Historically, the influence of Venice went far beyond its borders. The powerful Italian city-state was a major financial, maritime, and cultural power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and it trafficked in silk, spices, and other trade goods through the 17th century. A more than two-week fall cycling trip with Australia-based Bike Odyssey starts in Venice and heads east through the Istrian Peninsula (and crosses from Italy into Slovenia and then Croatia). It hugs the Dalmatian coast before finally ending in Dubrovnik, where Venetian influence didn’t quite reach is a magical sensory tour with everything from truffle-hunting dogs in Istria to Roman palace ruins on the Dalmatian Coast. And bathing it all, the Adriatic’s sparkling, impossibly blue waters.