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Published: August 31st 2008
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Who Are They?
Not the season for masquerades, so just as well noone could recognise us Sunday 27 July - Friday 8 August 2008
After eight days on the road we crossed over the border and found ourselves in Northern Italy, near Lake Como. A couple of things stood out straight away. Firstly, the traffic was terrible. The ‘main’ roads as marked on our maps were narrow, potholed, unmarked and backed up with all sorts of traffic. In all, we saw three fairly serious accidents during our few days in Italy, two involving an upturned car and truck. Also, the Lake Como area was much more industrialised then the Austrian and Swiss countryside we’d passed through and although the steep cliffs surrounding Lake Como were beautiful, the haze prevented us from seeing it clearly.
We camped the first night at a place that mostly catered to permanent trailer homes, right on the edge of a swampy lake. We enjoyed the Italian warmth and tranquillity over our gourmet dinner (Sean is working wonders with that stove) and red wine, but had to retreat to the tent after the sun went down because of the huge mosquitoes out for the taste of some Aussie blood. In fact, our decision to push on to Venice the next morning
St Mark's Basilica
Modelled on Constantinople's Church of the Twelve Apostles and finished in 1094. Seriously grand! was based on not being able to bear another night with the mozzies.
After a relaxing day’s drive (including an hour detour and an extra toll payment thanks to our inability to understand Italian road signs) we found ourselves pitching our tent at Camp Fusina, which was just a 25 minute ferry ride to Venice. Camp Fusina catered for Contiki tour groups so was well equipped with a bar that played live music most nights, a canteen, tourist information centre and lots of toilets and showers. At 32 Euros per night it is also the most expensive campsite either of us have ever stayed at. With the exception of the hordes of 20 year olds and their nightly drinking binge, it was a pretty good place to be.
With our three day ferry pass, we headed into Venice on two of the evenings and for one full day. On our first morning we did a really interesting walking tour that also included entry into St. Marks Basilica. Because of the huge crowds, we were all given earplugs that enabled us to hear the guide above the noise. The founding of Venice is what interested me most. The swampy
Gondola at the ready
Never need to step far from the house to get on the main form of transport in Venice islands were inhabited by refugees of the Roman Empire, who were seeking a haven safe from the barbarians, and was only ever meant to be a temporary settlement. The Venetians, now living in a swamp, developed superior seafaring skills that enabled them to patrol the Mediterranean on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. They were rewarded with tax exemptions and customs rights and became wealthy merchants. The low lying area has always been susceptible to flooding and occurs when a particular wind combines with a high tide. Over the centuries, the mansions have sunk and today large areas of Venice are regularly flooded. Our guide said that the famous San Marco Piazza flooded 160 times last year.
A surprise highlight occurred at the end of the tour, when the company announced that they had a water taxi booked to take anyone who was interested to Murano Island to visit a glassworks factory. Sean and I were the only cheapskates to accept the offer and found ourselves whizzing through the Venice canals in a wooden water taxi, and loving every minute of it. We then had a personal glass blowing demonstration and were shown through the company’s gallery. Best of all,
Mansion on Grand Canal
Dream mansion to have - no lawns to mow! we weren’t pressured into buying anything (no doubt he took one look at us and realised we weren’t the buying type).
We also spent a morning in Padova, about 45km west of Venice. We did a tour of the University there, which opened in 1221, is where Galileo lectured maths for 18 years and is home of the world’s first anatomy theatre (which would’ve been a really really smelly place). In the afternoon, we drove back via the Riviera del Brenta, which is home to heaps of rundown, abandoned villas. It was fascinating to see Roman statues and wrought iron gates surrounded by agricultural fields. We also called in at the Museo Nazionale di Villa Pisani. This villa has been done up, turned into a museum and was housing an exhibition by the Italian artist Mimmo Paladino. We had fun wandering around the grounds, although it was a bit embarrassing when we got lost in the maze and the sentry had to yell directions to help us find our way out.
After 12 nights we were well used to sleeping in the tent (the plastic sheet was left behind in Switzerland), although I think we were both secretly
looking forward to the comfort of Malachy’s apartment. We left Venice early on the Friday morning and, after a non-eventful (read relaxing) drive, were back in Vienna by early afternoon.
So my advice to anyone visiting Venice is to allow hours to wander around all the unique shops. My favourites were the stationary and Murano glass shops and of course the masquerade stalls. Eat lots and lots and lots of gelato (I recommend pistachio) and check out all the gondoliers, their ornate gondolas and their customers. One of the funniest things we saw were some honeymooners haggling with a gondolier saying, ‘this will be the pinnacle of our trip....’ We knew they were newlywed because the guy was wearing a black tuxedo ball cap and the girl had on a white ball cap complete with veil.
Four nights in Venice has given us a taste of Italy and left us looking forward to exploring parts of Southern Italy (October maybe?) But for now we were ready for some express recovery (and planning) time in Vienna before our Northern European trip started the following Wednesday......
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alex
non-member comment
you've let the side down Sean
Sean, how could you both get lost in the maze?did u not not have your compass?And Megan I thought your job was navigations??? Talk soon Love Alex and co