Day 43 Mantova to Cremona

91 km ( miles) day, Miles total

A poor day, probably the worst of the trip, from a cycling point of view. First of all the cycling. Two things lead to an arrow straight road- flat country, and being built by Romans. The roads today definitely had the first, and (bring in Italy) probably had the second. The whole, very hot, day was spent looking at a pencil of arrow straight road dwindling to infinity at the horizon. Flat, farmland, empty villages, endless pedalling. Two major disappointments, and one highlight. First disappointment, Sabionetta. Mentioned on the Mantua (Mantova) Wikipedia as a UNESCO World Heritage site it is just a boring village with no architectural, or obvious other, merit. And I was ripped off at a sleazy bar for the most expensive (and weak) Aperol Spritz of the tour! Visitors, just me - and a few equally bemused tourists with cameras looking for something to photograph! None of the usual tour buses (smart tour companies - there needs to be something there to see). Took no pictures. It does have an uninteresting town wall. Rant over. The second disappointment was stopping at the “La Perla” bar and finding the staff not appropriately dressed! (Only those who know the brand will appreciate this point). Beer was good though. Highlight was reaching 2,000 miles from St. Malo which happened at 1:45 as I was passing a petrol station that happily served ice cream and Vino Verde (which being fizzy was as close to Champagne as I was going to get). Around 4:00 I arrived in Cremona. I had intended to pass through but had done 91km of mind-numbing, flat, straight, road and was unenthused by continuing. Cremona looked nice so I stopped. Cremona is nice. Started with a Guiness and complementary sandwiches and chips (for 20% less than the infamous Aperol. Cremona is another Renaissance city with monumental buildings and narrow streets. This makes photography hard. It is best known for being the centre of the golden age of Luthiers (makers of string instruments) including all the main men (the most expensive at auction) -Stradivari, Guarneri, Amati and others . As a result there are violin statues and references everywhere. It’s cathedral has the third biggest brick tower in Europe and, for a fee, you can climb its 500 steps for the view of the city. It comes alive at night with many, many people eating out in the warm air. I had a Chinese takeaway. I need the Carbs!

This bar has good beer but could be improved!