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We took the slow road to Venice. One of the joys of traveling by care is that you come across gems like the castle in a little place called Soave and the castles of Romeo and Juliet. One of the many towns that has its centre inside a wall with a castle on top of a hill. We headed up the path to check out the castle. We were the only ones at the castle. However it was 11.30 close to closing time. We bought our tickets from a lady who lived up at the castle. She wasn't all that happy to hand over a couple of tickets. The other lady at the inside the castle was even more reluctant to let us wander around. She trailed after us jangling a very large bunch of keys. We felt like sitting down and having a picnic lunch just to keep her from her own 3 hour lunch break.
Next we visited the castles of Romeo and Juliet.They were both closed as it was after 12. One of them had been turned into a restaurant and the other into an open air theatre. The staff were sitting about having their lunch. Another 3
hour lunch break for them.
We reached Mestre which is a small city just that is connected to Venice by a causeway. The hotel we stayed in was a 10 minute bus ride to Venice. I could tell it was going to be a busy day in Venice. There were no less than 5 large cruise ships in the harbour. It is the first time on our trip that we have encountered the crowds.
Venice is just as you see it in all the pictures. It is the most fascinating place, a labyrinth of narrow streets and waterway. At one point during the day we were completely lost. Off the beaten track you pretty much have the streets to yourself. It was a matter of trying to follow the signs back to some well known landmark. We walked through the Jewish Ghetto first. Even though it is now a tourist attraction and thousands of people come in everyday to take photos I was shouted at by a gentleman for taking a photo. Walking over many little bridges and down cobblestone streets we finally came to the Rialto Bridge. I have to say I was disappointed. I didn't even realise I
was on the bridge. The whole bridge is covered in souvenir shops. It was also extremely crowded. You really have to view it from down below. It is sadly also covered with graffiti at each end. The view from the bridge down the central canal is worth it. While taking photos of one another a lady stopped to take one of us and she was from Taranaki. It was nice to here the kiwi accent. We eventually managed to find our way to the San Marco Piazza. What a place. Music, people, bells ringing, shops restaurants and the most incredible buildings. Its easy to see why many tourist never get further than this as it has everything. Looking around it was difficult to know where to start. So we just did what we are now really good at walked and walked, just taking in everything. It is a small city packed with so much and something different around every corner. Once again the shops were wonderful window shopping in Italy is a cut above the rest. And once again it was just window shopping for me too.
At the end of the day we joined the now every short queue
to enter St Marks. On the outside it is lavish in its decorations, statues and wall carvings. Inside its completely over the top. Gold upon gold with huge frescos that all have a sort of grey tinge from all the burning candles. As we were practically the last people in when we were coming out we were caught up in a wedding party. So we smiled and nodded to guests and filed out with the guests. They were greeted by cheering from all the tourist outside. Not the best place to get married if you want to be the star of attention. The bride and groom and everyone else was immediately swallowed up by the masses.
Too tired to do much more and to have dinner in Venice looked to be a very expensive affair, so we hopped on the bus back to the mainland. The next day we were hoping to go to the islands.
Would you believe it our very first wet day in Europe. It just bucketed down. So thoughts of a boat trip were abandoned and we headed inland to explore the beautiful towns of Vicenza.
Vicenza is a beautiful town largely famous for its architecture
Castles of Romeo and Juliet
It was difficult to take a photo of these two castles as they were completely surrounded by very lush growth of trees etc. You could just see a flag fluttering above the trees. This was taken of a photo, quite an old one. and the architect who designed it. By the end of the afternoon we head back to the hotel. Before our afternoon drive we visited the local laundry mat and chatted to a well informed bus driver. His English was great and so with map at hand he pointed out all the places off the main tourist track that we should visit.
So with this in mind late in the afternoon we planned our trip to Croatia.
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