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Published: August 20th 2008
Buongiorna. Today we visited Venice a.k.a. Venezia. We woke to a beautiful day, thankfully, and headed across on the bus and boat to Venice, along with all the other tourists.
We really enjoyed Venice, as there was no traffic - just people, but there were so many side streets and bridges that you can quickly lose the crowds. After visiting a few of the tourist stands we had seen it all - they all sell the same things - all 500 of them!
The city is just like the pictures - narrow cobblestone streets, bridges everywhere, gondola boats everywhere you look, tanned Italians (I really look like a pasty New Zealander), washing hanging on lines above the canals etc. We didn’t go into any of the churches or buildings, as there were big queues and we have already visited quite a few of those kinds of places. We saw the famous sights though - the statue of the horse with a roman solider (I think it was called the Piazzetta di San Marco, the main bridge over the Grand Canal with the green and blue poles/moorings. We had a great time just wandering around and taking in all the sights of
the famous city.
Daniel went to enquire about the price of a gondola ride - €100!!! After we said that was too much he decreased it to a bargain €80 for a 35 minute ride - yip, still far too much for a Dutch blooded couple to fork out!
We had dinner at a Ristorante on the water front where we ate a traditional Italian meal of pasta. This was a great experience as we got to watch the illegal handbag sellers. Here’s what happens - this group of male Africans would walk around with these massive bags full of rip-offs of Gucci handbags. When the place was clear of any police they would bring out these white sheets, unceremoniously dump all these handbags down and try and sell them to every person walking past. Pity the person that picked one up - because it was a mission to try and get them to take it back again if you didn’t want it. In the meantime, one of the guys would keep a watch out for police (all the other sellers were also looking in the same direction - at the bridge, for the police). As soon as they spotted
the police they pack up so fast - usually two men per sheet, quickly picking up the bags into their arms, or stuffing them into their bags and off they all run away from the police. Here they loiter around for a while, trying to sell to passer-by’s, but mainly watching for when the police leave. As soon at the Police are out of the spot (as in only been gone for 30 seconds), they are all back out setting up on their white sheets again! It certainly was value for money at the restaurant, just for the entertainment of watching these guys.
We came back to camp at 9.45 to this loud music. Upon investigation we found they had hired a small band which people where standing around listening to, or dancing to. It was a really neat atmosphere - and so different from NZ as they didn’t finish playing until 10.45, and the campsite is not quiet at all until at least 11.15, but they’re all up again at 7-7.30 - must be that mid-afternoon siesta that we miss out on!
Ciao.
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Rochelle
non-member comment
Glad to see your having a great time. grrr ... hate those handbag sellers - did I tell you guys that one of them attacked me in Italy?