - Ü50 and Ü60 - prefer to spend an extra night at our starting point and explore Venice first.
Our hotel is in Mestre, the streetcar station is just around the corner and the connections to the lagoon city are good. We are driven along the Grand Canal by a singing gondolier, see the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge and hear about one or two special events.
Back on solid ground, we make our way across the city and over countless bridges to Piazza San Marco. The old town is clean, the water is green-blue and the number of tourists is lower than expected.
A beautiful, sunny day, on which we are able to gather many new impressions, finally ends with the handover of our booked e-bikes and a briefing in English by Anthony in the courtyard of our hotel in Mestre. We finally receive the long-awaited maps for our tour.
This is where we get to know other tour participants who we would "run into" again and again over the following days.
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Day 3:
The first stage towards Lido di Jesolo gets off to a bumpy start with a broken bike and slight orientation problems. But then we are on track, out of Mestre, and the route continues for about 8 km on a beautiful cycle path along the riverbank.
A little later, we start to feel at home: We cycle over a dam and the landscape to our right looks almost like our Wadden Sea. On the dam, the sun tans our skin mercilessly - no shade for miles! But at the end of the dam, a small taverna in Caposile awaits us with shady spots and cold drinks that are not to be missed.
Later, we reach our destination of Lido di Jesolo, a beautiful hotel-owned sandy beach beckons us and we take our first dip in the Mediterranean. Lido di Jesolo is a popular tourist destination with a lively nightlife.
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Day 4:
We change our stage a little and drive directly along the coast, past Waikiki Beach and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Back on the actual route, we follow the instructions on our map. The route takes us over a pontoon bridge - a touch of adventure - and along a river for a long time. A large sign tells us "Welcome to the land of rice" - until now we thought we were in the land of chianti and pasta. We continue on to Caorle, where we enjoy an ice cream and the beautiful scenery invites us to take a refreshing dip.
Day 5:
After a rather spartan breakfast, we get back on our e-bikes and set off for our next destination in Grado. The stage takes us past many fields with vines, a long stretch of gravel road (which we call "somewhere in the middle of nowhere"), then through a small wood to Marano Lagunare. Our "skipper" is already waiting for us on the market square, loads the bikes and takes us over to Aquileia on his boat. The last stretch before our destination is particularly beautiful: the ride over the dam to Grado. The owners of the Hotel Diana give us a warm welcome. Grado is an idyllic place and exudes a very special charm, especially in the evening. La Dolce Vita.
Day 6:
There's a fire! We wake up in the middle of the night, the room is completely filled with smoke, the whole place is enveloped in billows of smoke. "Google" knows: a forest fire near Bibione, very close to us, is the cause. We were supposed to continue from Grado to Monfalcone and the Castello di Miramare. But the road is closed and train services have been suspended. The hotel owners have advised us to take the boat to Trieste early. What else can we do? Trieste is a city with Italian flair on one side and Austro-Hungarian flair on the other. This mixture makes for an impressive old town.
Day 7:
We start the next stage with another short boat trip. We are taken from Trieste to Muggia, as the route overland promises a few meters of elevation gain. Muggia is a well-kept town with an idyllic harbor. The cycle path leads through the town gate and then directly along the coastal road. After just under 6 km, we reach the border with Slovenia and leave Italy.
The Adriatic cycle path in Slovenia really impresses us. Wide, asphalted, marked with cycle symbols and then with a fantastic view of the sea - it always makes you forget the one or other ailment and the 33 - 40 degrees. We cycle through Koper and Portoroz to Piran. The beauty of this place leaves us speechless as we drive down to the harbor ... and then we are standing in front of our hotel entrance and can look directly out to sea again. We have arrived in paradise.
The hotel really is a dream and leaves nothing to be desired. The breakfast buffet is a feast for the eyes and a delight. Piran is one of the most picturesque medieval coastal towns in Slovenia and is a protected monument. There isn't really a beach here - you make yourself as comfortable as possible on the promenade or the stones. A stroll in the evening is definitely worthwhile, as is a stop at the small ice cream parlor "Mersii Gelato - artisan gelato" in Kosovelova 2.
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Day 8 and 9:
As beautiful as it was, it's no use, let's keep going! Well fortified, we leave Piran in the direction of the Slovenian-Croatian border.
In Portoroz, the cycle path takes us past a campsite at the Secovlje Salina Nature Park. Immediately after crossing the border, we take a gravel path up to higher ground - no problem thanks to our e-bikes. We enjoy the fantastic views, including at a photo point (there are several of these along the entire route, which are repeatedly pointed out in the travel documents). We opted for the route variant via Umag along the coast and really enjoyed the impressions on this route.
In Lovrecica, we meet up with the other route again, cycle to Novigrad and take a break at "My old Lady". The route description for the last stage from Piran to Porec wasn't just a challenge for us, we kept bumping into our fellow cyclists from the start of the trip, who were equally clueless and disoriented. One or two signs were missing or pointing in the wrong direction and occasionally there was a traffic circle that obviously didn't exist when the route description was drawn up.
Eventually we arrived in Porec and here, too, an extra night is recommended. There is a lot to see in Porec. Especially in the evening, the old town comes to life and there are always new alleyways, market squares with taverns and live music.
Departure
We cycled a total of 335 km (including a detour here and there), our suitcases were transported reliably and punctually from stage to stage and we had a contact option in an emergency.At the end of our cycling trip, we left Porec with unforgettable impressions in our luggage, drove along impressive serpentine roads at an incredible 20 - 40 km/h to Krk (Rijeka Airport) and landed safely back in Hamburg.
One thing is certain for us: we're going again ...
