With Eastern Europe in our rear view mirror we return to the west to what we have been quietly anticipating since we arrived in Helsinki five months (has it really been that long!) ago, ITALY!!! What’s not to love about Italy? The food, the culture, the history, the architecture, the wine, the coffee… where do you stop? We have been wary of over hyping places mentally so we went in with our expectations in check and what we found completely blew us away. Venice is pure magic.
Venice is expensive straight away, expensive bus from the
airport to the city and water bus from Piazza Roma to St Mark’s Square. The
water bus gives a great view down the Grand Canal on our first night. Seeing the
illuminated buildings against the water is exciting and lights an enthusiasm we
have both been missing for a while.
We find our hotel and with great anticipation we head out to
calm the rumbles in our stomach. We have
the most delicious pizza and pasta and savour the moment. We leave and find St
Marks Square mostly underwater and with our shoes fully submerged we make our
way through, suddenly realising that the platform we thought was for
performances was actually for crossing through the square when its flooded.
With our shoes already soaked through it’s easy to turn down the men offering
slip over gumboots – where were they before my socks were squelching?
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| Still there next morning |
Carnivale is on with people in masks and dressed up
everywhere, shops and street vendors bursting with masks from 2 to 2000 euro –
even more so than usual apparently. They are a tempting purchase with so much
unique style, colour and flair, impossible to transport back home or store in
our packs without breaking though.
The food is everything we imagined it to be – amazing. Delicious
pizza, pasta, hot chocolate, gelato, wine, panini and involtini, and our
journey through Italy has only just begun.
St Marks square is incredible, outrageously priced cafes,
tourist traps, St Marks Basilica and the surrounding arcades make for an
inspiring view. The clock tower can be heard for blocks away ringing on the
hour. Then there are the giant sized seagulls and the tame pigeons who prey on
anyone with visible food. We walk past the famous Florian café, offering a
starting price of 6 euro for an espresso – here’s the thing people actually go.
Seriously other tourists, people see you as fools and walking wallets, don’t
prove them right! These are not the places where the locals are, hit the back
streets and look for locals at the windows getting their stand up, throw down
espressos if you want delicious coffee at 1 euro a go.
Gondolas are everywhere and are borderline harassing in
their constant inquiry, Gondola ride? The tourists are out in force in their
gondolas, we don’t mind we just enjoy watching them and hearing the men sing
and whistle as they steer with a lifetime worth of precision. Walking through
one canal voices become raised as one of the small cannels has become
congested. A morning gondola war erupts, one of the gondolas nearly crashes
into another boat with tensions flaring. Even after the traffic jam has been
sorted the fight continues as they all split off in different directions. Our
guess is that there is cannel protocol that somebody didn’t follow.
The streets are narrow but open into squares and spaces
surrounded by restaurants, cafes and shops. Navigating is not as hard as
Morocco but getting lost is even more fun never knowing what treasure is around
the next corner.
Massive churches are everywhere, not just the big ones you
can see across the canal on the other islands but just walking around the city
you’ll turn a corner and wow, massive church.
The high end shopping is jaw dropping. The brands and size
of stores is stunning. So are the price tags.
The Doges palace is extreme levels of opulent, even by
European standards. It has some of the most flamboyant and intricate roof
frescoes we have seen along with incredible gilded staircases and perhaps the
most impressive main hall we have seen anywhere. As usual in these place we
couldn’t take photos in the pretty places just in the main bits so those rooms
will have to live in our memory only.
Just wandering the streets you come across pretty little
bridges, narrow canals, colourful Moorish and later style buildings line the
canals and add style and class.
The Rialto Bridge is impressive even if it is covered in
tourist trap shops and tourists hanging from every inch of the railing gawking
at the view. It is worth gawking at, allowing you to stare down at the grand
canal and all the action that goes on – if you’re lucky you can see the police
tear through nearly taking out a few gondolas on the water with water splashing
on the loved up couples in the gondolas, hearing screams coming from the water.
St Marks basilica is stunning with is gold covered ceilings
and individually styled mosaic floor with no 4 square metres the same. Free
entrance is great, but there are small charges inside to see the highlights. Following
all the rest of our church experiences this one also had scaffolding. From what
we gather all the restoration work is done during the low season. There are
raised platforms in and around the basilica due to the flooding so you can walk
above the ankle deep water. Wish we had of realised what they were for on our
first night…
Fabulous wine bars are everywhere, naturally we enjoyed
spending a portion of our afternoons indulging in a chianti, an aperol spritz
and of course the local favourite a bellini.
The train system is a confusing mess with some services not
visible online, the train station automatic machines help more and we get a
solution but don’t give a timetable for all our connections. The information
desk man doesn’t bat an eyelid when we explain our problem, as if it’s the thousandth
time he’s heard it and easily prints what we need.
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| Clock tower in St Marks square |
Get up early and head to the seafood markets which are
bustling with people, equal amounts tourists and locals. The fresh haul is on
display with crustaceans to swordfish, this is as fresh as it gets with no
smell apart from the ‘stinky cheese’ lurking to grab the gawking tourists
wallets. We see you buddy…
We have been seeing delicious looking baked treats in shop
windows everywhere and finally cave and stop by to get something. We end up
with an Italian doughnut filled with limoncello cream. It is sensational. We
consider turning around and going back for another, we don’t, saving the space
for gelato.
