Vivaciously Venturing through Venice

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August 17th 2009

Published: August 25th 2009

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Born to Explore

Typical Venetian Traffic

Boats of all kinds heading in all directions. Controlled chaos.

Another 6am wake-up as we left our time on Veli Losinj. We needed to catch a 9:00am ferry to the mainland and had a windy 1 ½ hour drive back up the island of Cres. Encountered a long line up at the ferry terminal but did manage to make it on. We resisted driving back up the coast to see the views as our minds have been filled with a couple of things: how much is it going to cost for the car damage (it is Saturday morning and Hertz closes at noon)? Will we be able to find accommodation? How are we going to get to our ferry the next morning by 7am and return the car? We ended up arriving in Pula by 11am and found the Hertz rental guy in the Histria hotel. We inquired about getting a room at the Histria ($600 a night) but they had no room, and we were not sure we were that desperate yet. The first part of our great day started with them finding us two rooms at the Hotel Riviere for $300. Two sides of this fortune coin: A. We have accommodation albeit expensive - yeah!!!! B. The flip side

Amphitheatre

Up against the blue sky!

is that these are by far the worst rooms we have stayed in our whole trip but we are ecstatic. As we checked in, a couple was asking for a room for one night and the clerk said they were full. We saw this happen to 8 other couples over the course of the rest of that afternoon and evening. Another massive benefit was that the hotel was opposite the ferry dock (unlike the other hotel which was a 15-20 minute taxi ride). We quickly took the bags and kids to the hotel, checked them in, then raced back to the original hotel to deal with the rental guy as he was leaving at 12pm. We told him we were uninsured and he offered us a deal. He didn't seem too concerned about the 3 dents on the body but just wanted to replace the mirror. He had phoned around while we were gone and the mirror was going to be 300 Euros ($475 Can) to replace the whole casing but he found a guy that would just replace the mirror portion for 360 Kuna ($75 Can). With the hotel placement, we actually could drop the car one day early

Hotel California

"You can check out any time you like but you can never leave .." Looks can be deceiving.

which also saved us $75 Can. WOW!!!!!!!! We feel very blessed and fortunate. It sure reiterates the biblical advice about worrying (Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.) Sorry, couldn't help putting that in as it was a great lesson today. Do everything you can to prepare then just trust. It is what it is.

Pula has turned out to be a great place to land and spend an afternoon. You are quite blown out of the water when you come around the corner in the port and rising right up out of the surrounding trees and gardens is the 6th biggest Amphitheatre in the world. Dominating the skyline, your breath is taken away by this magnificent portal into the past. Within 100 meters of our hotel, we were able to enjoy it at multiple times during the day including seeing the ghostly outline floodlit as evening settled into night. The only part of our stay in Pula that rivaled this Roman marvel was our incredible lodging experience that was “Hotel California meets Tower of Terror/ Twilight Zone”. This hotel at one time had been stately

Another P.A. shot

Too many great pics from too many angles.

building with 20 ft ceilings and massive hallways. Now, the puke brown indoor outdoor carpeting with stains halfway across the hall and cracked toilets that wouldn’t stop flushing along with no air conditioning and a musty smell made for an almost comical ending to our Croatian holiday. With lights not coming on in the hallways as night descended, it took on the air of a haunted house and provided much fright and joking as a pesky brother and his sisters’ overactive imaginations gave us much entertainment and laughter. This eery feeling was magnified by the fact that the hotel was “full” yet we never once saw another hotel guest on the anywhere in the hotel except the lobby and front door. We really think that it was all a Hollywood set and everyone else were actors. In the end, we truly wondered whether “We could check out and time we want but we would never leave.” And to believe we have never spent so much on a hotel room, who was really laughing.

Location, location, location was our mantra as the sun came up and we made the 5 minute walk to the ferry dock to catch our 7am

Pula Amphitheatre again

At sundown.

ferry. We bid Croatia a very fond farewell and boarded the airplane-like fast ferry (with airline costs) for the 3 hour ride to Venice (at $150/hr for the family).

Arriving in Venice, we would now spend the next 6 days subject to public transit and getting the family around large cities without the help of a rental car. With all the luggage that we seemed to be accumulating, we were wondering how this would work out but the Italians sure have done a great job with providing for transportation in their major cities. Venice of course is the one “Unique” city in the world that actually uses boats as cars. Despite the fact that there is all of the dirt and pollution of any large place, Venice is incredibly mesmerizing as you watch water vessels of every size and nature wind their ways down wide and narrow canals. There is a certain piece of magic that truly is Venice and it captured us right away. We walked a good 30 minutes in 38 degree weather with our packs on, to make sure we purchased the right pass for us to make our way around the city. Once secured, our

Arriving in Venice

Our first time with no rental vehicle, we carry and walk. Note: temp is around 38 degrees celsius. See sweat dripping off Trevor's nose already.

