Did you realise that you can walk everywhere in Venice? You do not actually need ever catch a boat. That the train station is connected to the mainland by a large causeway? That the large grand canal depicted in photos is misleading – that Venice is rather full of much smaller, meandering canals? That dogs can never pee against a tree nor toddlers play in a grassy park? There are few trees and no grassy parks (or none that we saw in our three days here). I had no idea of any of this. Its been two days since we left Venice and I am struggling to blog about it. I am left with an overall impression of crowds, bridges, kitsch souvenir shops, history and water.
Although Venice was probably the most anticipated city of our travels I didn’t really know what to expect. Childhood memories evoked from film, photos and stories conjured up visions of romantic gondola rides and roads of water. What I found was a true labyrinth. A maze of shops instead of hedges abutted by narrow, twisting waterways. Imagine hundreds of small winding footpaths lined each side by hundreds of small shops. Now imagine that at the end of each footpath is a watery canal. Some have a bridge that you can cross. Many do not and thus you come to a dead-end. This is Venice. 118 small islands joined by over 400 small bridges. It’s very very easy to get lost and its best not to go out without your phone (the maps are useless).
Our accommodation was in a flaky brick (nearly 600 year old) building. A tiny balcony (an unexpected treat) overlooked a (sometimes smelly) canal and our private bathroom was 12 metres down the hall.The well stocked supermarket in the small square not far from us fed us our nightly meal while the excellent bakery adjacent provided a great breakfast. We spent our days getting lost then challenging ourselves with the journey home. It was only on the very last occasion that we managed to succeed without using our phones.
We filled our water bottles with beautiful fresh water from the fountains found throughout the city (as we had also done in Lucca) and applauded the Venetians attitude to recycling (very serious, no garbage bin in our room – it was left in a pile for the maids to sort and no plastic straws with our drinks).
I say kitsch and the souvenir shops were. But they were fun and full of the locally made, world-famous Murano glass. At $120 for a half hour ride, fighting for space on the crowded waterways – we made the decision to forgo a gondola ride but rather amused ourselves eating gelato in St Marks square gawking at the enormous Gothic inspired Dodges Palace and taking photos from the Rialto bridge.
Like every European city we have visited so far – Venice also offers the full table service. We find ourselves often remarking what a shame that this service is disappearing in Australia. Here we can just sit at a table and with a really relaxed attitude someone will eventually take our order.
So this has been Venice. Where the senses are assaulted on every level.Its been tacky but beautiful. Smelly, crowded and noisy but also mystical, romantic and an enigma. It’s a place that we have enjoyed visiting but have no need to return.
Its two days later and we are now in Salzburg Austria. After leaving Venice we traveled onward to Villach a town at the junction between eastern and western Austria. Today we traveled further north and found our train winding itself through the Austrian alps – probably one of the most jaw dropping train journeys we will do. With soaring snow-capped mountain peaks, ice fed swift flowing rivers we found it hard to believe how much the scenery could change in such a short time. Next blog – Mozart’s birthplace Salzburg.
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