Tom`s travels: Riviera Berica (17/09/2015)

I decided to take a bike trip with my friend along the so called Riviera Berica, the road that from Vicenza leads south along the Berici Hills. So after leaving my house in the morning I biked around 20 minutes, passing by the Villa la Rotonda just south of the city, and met with my friend Leonardo where the actual bike path starts. About 30-40 minutes later we passed the town of Longare and not much after turned right to check out the small town of Costozza. Since it partly sits on the side of a hill, we had to pedal uphill and it wasn't easy. We then reached the Pieve San Mauro, a nice looking church, perched on the highest point of town. From there we descended down into town, passing by some old buildings. We gave a quick look at Villa da Schio that had a beautiful garden but was soon closing and reached Villa Trento Carli, really nice 17th century mansion. We parked our bikes and had a quick lunch with the sandwiches we made. After eating we were ready to head on to our next destination: Lumignano, another small town part of the commune of Longare. Five minutes later we were in sight of the town, and we were already looking for a way to get to our target, the Hermitage of San Cassiano, perched on the bare rocky side of the hill. Being it a hermitage it was usually hard if not impossible to get to it. In fact, we looked for a while until we found a small sign, suggesting the small path that led to it, We parked our bikes and continued by foot. The path seemed easy at first, winding through some low bushed, however at one point it started to become an actual climb, with rocks and trees to be avoided; however with some effort we managed to reach the top. The hermitage can only be visited the first sunday of the month with a guided tour, however we jumped the stone wall that was locked and entered the area where the building itself was located, The hermitage was barred but we admired it from the outside either way, with splendid views over the surrounding landscape and felt a real sense of peace that could be appreciated up there, no wonder those monks decided to build it there. Right next to it were some really large caves, probably used for meditation and prayer too, which nowadays from the look of it, seem they are used mostly for barbecues and picnics. After taking a few pics we descended back down to where we had parked our bikes, and decided to pedal further on. However not long after, a few drops of rain started to fall, and from the look of the sky, it did not seem it was just a passer by storm. We decided to just end the day there and head back home, happy after a short yet very nice bike out.