Advertisement
Published: September 23rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
After docking at Venice we headed for the port to take a short, local ferry to the Lido. where we were to stay and were to meet Onita’s mum & sister, who were already in Venice, having flown out for a long weekend. At the prt we had an amazing little espresso and a real sandwich, or the joy of not eating Greek food after a month. The kids fed the little bit that was left to the birds that was the beginning of the bird feeding experience of Venice.
The only car incident of the whole trip happened on the ferry on arriving at the Lido. Turning the ignition key to start the car to drive from the ferry resulted in just a click. No attempt to turn the engine over at all, so not a battery. Probably just a brief and isolated starter-motor issue, but one that required some pushing from the helpful Venetian ferrymen!
We arrived at the hotel easily (after a little extra driving, just in case the battery were somehow contributing to the earlier issue). Shanti and Angie arrived about 20 minutes later, transferring from their hotel in Venice to our new one in
the Lido. For those who haven’t been to Venice or haven’t been to the Lido, it’s a haven of tranquillity relative to Venice. It’s there the old money goes, has always been a bit of a resort, back in the heyday of St.Tropez and its friends. Stunning villas (our hotel included), slower pace of life, long, beautiful sandy beach, etc. A lovely place to stay and just 10 minutes from Venice by water-bus.
Our hotel was a lovely villa, once a private house, with an unusual tower, which has a table and some chairs. The view from there was virtually 360 degrees and truly stunning of Venice skyline..
The hotel wasn’t ready for us to check in, so we left our bags and headed for Venice.
We started in St.Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco), which was predictably packed with tourists visiting the Doge’s Palace or the Basilica. Shanti and Angie had already visited both and with the hoards around, we decided not to do it again. Onita had brought some bread for the birds, so the kids stood and fed hundreds of pigeons whilst the adults wowed at everything around them. But once the bread was gone
it had made people hungry and we started muttering about ice-creams, drinks etc! Rounding the corner into the larger part of the square, we decided to sit down and have a drink. We needed to sit down because the prices were just amazing. A small (33cl) bottle of beer came in at €10. The cheapest drink was €8. We decided to bite the bullet, accepting the exceptional location. A classical band was playing next to the café, which was nice. What we hadn’t expected was an additional €6 per adult surcharge for music when we received our bill. One beer, a coffee, some water and some tea came in at a total cost of €57 (that’s £46 at the prevailing exchange rate) for the four adults and two children. Ouch. Thanks, Angie! Very generous, and we did drink it very slowly!
Venice was a highlight for us. We meandered the narrow streets, took the water busses, sat down in cafes, lunched close to the Rialto bridge (another place heaving with tourists) and had a thoroughly great time. Kids fed the birds, the fish and played with some bouncing balls that Aunty Angie had brought out for them, just watch
out the shop windows! In the evening we headed back to the Lido to discover a real little night life at the end of our road, goof food, wine bars, lots of life and all pedestrian, so we ate there for a relax after a hectic Venice. Only problem we had was no speaking Italian led to confusion as to when the prima Vs anti pasta should come, as we wanted it all together, it didn’t so both kids fell asleep on our laps. For the next day, Karl’s sister, Sally, and brother-in-law, Keith, came down from Austria (where they were for a week) to see us. We arranged to have Sunday lunch with them and the afternoon. Before that, we had a short excursion to the Lido beach. What a lovely beach, very well maintained, and Granny was right with her observation, it was still like something out of the 1930s postcard, beautiful beach huts, lovely clean sand, and even the swim suits looked a little bit dated! We had a lovely lunch together, in Venice, facing the island of La Giudecca. Again the fish and birds were fed, Asha managed to fall into the only puddle in Venice,
and had to walk around with just pants for a while. With the Venice film festival about to start (on the Lido, as ever), Karl was amused to note that one of the waiters was a double for George Clooney.
After lunch, we had an ice-cream and all headed (Sally & Keith too) to the Lido, where we hired some silly, multi-people bicycles. On one we had Karl, Onita, Shanti, Angie, Asha and Jay (until Shanti found it too uncomfortable for someone so skinny and hopped off, to wait for us). On the other, Sally & Keith. We cycled for an hour, took the bikes back and said our goodbyes to Sally & Keith, who were heading back to Austria to finish their own holiday. Much fun was had.
On our last day, we decided we just HAD to have a Gondola trip. Their standard rates (a warning to those of you planning to do it) are €80 per half-hour before 6.30pm and €100 per half-hour after that time. We were in the morning, so managed to scoop the lower, bargain price. Hey - being a Gondolier isn’t a bad way of making a living. That said, it
was really special and the kids loved it. We went down some of the smaller canals, saw yet-another-one-of Mozart’s houses, the Opera house and returned along the Grand Canal, south of Venice.
We then all returned to the Lido, where we said our goodbyes to Shanti and Angie, who were spending a few more hours in Venice before flying out that evening. We were leaving to cross Italy. We ate lunch our pre-packed, breakfast made lunch on the road side whilst waiting for the ferry to take us back to the Mainland from the Lido, and then Onita walked down to the water to feed the fish for one last time with the kids, before walking onto the ferry, and waving to Karl as he drove on. Jay waved at every Cruise boat he saw, and knew the difference between them and the Ferry boats, he left Venice knowing what a water taxi was, how to identify a sailing boat, sail up or down, what a gondola was, what a tug boat was, what a fishing boat is, and why you see them at night mostly and so much more, he loved his boats.
Oh - it was
here that Onita DID manage to find the table lamp - a stunning piece of Murano glasswork, the shade of which we managed to fit in the car, with Angie kindly cramming the stand into her suitcase. The lamp was brought in a little shop just on the corner of St Marks square, and was a real find.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.077s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb