Venice, the sinking city

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Not a lot to do in Venice, but I had a good enough time just walking about...and getting lost every five minutes.

When on the island, there are no cars or anything, everyone is stuck on foot. And since this is the case, there are no roads, only small and claustrophobic alleyways. Alleyways they often lead to dead ends, or in circles, but this is fun in it's own way.

For accomodation, I was staying at a huge campsite complex about a 15 minute bus ride out of town. Not a bad place, and the price was very good, 12€ a night. They supply all you need too, so for your money you get a pre-pitched tent with 2 beds inside, sheets, and not much else, the bare necessities. Comfortable enough though. The place had a neat outdoor shower/washroom facility too, fun to shower up and step out of the stall into the blazing heat of the sun, dries you off pretty quickly.

I wasn't too into the concept of running around Venice seeing all the museums and churches, and with one full day in this place I decided to just walk around and get a good feel of the city. I got dropped off by the shuttlebus from the campsite at roughly 1100, and took to walking immediately. I got lost within 2 minutes, but since Venice is so small and it has a very large canal, the main street of sorts, running right through it's center, it's hard to get hopelessly lost, thankfully. Venice is pretty cool, lots of little shops and restaurants lining every alleyway, and people going up and down the canal in boats and of course.....gondola's!

Eventually I stumbled onto one of the main sights to see, a bridge over the grand canal named Ponte Rialto. It was built back around 1500 out of wood and it collapsed rather shortly afterwards, so then it was quickly rebuilt with stone. It is another one of these bridges that is lined with shops, and it affords a stunning view up the grand canal.

Shortly after leaving the Ponte Rialto I came across Venices only official piazza, San Marco. Fantastic place!! It is a huge town square lined with classy restaurants that boast their own little orchestra's playing for the diners. I cheated and found a supermarket, bought a baguette, some choice italian meat, and made a couple of subs for myself, sitting near one of the restaurants and enjoying the free music. The square is filled with people feeding the pigeons seeds and such too, amusing to watch.

While at the square I decided that I wanted to get a good view of Venice, so I climbed the bell tower that is in front of the magnificent Basilica. You can see the whole of Venice from the top, and even Slovenia and Croatia on a good day! I took some pics, and went down. Sadly after about 2 minutes of being back down on the ground, the bells at the top of the tower where I just was started to ring, bah! Probably just as well I did go down for my ears sake anyway.

Since Piazza San Marco was so nice (and bustling with people) I sat in the square and read for awhile, and occasionally a few other backpackers would sit nearby and a conversation would strike up. It was nice to relax, instead of running around trying to see everything on my list.

Venice is apparently quite famous for it's glass. One of the islands, Murano, has been making fine glass products since the 1200's. And throughout the city there are galleries for thier products. Normally I wouldn't mention such things, but some of the things these people can do with glass is incredible. I won't mention the pricetags though...well...okay....I saw a few glass items costing around 1000€. Browsing was free though, and I managed not to be a bull.

Beyond all this, I just wandered the alleys, admiring the canals, gondola's, and old buildings that genuinely show signs of their sinking.

Good place to have stopped for a short time. And now I am off to Germany, a trainride that will take me up through the alps, I can't wait!

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Photos

The Grand Canal
The main street of Venice

Piazza San Marco
The main square of Venice

Venice from above again
The view from the belltower

Basilica
Very colourful, and different to most others.

Venice at night
Very pretty, and relaxing to just sit and watch.