Detailed directions about the route can be obtained from the altimetry (last figure of the gallery), from the captions of the individual photos and from the "Google Map" at the bottom right, which can be enlarged as desired. Double clicking on the photos you can view them at the highest resolution.
Description of the route
A light route (just 12 km/7.5 miles) and relatively tranquil on the island of the Lido di Venezia.
Point of departure is the piazzale at the S. M. Elisabetta boat dock, the terminal of the ACTV boat lines to the Lido; travel north along the lagoon along Riviera S. Maria Elisabetta up to Via Marco Polo, turn right and follow the street as far as the front of the Lido hospital; turn left and continue on the paved street up to a one-way loop where the paved street ends and a wooden gate marks the entrance into the protected zone of San Nicolò; the cyclist can pass through the narrow passage to the right of the gate and continue on a small gravel road; you cross through a section of woods and then come to the area of San Nicoletto; currently the road ends at a clearing in front of the former staging area of (*)MOSE.
To the right of the staging area a small road follows along the construction fence at first open on the other side, then reduced to a narrow passage between the two fences up to the beach and at the beginning of the new jetty, built in recent years by MOSE. The cyclist can get onto the jetty and continue to the Lido lighthouse; the first section is the new one raised by a couple of meters/yards on top of the old breakwater. Towards the end one drops down a couple of meters/yards onto the former jetty, and from here one can observe the work of MOSE with the new artificial island constructed between the Lido jetty and the opposite side at Punta Sabbioni. Also visible, at least when they are in use, is the new array of the MOSE floodgates.
Continue for a total of 2.6 km/1.6 mile (from the beach) as far as a circular collection of concrete blocks that surround the lighthouse. We are at one side of the Lido inlet, one of only three inlets of the sea into the lagoon and to the port of Venice (the others being the Malamocco inlet and the Chioggia inlet).
Ride around the lighthouse and look back along the breakwater and the view of the Lido coastline; on a clear day you can see the outlines of the Grand Hotel des Bains and the Excelsior.
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MOSE (MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, Experimental Electromechanical Module) is a large-scale engineering project to protect Venice from future floods. Mosè is the Italian name for Moses, who parted the seas – you can draw your own conclusions from that. RB