Venice Day 1 & 2 & 3

Now sitting on a train to Rome from Venice have alot to tell about Venice but again I think I’ll do a reader digest version.

Reached Venice had a nice guy called Chrstiano show us to our taxi … our water taxi … Yep we travelled from Marco Polo Airport to Venice in a Boat … so we sat outside the boat and got some cool pics and then reached out hotel lobby.

Our room unfortunately was a little small but we made do … we have an idyllic view of the building next to us and into their windows and the alley below us.

We again took an early night but not without a detour to a bottle shop for a beer to toast 1 weeks to the hour that my phone deserted me for gypsies.

 

Today Alan decided it would be a great idea to walk to St. Marks Square … so we did …

Over to Alan for a blow by blow of our walk through the alleys of Venice.

A: Spaghetti-streets.

It’s incredible.  We were supplied with a map of Venice by our concierge. 

It was more a colourful picture of the districts than an actual, helpful, map. Something not limited to us, as we spied countless other tourists doing the same nod-dance between building-mounted street names and the contorted paper-sails within their hands.

So we threw caution to the wind.  Guessed a direction and followed such until we reached a recognisable sign or plaza or bridge. And get lost again.

Rinse. Repeat.

 

That’s pretty much what was said by ‘everyone’ before we got here.

Finally, if by nothing than dumb-luck, we found ourselves at the entrance to St Marco’s Sq and a new most unique obstacle; a thick stream of people, 2-3 wide continuing off beyond site all atop a line of 2-foot high platforms.

It quickly became apparent as to why; the Sq was flooding.

Only by a mere inch in some places to perhaps a foot deep in others, but more than a normal shoe can resist before soaking through, thus it was nonetheless impenetrable other than via these human-caterpillar decks.

We know understood the functionality of gum-boots at this time, proven further by some young women as they paraded through the shin-deep liquid before the gathering, bewildered, crowd with no real purpose or direction other than that ‘they’ could. And smoke.

Sidenote; extraordinary was how many women, as young as 12 in some case, siphon on the cancer-enhancers! Just dumbfounding.

Well I was sitting on the train expecting an essay from Alan but he got distracted again ….

In any case we managed to find the Square and then proceeded to slosh around it lol …

A: Cut back in here; we also kicked it up the “” Tower at SMsq – only cost 8EUR each and was pretty detailed with photo-plaques at all windows with numbers relating to what the audio guides would then describe. Like most Italian cities; a most eventful history.  Heck, the tower even collapsed in 1902 and after an extraordinary convening of City Council they declared to be rebuilt the way it was, to the height it was, using as much of the original they could from the twelve metre high rubble left behind.

We then bought a couple of umbrellas since it was starting to drizzle and not wanting to cop out and take a taxi back to the hotel we wanted to do a complete circuit of Venice we managed to get back to the hotel with a minimum of fuss and moisture. We have a quick lunch then a siesta.

Had some dinner then some Kit Kat Gelato OMG !!! Sooooo good !!!

A: Again. One thing that will stick with me about Venice its uniqueness. I’ve never seen a city like it, for a number of reasons.

The obvious; water.  From the bewildering initial notion of a ‘water taxi’ to the acceptance that this was the way it had to be. There are no roads, simply pedestrian pathways.  On the ‘islands’ there are no cars, bikes, mopeds, or even rollerblades – as Crisiano put it; “too fast”.

The silence.  Without cars, horns, sirens, and etc… it’s remarkably and astoundingly quiet. All you have is the hustle and bustle of humans, the seemingly eternal clacking of luggage wheels, and the occasional dog bark (LOTS of dogs, few make noise – even they seem to honour this unwritten rule).  Other than the occasional boat engine growling at your from beneath the surface as you happen to cross a bridge or be on a ‘shore-path’, it’s all man-made ambience.

So, it was easy to relax away 2 hours this arvo outside a Guinness-serving bar awaiting this train. =P

The convoluted paths; without the intrusion of cars and the linked need for road and infrastructure, the original haphazard ‘build where you want’ pattern of buildings remain resulting in streets hidden behind what looks like simple doorways and ‘suburbia blending into markets’ with no obvious division.

Overall, they do say; you don’t need much time in Venice. Which is true for us, this weekend, however – were the weather not bleak and the moment more appealing (let’s say, a romantic getaway) it could be a most stunning and exciting place to visit. One definitely for the memories and for sunnier seasons.

A-out.

Then Slept and now on the train on the way to Roma … we are just under an hour away from the train station and hopefully the hotel has an internet connection so I can upload this blog.

If so you’ll be seeing this soon !!!!