First Foray into Venice

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What little rain that fell last night didn’t seem to lower the humidity levels and the day’s temperature looks like it will be another 30+ degrees. We start the day with a good breakfast and leave the hotel for the short walk to the bus stop. On the way we need to buy tickets from the tabacchi. Easy. No. The tabacchi man says buy them from the driver. We join other people waiting for the bus. It is a tight squeeze but we all gather under the shade of a nearby apricot tree. The bus arrives and we attempt to buy tickets. The driver does not have any. A fellow driver waiting for his bus has some so the deal is done. Two euros each, a bit more than we expected. No one speaks or understands English so it was a waste of time asking the question: “Are these day tickets or just for one trip?” We arrive at the station and prepare for step two, buy train tickets to Venice.

From our previous experience of buying train tickets in Rome we know the procedure. We buy two return tickets: one trip on the slow train the other on the fast train, not the express. So far all is going according to plan. No rush, no panic. We arrive in Venice and join the thousands of other tourists. Tomorrow we are coming back into Venice so that we can visit the islands of Murano and Burano. We take this opportunity of planning what to do, such as tickets, ferry number and any other procedures necessary for the trip. Looking at the numbers queuing for tickets we’ll need to be early.

Today we are here for an experience. From St. Lucia Station we join more thousands heading, initially for Rialto Bridge, and then onto St Marks Square. Porters are waiting to transport luggage to the hotels on specially designed carts that make it easy to climb steps. Gondoliers are touting for business. Water taxis, barges and other types of water craft compete for water space. The brown water gets churned up to become even browner. As always those begging for money are positioned in well located spots to catch the unwary.

We wind our way through narrow streets jostling with tourists and locals for valuable walking space. We stop briefly at a church. Once inside we notice a layer of water surrounding the pews, must be high tide. There is a definite musty smell, a sure sign of dampness. What must it be doing to the interior of the church. We stop briefly for a cold drink at a pizzeria. While we enjoy our drink the owner gets a visit from some salesmen trying to get him to sell a new line of gelatos. They are not very observant because he doesn’t sell gelatos and he hasn’t the room for a freezer. They leave a little grumpy. We have a little smile with the owner. Who needs to understand Italian to know what has just happened. We think about discussing the up coming All Blacks versus Samoa test but we need to move on.

Finally we reach the Rialto Bridge. Everyone wants their photo taken at the bridge, on the bridge, beside the bridge. Some want to photo bomb photos. A group of young football players and their manager from Stuttgart ask the official tour photographer if he can take their photo. Sure. We chat about a number of things including the quality of cars such as their Mercedes and our Honda. Meantime the rest of our tour party is getting worried about being left at the bridge with no way of getting in touch with the others.

We join the thousands pushing and shoving for the best vantage point to see St Marks. The piazza is humming. Groups are posing for photos from every vantage point. At one point a tour party of over fifty looked like they were cramming into a little Foto shop, maybe a Guiness world record, no just a secret entrance to a glass shop. By chance we meet up with our friends from Stuttgart who willingly take our photos while we pose in front of St Marks. We can see the queue to enter the church and decide that tomorrow might be a better day.

We are hot, hungry and tired. So we retrace our steps back to the railway station. We already have tickets so we have time for a light late lunch while we wait for the train. Once back in Padua we purchase our bus tickets from an official office. We hand over 12 euros for our tickets and return tickets for tomorrow. No, that is not the price. 7.80 euro please. Who is being ripped off today? Our bus tickets are only 1.30 euro for 75 minutes of travel. Oh well. We did get free travel in Naples.

Back at the hotel it is feet up before we head out for dinner. After aimless walking, driving down a restricted walkway, nearly giving up hope of finding anything, we come across a restaurant that produces one of our best meals so far. It is delicious.

Tomorrow we head back to Venice much better prepared for the day ahead. A bucket list day.

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Photos

Venice
Two pensioners on tour in Europe

Venice
A quiet street

Venice
A quiet canal

Venice
One of many shops selling masks

Venice
Rialto Bridge