European Escapade 4: The Case of the Sinking Islands

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Venice, Italy: August 5th - August 6th

Day 10 - We had a bit of time to mill around in the morning, so we basically just took it easy & bought a few supplies for our next train trip. We had managed to buy salami, bread & cheese on all our journeys so far, & it was kind of nice to have something to munch on while staring outside (or staring into space)! We boarded our train for Venice & chugged along quite nicely, admiring the water & all the wee islands that Venice is actually made up of. We went across one huge last bridge & suddenly we were there! We arrived in the early evening & it was still quite busy & very sunny - very pleasant! As soon as we came out of the station we were in front of a beautiful building across the Canal Grande, with all kinds of boats tearing up & down the water - really pretty! We got a map & walked across the bridge to find our hotel (there are 3 main bridges across the Canal Grande, which connects one small set of islands to another small set). There are thousands of small bridges in between them all, & there are no cars or buses - it’s awesome, with all these little narrow walkways & bridges over everything (& sometimes under buildings as well). Our B&B type place was extremely close so we dropped our stuff off & went for a wander around, just deciding to go for it down all these alleyways, ducking in & around places, over bridges, through squares, getting as lost as possible. It’s not a big place (well it is, but you can only go so far since the area is a group of islands off the mainland) so you didn’t have much fear or being seriously in trouble. Plus we had a map if we needed it.

The buildings were crazy - all with water lapping around their front steps, & some you could only get to by boat! They seemed to just sit on the water looking like they were floating or something. There were hundreds of canals, which kind of seemed to take the place of streets, & each had a bridge going over to the next wee island. However, if you wanted to get from one specific place to another you sometimes had to go back & forth a bit to get to the right bridges that got you to your destination. It was odd though that many of the places seemed completely abandoned - many Italians there do not even live in Venice either, but come by boat to work each day. The wee footpath alleyways all had amazing stores on them - just these old wee shops in the bottom storey of people’s houses, all selling amazing things that I have never seen elsewhere: fancy dress type-masks (if you have seen the film Eyes Wide Shut or anything to do with masquerade balls, it all suddenly makes sense) & all kinds of garish costumes, funky coloured glassware of all sorts (things like crockery, as well as jewellery), & regular jewellery as well. It all seemed very arty, & kind of odd because you could almost do & be anything you wanted, racing around these narrow alleyways in the dark - it was pretty cool really.

We went for dinner at this great place near where we were staying, which was mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guidebook - it was excellent, & we sat out the back in a courtyard. We knew it was a good choice when we realised we were the only non-Italian people there - if the locals think it’s good food then it must be good food! Vaughan had a giant pizza & I had some pasta, which wasn’t what I expected, but was still nice. We ended up sitting outside in the courtyard for quite son time - the weather was a bit cooler in Venice & it was quite pleasant. Nice one!


Day 11 - We jumped up today with the idea of seeing as much as we could, as with only one night in Venice, it was ‘see it today, or not at all’! We started off by walking around some more back streets. More of the wee shops were open & they all just beckoned us inside - we just looked in a few as many were the same. I wanted to take heaps of photos but they know this of course, & most places have signs in the windows asking people not to take any pictures. We went over the main bridge back to the train station to catch a ferry that would take us down the Canal Grande, to the main tourist area of Piazza San Marco (San Marco Square & Cathedral) - unfortunately we messed up & instead got on a ferry which took us in the other direction, around the outside of the ‘main island’, rather than down the main canal that cuts through the middle. Typical! When we got out to sea on the outside of the island it was really rough & I started to feel really sick (so much for being a captain’s daughter!), & couldn’t wait for the boat ride to be over.

Eventually we made it to Piazza San Marco, & not a moment too soon. We had a quick stroll until I was feeling better & then took the ferry along the main canal as we had first intended, jumping off back at the station, but still having not seen much of the Piazza where we had first wanted to go. Instead, we walked back down there, through all the tourist markets & over about a million bridges (there seemed to be about that many anyway, & if I never see another bridge in my life it will be too soon!) - it was fun, but our feet were just so sore from the constant walking on our trip at that point. I had really wanted to go for a ride in one of those big black long boats that the guys punt along with a pole, but it was insanely expensive (about NZ$300 for 2 miles), so unfortunately I had to give it a miss. The square was quite awesome when we finally arrived but it was covered in manky pigeons & people were feeding them - in London you’re not allowed to feed them & they carry heaps of diseases, so we were a bit grossed out about it all. The buildings surrounding the square were very grand, in a baroque kind of way (elaborate), & the cathedral was certainly impressive as well. We lined up to go inside as it was also free, & it didn’t take long to get there. We had a decent look around & admired the bright stained-glass windows as well as the dark interior, which was completely different from the pale & decorated outside of the building.

We started to wander back towards the station & had a look through another huge outdoor marketplace, where they even sold blue pasta! It was great to see so many local products for sale - all kinds of pastas, herbs & sauces I have never seen. Fantastic! Eventually we made it back to Margherita Square, which was near to where we were staying. We sat out in the sun at one of the cafés & had some wine while we killed some time waiting for our night train. After a while we had to sort out somewhere to eat but Vaughan had already decided on this takeaway pizza place in the same square, so we went there & ordered 2 pizzas - one for now & a smaller one for the train later (train food is very expensive). When they arrived I just about died of shock - the pizza we had ordered to eat then was the biggest thing I had ever seen. I have never seen a box that big to put them in either. It was madness, but funny, so we grabbed the pizzas & found a nice place to sit in the square & eat - it was so good eating proper Italian pizza, which is often quite basic, but so fresh!

From there we decided to go to the train station even though we had a bit of time to kill. At least we would be early rather than late, & it gave us (well, me) some time to buy a few last minute trinkets & other bits & bobs. We made the train just fine & got settled into our cabin. We had booked a ‘double sleeper’ which is all for you if there are 2 of you travelling together. It’s just two bunks in a cabin, with a small (& I mean small!) gap down the side to move around. We had our own sink, but it was ridiculous trying to use it as there wasn’t enough room. I slept up the top & it was quite nice, with air conditioning to cool us off if we needed it, & plenty of blankets to keep us warm. The conductor in our carriage was quite humorous & made the journey a bit easier, not that we saw him much. We couldn’t really see anything outside either because it was dark. I tried to sleep but just couldn’t - it wasn’t the movement of the train so much but rather the noise & the way we were shunted around at a few stations, as the train split off towards 3 different destinations overnight. It really was quite disruptive sometimes. At least we got a free breakfast just before our arrival as well as the cold pizza from the night before, which we scoffed down - excellent!

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