24 hour vaporetto passes allowed us unlimited use of the boats and buses around the city. We grabbed the first boat we could find (these are water buses that take upwards of 70 or 80 people when packed) around the city. We caught a direct boat to Murano where we had secured a place for 1 night (not easy to do in Venice or anywhere it seems). Ca Venier turned out to be a beautiful B & B and Mikayla was wonderful (she met us at the door and returned very early the next morning to get us breakfast in order to catch our train). The newly redone rooms were spacious and extremely tasteful done. The proximity to the vaporetto dock was also awesome (30 second walk).

Once checked in, we made our way back to the center of Venice (around 20 minutes by boat), confirmed our train tickets for the next day, and then began our exploration of the canals. The troops realized quickly that refueling was in order and we found a wonderful little restaurant right on the side off a side canal and enjoyed our first Italian meal (the lasagna was a massive hit) and were

Gondola magic

We could watch these guys all day.

mesmerized by the activity on the canal. Once replenished, we walked and the streets and rode the full length of the Grand Canal. Arriving at Piazza de St Marco, we were immediately taken by the grand square and its surrounding edifices. Having spent little time in Europe, we are continually astounded by the magnificence of open meeting places in the middle of cities. The impressive structures with all their detail and grandeur are truly breathtaking. Then you begin to consider the time in which all of this was built (pre-mechanization of any sort) and you are left simply staring and taking it all in. Add to that the incredible spectacle that is any large European area: street performers and vendors, families with small children running around, pigeons everywhere being fed out of people’s hands, restaurants filled to the brim soliciting your service, incredible music being played, and couples staring into each others’ eyes as they take in Venice to name a few. This provides a glimpse into the sensory spectacle that envelopes you as you sit in Piazza St Marco on a warm August night. Ahhhh, Italy.

With a continuous desire to bring back something that captures each place,

Dining along the canal

First meal in Venice. Amazing ambiance and incredible lasagna.

Courtney’s search was rewarded in the square as she bargained her way (a little Marla in the making) to a beautiful dramatic mask as a keepsake. Marla decided that she had found the hotel where we will stay when we return (www.danieli.com). As she entered the lobby and her mouth hit the floor, she was informed that she should not proceed any further but was allowed to admire from there (the life of the rich and stinky rich - ie. not us). She politely gawked and then turned in her flip flops and we continued our enjoyable foray into this other world city. The evening sped its way along and we realized that we needed to make sure we did not miss the last boat back to Murano. The boats heading back up the grand canal were over filled so we ventured out and selected a different route home. This was our initial trial of the Italian transit system and we have been blown away by their incredible efficiency at moving massive of people as well as the detail provided to those with relatively little knowledge. With a map in hand, one can easily make your way around the city.

Narrow canal

Navigation by the age old masters of Venice.

We enjoyed our little 50 minutes tour of the outside of Venice (including sliding past a couple of yachts including the Corinthia VII which hwe googled to find it was the 13th largest personal yacht in the world at 323 ft???). We noticed that its beam was over 60 ft wide meaning that Uncle Glenn’s boat would easily fit across the bow - sorry Glenn. As we headed across the water to Murano, we passed by (for the 3rd time) a decent sized island that was surrounded by walls and appeared to be religious as one could see building with crosses etc.. At 10:30pm, it was extremely dark and looked like it had shut down for the night. As we got off, I asked the boat driver what it was. He said “cemetario. “Oh, that is why it is so quiet.” Marla replies, “I should hope so!”
Footnote: We have noticed right away that the Italian language is MUCH easier than the Croatian and we are able to use our “French/ Spanish” attempts to often be quite quick in connecting here.

In less that 24 hours, we definitely can not say that we have seen all of Venice but

Santa Maria della Salute

Commonly know as Salute, its decorative and distinctive profile and location make it among the most photographed churches in Italy.

we were provided with such an authentic taste of this incredibly unique place and shown many times over what makes Venice so special. No rest for this part of the “tour” as we had to catch a direct vaporetto at 7:30am in order to make our 9am train to Florence in the morning. Thank you Venice for showing us a great time. Our introduction to the Italy and the Italian people has been fantastic.

Kid’s corner

Courtney: Where does all the sewer go mom? I do not know but I think I just saw a floatie go by

Sydney-We just need to put a beenie cap on the bell boy and we will have the closest thing to the tower of terror since Disney land. It even had a scary elevator. Can I sleep in your room Mom and Dad?

Matt - Lasagna is one of the four food groups isn’t it along with ice cream. Hey, I have been really healthy all trip then!!!

All Kids: I could ride on these boats all day. This is awesome!!

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