The Great Bike Tour Day 26: Contrasts

Today was characterized by contrasts:

This morning only four cyclists at Camping Mistral, no one else, this evening perfectly organized mass processing on a large campsite.

It takes me about 3 hours for the first 23 km - well, there are also some meters of altitude - but the road is beautifully empty and mostly shaded by dense foliage. Many of the houses I pass seem to be uninhabited, a very lonely area. I roll down the next 8 km in about 20 minutes, the road on the south side of Passo degli Acandoli has many potholes, so I don't really want to let it rush. And down in the valley there is what you would expect from a big city: completely flat, hot, industrial areas, lots of traffic, construction sites, but at least a continuous cycle path or the so-called cycle path in Italy. And it gets really beautiful at the Arno River.

I take a break at the main square of Prato, the completely untouristic neighboring city of Florence, with cappuccino and a view of the fountain and church. There are a few locals here, I listen carefully and practice understanding Italian.

Somewhere a young mother calls out to me buongirono - pellegrina ?? It took me a while to realize that pellegrina means pilgrim, but by then I had already passed through the underpass. But what am I actually? Somehow I am already a pilgrim, although not for religious reasons. I haven't come up with a completely satisfying answer yet - but I still have a few days to think about it.

The same applies to Florence as it does to Bergamo: I don't have to experience it by bike, there are way too many tourists and I've already been there on a school trip in 2018. That's when I decided to learn a bit of Italian.

https://www.komoot.de/tour/772709562?ref=itd

Camping hu Florenz, 34€ - I count as Minibus XS, which is the smallest pitch size, so I could have parked the VW bus there too.