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Venice & San Marino.
Well kids, the trip from Munich to Venice went through some stunning scenery around the Austrian/Italian Alps border, and a brief stop in the Austrian ski resort town of Innsbruck. However, I arrived into Venice in pouring rain in the early evening (which was not a great start to my 10 days in Italy), however it was not worth heading into the centre of Venice that night from where I was staying. So it was a good chance to plan the next day, catch up with some friends over Pizza and wine who had already been in Venice and were leaving the next day, and also a time to people watch the ‘Topdeck’ toga party and various drunken fights that seemed to happen (they were pathetic - I’ve seen way better).
Sunday, and former ‘Busabout’ guide Stuart and I had decided to sacrifice a day in Venice and hire a car down to the principality/country of San Marino, and found 3 other girls Penny, Carly and Gemma to come along for the ride too. On a hazy morning we cranked the IPod for a 3 hour road trip and arrived at the hill top beauty
Venice by night
Me with a bridge all to myselfthat is San Marino. San Marino is essentially just a castle on top of a hill with some shops and a view of the ocean, surrounded by rolling green hills and calling itself it’s own country with it's own Police force (sexy bright yellow uniforms), but it was certainly worth the trip. You all know by now that I love to climb a castle or two, and this one had a fantastic display of ancient Roman weaponary and stairs, and the views (and Gelato) were fantastic.
After castle time had ended we headed to the beach side town of Remini to check out the locals on the beach, have some coffee and experience sea-side Italy which is very different from Oz with all their hired umbrella beach chairs, extreme tanning (the sun is less harsh here) and lack of waves (I’m still getting used to that). We decided to take the coast road back to Venice and while a little longer and more frustrating than fanging is down the autostrasse at 140km/h, my map reading skills took us through some great coast line all the way into Venice.
The five of us wanted to explore Venice at night
so we drove in as far as possible, and did what everyone does when they hit the canals of Venice - got lost in the little side streets. The first point of call was to find a place to eat (check - good pesto pasta), find San Marco’s square (check - good music), try to avoid shady characters (check - found a few, plenty of Police around, and NB: men carrying 15 fake Louis Vuitton handbags does not look manly no matter how much you’re selling them for!), and try to find our way back out again (check - but seemed to take forever in the dark). But we eventually got there and while it was a late night it was a good random choice for a day trip. And it was nice to experience Venice by night, and Venice when not crowded by tourists.
Monday, and Venice turned on a sunny day. After returning the hire car, Stuart and I hopped on the public bus into the city and again got lost in Venice. After the heavy food of Germany it was great to be able to enjoy fresh fruit from road stands, window shop the beautiful masks
arty san marino
I was trying something - I hope it worked out and glass works, and experience Venice in its natural crowded and crazy environment. With such a stunning day it was nice to sit down and people watch after walking so much (there may have been a few dead ends involved). I helped Stu record his video blogs for the Busabout website and we headed down to the Castello area to find the parklands and get away from the main tourist areas. This was one of the best decisions so far and it seemed like not many people take advantage of it (except Johnny Depp and Brangelia who were filming a movie here and parked their mega yacht there). I also had the best authentic spaghetti carbonara’s in a back lane place with only the locals and their scraggly dogs roaming around, followed by Gelato of course. After a whole day of walking over canals, battling the crowds and eating my way through Venice, it was time for some chill out time over pizza and wine and prepare for the rest of my journey. So, in summary, I loved the cuteness of both Venice and San Marino and quite enjoyed the start to my Italian adventure.
Next stop - ROME
Castello area
Good enough for the film stars to be staying in their luxury yacht
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Marie
non-member comment
keep eating! thats what travelling is ALL about, yum makes me hungry