Day 114 – EU – Italy [Padua to Venice]

15/06/20

42km

  From Padua (Italy) to Venice (Italy)

Europe

Great run, misty weather, wonderful arrival in Venice – and a few misfortunes

I left under clouded skies this morning, the air was cool and the settings amazing. The first part of the route was on a path alongside the “Naviglio del Brenta” canal. A succession of quaint little villages. I then followed a secondary road that led me straight to the start of the bridge “Ponte della Liberta” connecting the mainland to Venice itself. A 4km bridge!

As I ran past the magnificent Villa Pisani Museum, in Stra, I encountered an amazing 2 or 3 meters high golden shoe sculpture. I wondered what it was and searched Google for answers. As it happened I had just passed the factory of Rene Caovilla, renowned Shoe Designer who’s lent his talent to the best in the World (Dior, Channel, Lagerfeld…). An icon of Italian fashion!

The arrival in Venice was brilliant. It was raining lightly making it very pleasant, and the 4km bridge was a delightfully suspenseful approach. Unfortunately as I hit the city, I encountered a series of small misfortunes. The hotel I was booked in was closed. So I needed to find a new accommodation on the spot. As I made my way there, I was the victim of a tourist scam and ended up filing a report at the police station. And as if it weren’t enough, my credit card got blocked for no reason!

Despite all these delays, I still went on a tour of the city and a boat ride. I would not have missed it on my first ever visit to Venice! This is truly one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited. I will post more pictures on my Gallery page, but the San Marco Plazza, the bridges, the monuments, the frescoes, the churches, basilicas, the art, the setting itself… what a grand city. Needless to say: another city which I’d like to return to, 1 or 2 days just aren’t enough…

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: