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Published: June 11th 2007
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Ah Venezia....my favourite place the last time I came to Italy and pretty close the second time also! I don't know what it is about this place, it's certainly not the millions of pigeons in St Marks Square, the American tourists or the exorbinant prices...
I think it's that Venezia has real class!! People dress up here and are stylish. It's easy to get around on foot and quieter than other large cities as there is no traffic. It's also the scenerey - getting lost in the little backstreets and finding gorgeous squares and buildings. It's also been warm and sunny here which makes it easier to love!
I parted ways with Robyn & Dan for 24 hours when we arrived. We'd been together for almost 2 weeks so we thought it was best they spent some time alone! I checked into the local HI Hostel which is easy to get to but lacking in charm altogether....my first taste of hostels and I'm hoping some have more ambience than this! Otherwise I will have to start talking to all the American young-ans hanging outside smoking and drinking their longnecks!
I jumped on a vaporetto from the hostel
in the Giudecca and got up the courage to climb the Campanile or bell tower next to St Marks Basilica. I was disappointed to find out you couldn't climb the stairs (and that I wouldln't work off the day's gelato) and jumped in the lift to the top. The scenery was spectacular and a must see for anyone visiting Venice.
The next day I got up early and went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum - after all the renaissance art I was ready for a dose of the modern! Her collection has many Picasso's, Kandinsky's and a Chagall, of whom I'm a fan. it's in a gorgeous house and has Peggy's graves, plus a plaque erected in memory of her many dogs! They each are listed with name & how long they lived.
As it was a stinker I decided to do sometihng a little different and head to the Lido, where there is a beach! I don't think many tourists make it up that way and am glad I did it. The weather wasn't cold and not dirty and the beach was ok. I got a little burnt and when I'd had enough headed back to Venice
itself.
I had a quick look in St Marks Basilica and loved it again. I love the uneven mosaiced floors, the product of many years of flooding in the squares. The gold mosaics on the roof are amazing and I will go back for the guided tour which explains what these are. Most of all I love that it isn't the most sparkly church and it feels old and a bit dusty. The addition of an LCD screen on the side of the pulpit is interesting though, I'm wondering what that is used for! A mass was also in action when I was there so great to hear some singing.
Robyn and Dan and I met up for a last dinner of the trip. We found a nice trattoria and Robyn and I had squid ink pasta (a must in Venice) and although I thought it was too fishy at first it grew on me and was delicious. I made the mistake of asking for some parmesan which I know is a no-no with seafood pasta and seriously offended the waiter! I got a lesson in eating pasta with seafood....we also had mixed grilled seafood which was tasty.
I think Robyn and Dan had a bit of a rush to the airport which wasn't fun in the heat. I will miss them as it has been great travelling with them. See you in Nice in july dude!!
After 2 days here I was starting to sway. I haven't been on boats all that much apart from using the vaporettos to get around but I think being surrounded by water all day took it's toll. The canals are quite rough at the moment too. I guess it's good training for Sailing in Croatia dfor a week.
I met up with Jen on Sunday - she caught a train from Verona and we jumped on the vaporetto to our next hotel. We booked a room which was a recommendation from Lonely Planet's 2005 edition but which had vanished by the time I got the 2007 edition just before I left. With good reason too! Our room was the smallest and the bed wasn't all that comfy. We had a shared bathroom which was ok but no basin or anything. I have vowed that (as with Paris) the next time I go back to Venice I will spend
the money on a nice hotel!
Luckily the weather was fab (hot & sunny) so we spent the afternoon wandering around and just getting oriented with the new neighbourhood. Jen hadn't been to Venice in 20 years so it was a matter of re-orienting herself also.
We wandered around to St marks and decided to tick one of the things off our 'must do' list - to have coffee at one of the very expsneive cafes in St Marks Square. We had joked about the 'music charge' beforehand but totally forgot about it. This is an extra 5 euro charge which you incur if you sit down when the orchestra is playing, so on top of the already exhorbinant 8euros we paid for a coffee it was 13 all up, or more than $20 AUD - crikey!! It was worth it though and we made it last for a about an hour and a half while soaking up the ambience. I had also wondered what St Marks would be like when it was flooded, and just after saying this water started to come up through the square! It must have been high tide but we were very surprised
to see the speed with which it came up.
The next day we headed to Murano to watch some glass blowing. We caught the vaporetto out and watched a demonstration and then got caught up in the hundreds of glass shops. As there are already a million glass shops in Venice itself I was well and truly over it before too long! We got some nice things though and stopped for lunch before heading back.
We decided to split up to do more shopping for a while with the intention of meeting up for a nice last night dinner in Italy. I started to feel a bit off so of course had a gelato to make mysaelf feel better. It kept getting worse & worse and suffice to say the salami panini I ate in Murano must have been sitting there for a while, and I have been extremely ill for the last 48 hours!! Am onlz just starting to feel better now.
Yesterday in my very fragile state we had to check out of our room, get to the train via ferry, take a 4.5 hour train to Ancona and then jump on an overnight ferry
to Croatia. I slept almost the entire way (think hunched over in the train station on my luggage!) and poor Jen had to take care of me. Thank goodness the ferry was large and the sea was calm as I passed out in Italy and woke up in Croatia this morning without incident.
It's very hot here so far, we're hoping to get to the beach this arvo so I will write when I have more news!
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Eric
non-member comment
Niiiice
Lucky duck,Croatia looks great.