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Published: April 28th 2007
Third Trip: Spain, Italy & France How can I describe Venice? Well, the Italian leg of my trip got off to a very bad start as I waited at the bus stop for over an hour for a Shuttle Bus which never came... turns out it only runs starting in May but that wasn't really well advertised, so I had to take a ridiculously expensive taxi to the campsite to meet Zoe and her brother Jackson and stepmom Maureen. It made me really upset, but in the end it is only money and I know I shouldn't let it ruin anything major.
We spent two days in Venice, which is dying as a city for two reasons: it has more tourists than locals, and the sea and shifting muds are causing it to sink into the ocean. It was just as romantic as you imagine, with Gondolas and canals and bridges, but on the other hand the crowds were horrendous and there wasn't much to do. Really it was about oooo-ing and aaahh-ing and then leaving for someplace more interesting. There were no buses or cars anywhere, you can only get around by boat or by foot. At one point, as we were walking over
a little bridge, we looked down the canal and there was a huge line-up of Gondolas waiting to get into the grande canal, and Maureen remarked: "Look! It's a traffic jam of gondolas!" And I just laughed so hard because the phrase was so incongruent.
The one really amazing thing about Venice was the Basilica San Marco and the Palazzio Ducal, which create a great big square. It was finished in it's present form in the 11th century and it is sooo huge and elaborate that you just can't describe it. Zoe took a picture of me with this expression like, "Can you believe this?!" because it's UNBELIEVEABLE. On the second day we came back and explored inside, where unfortunately you can't take pictures, but it had elaborate and delicate mosaics from the 12th to the 17th centuries including gold and precious stones like lapis lazuli and carnelian. We then went up to the musem (in the Galleria of the Basilica) and saw the view over Venice as well as the original 4 horses built for the Hippodrome in Constantinople in the 2nd century AD and looted during the 4th crusade in the 13th century. I was seriously gob-smacked
Can you BELIEVE this?!
I couldn't! Me in front of San Marco Square, with the Palazzo Ducale on the right.(as me and Zoe joke about calling it cos that's how Lonely Planet's "Europe on a Shoestrong" says you'll be) the whole time and couldn't get over how old and beautiful everything was and how it was all accomplished without the modern machinery we have. Really, the scope of the early civilizations is so much more interesting and impressive when you are experiencing it... it makes me envious of European students, who can go on field trips to places like this to truly experience history.
On the second night there we wanted to go to a restaurant called Ae Oche (pron: Eh okay) but maps are completely useless in Venice and so of course we got lost.... we were standing around remarking how we should ask someone for help when a man suddenly came out of a doorway to the sight of four tourists staring at him... haha, he knew he was had! But then, he walked us there... the whole way! It was so nice! It was quite a ways from where the map said it was too, so we never would have found it. We offered to buy him wine but he wouldn't accept. The restaurant was
really nice, and in the backstreets of Venice so we got to people-watch some of the elusive locals including kids and nuns, and for dessert Zoe and I tried some alcoholic shake-like lemon drink called sgrappini (delicious!). It was really a lovely evening in a lovely city.
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Arielle
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ooooo-s and aaaaaah-s
Sounds like such a romantic time!! That is too bad thought that the tourists have taken over. I want to see pictures!!! miss you so much!!!!