Gelato is life in Italy and we seek out only the best. Grom
has a reputation as the finest in Venice and our tastebuds believe the
reputation. We tried Apple, Pear, Coffee, Choc Chip, Walnut with White
Chocolate and Cookie Dough with Choc Chip. Not all in one sitting obviously.
Words can’t describe the tantalising flavour sensation that occurred in my
mouth. We did visit another place and have very good (but not Grom good)
Strawberry, Chocolate and Dulce de Lecce. At three and a half euro for three
scoops it’s not even that expensive compared to back home. There is also the
Italian hot chocolate which is just warm melted chocolate. It’s just like
drinking a block of milk chocolate. Incredible.
In the crowded areas, and the narrow pathways it’s not the
tourists you need to watch out for it’s the mail men. Mail has to get in here
somewhere and given that no cars can drive through boats bring the mail, and
men place it on carts and wheel it through the city to its destination.
We pep our afternoons by pulling into a café counter and
ordering an espresso or a macchiato in our worst, broken Italian. Fortunately
everyone is friendly and gets tourists who can’t speak Italian. Espressos are
only a euro a pop if you stand at the counter and you get that ‘doing what the
locals do’ experience.
Apart from seeing the main sites our days are spent wandering
the streets, crossing canals, popping in and out of shops and down side streets
just to see what we can see, usually getting lost in the maze of passages.
Occasionally we’ll see a gondola cruise by and even sometimes with an
accompanying piano accordion player or Italian singer. We wonder how much extra
it costs to have a personal show on board…
We ascend the bell tower in St Marks square, the tallest
structure in Venice. It was originally built several hundred years ago but
collapsed in 1902. It was rebuilt exactly as it was and now you can get a lift
up to the top and take in the panorama over the city. From up high you can see
the proud churches across the city poking their bell towers towards the sky,
the far away shore of the mainland and the tiled terracotta rooves surrounding
the tower criss-crossed with paths and canals. The view from the tower is
great, but in Summer this would not be the place to be if you like any part of
your personal space. Up here I came across a gorgeous girl all dressed up in
Carnival spirit, she looked at my camera and gave me a huge smile as if saying
‘please take a photo of me’, naturally I obliged.
Our last night in Venice is spent navigating a previously
unexplored part of town and tracking down the highly rated and one of the
cheapest Italian take outs in Venice. We stop along the way at some little bar
for a red wine – why not? With our takeaway super fresh pasta we eat next to a
small canal and just soak in the incredible place that Venice is.
Lessons Learnt
- Water buses are expensive, water taxis we hear take only organs as payment. You can easily walk Venice so there really is no reason to use the water bus, unless you actually have somewhere to be at 7Euro a ride pp it adds up quick. It is however cheaper than a gondola, so if you’re on the waterbus sit at the back or at the front outside.
- Pretty much everything is delicious, we haven’t eaten anything even average in 3 days.
- Gondola rides whilst they are in theory romantic and fun are in actuality incredibly expensive (80 euro for 40 minutes) and limited in what you see because they are so slow. That said it does look like an experience to remember
- Come prepped with $$$, although If you shop around there are plenty of cheaper food options available, a mouth-watering Panini for lunch will only set you back $5-6AUD which is cheaper than what you will find they cost in Aus.
- Cache google maps if you actually want to find your way around, even then add an extra 10 minutes to the expected walk time.
- Minimise your sit in, do not drink coffee sitting down or milk based coffee or you will pay through the nose. Do what the locals do, take your coffee at the bar, order an espresso, macchiato, or cappuccino and pay around 1-2 euro total – again cheaper than what you would pay at home. If you don’t expect to pay 5 Euro for 1 cappuccino sitting down.
- Regional trains are much cheaper than fast trains, but expensive none the less. Delayed constantly, it’s rare to get a train that’s not delayed.
Parting Thoughts
There are not beautiful enough words to describe the joy
that is Venice, Belissimo, Perfecto just don’t quite cut it. St Marks square is
breath taking as is the basilica. Just wandering around will have you gasping
and pinching yourself that such a place as this can exist. There is plenty that
we did not have time to explore and see which we will happily leave for next
time. Because there will most certainly be a next time. Venice is right at the
top of ‘we will return to’ list. Maybe we’ll take a gondola next time with our
own private piano accordion player, just for good measure.
Next time (and there will be one) we would stay for 5
leisurely days and day trip to the other Venetian islands, go and watch the Venetian
glass being made and of course shop, shop, shop. We would come again during
Carnivale but come when the events are planned and join in the party!
Two days is enough to see and experience Venice, but you
could easily spend up to 5 just wandering. Venice is made for the leisurely
lifestyle, relaxing, drinking wine, eating and shopping. Wandering Venice and
getting lost is half, if not more of the fun.
It’s not hard to see that Venice was once its own nation, it’s
so regal, so stand alone, a symbol of all it once was.
We feel a sense of pull in this place and we felt a sadness
when leaving that has only been experienced in a few special places.
Simon and Amy xoxo
