Monday 18th September (day 50)
Our last day in Luigi, and we are both sad about that. The time spent with him has been fabulous, if a little rushed. We were fortunate to find a company, Anywhere Campers, that do a one way hire, and Luigi was delivered to us (in Barcelona) and collected from us (in Venice) without a hitch. He was the perfect size for us, handled the roads and the trip superbly and was economical. We did (how many) kilometres in him and followed our originally planned itinerary almost exactly (we ended up leaving Florence for another time, so we can do it justice). Our time in Luigi has confirmed that we would love to get a camper and spend a year or so in Europe. We just have to work out when and how to do it.
Eventually we got on the road, but not terribly far, thanks to some complicated driving instructions from the navigation, that had us doing laps of a pair of roundabouts! There’s one thing we won’t miss! We managed a couple of final motorways, with their associated toll gates, before we stopped for coffee and to pack our bags in Chioggia, having decided Ferrara didn’t look too interesting (admittedly it was an overcast, smoggy day). With everything packed up and Luigi swept out, I drove the final leg into Venice, finding the car park at Tronchetto relatively easily. Before long, Luigi was safely handed over and we were on our way.
Thanks to a public transport strike across Italy, we had to catch a different boat around to San Marco, but arrived there at 5.30pm, to be met by our host and escorted to the apartment. Negotiating Venetian paths with our bags, plus a few extra things like wine and vodka, was not easy. The streets themselves were fine, but the bridges proved a challenge. On that note, I have decided to cross as many of the bridges as possible. There are more that 400, some of which are private, so it will take some walking. But I’ll give it my best shot! After settling into our beautiful accommodation and opening the windows to let the sounds of Venice in, we wandered off to do some food shopping, and then enjoyed some delicious beans on toast, with a scrummy omelette. What a grand thing to do, shop and cook in Venice!
If I’m going to cross every bridge in this city, then I need a list of them all, which proved to be difficult to get. There is a list with photos on Wikipedia, and another 400+ pdf with pictures, but I just want their names. Chat GPT proved to be useless, stating that it would be “an exhaustive task, and impractical”. We needn’t worry about machines taking over the world. They are as lazy as humans! Eventually I found and edited a list, and marked off those we’ve managed already, before I got a second wind and off we went, at 10pm, to see San Marco Square and traverse a few more bridges. I already love Venice!
Tuesday 19th September (day 51)
Well, that was a fabulous sleep! We slept well in Luigi, but last night was a sleep of angels! As a result, we also had a slow start to the day, but eventually we got out into Venice, for our first real look at the city and all it has to offer. We decided to follow the GPS my city introduction to Venice walk, starting with the San Marco Square clock, which was just about to strike midday. The bells on top of the clock are literally struck by one of the statues on the top! Very cool. The clock also has a face that tells the time, the moon phase and the star sign, as well as have a “digital” face!
After watching the clock strike midday, we headed around the square looking at the bell tower, the doge (palace), the basilica and all the people! Not having achieved much in the way of distance or new bridges, we headed off on the rest of the walk, adding in a lovely cafe, for a standing-only coffee with a pastry or two! Yummy, and hugely tempting. We could have eaten one of everything in that store! Our walking tour took us through many of the streets, past interesting buildings, through squares and under sotoportegos, past and even into churches (I am sure God does not mind that we sought a refuge from the heat in his house). One thing I have noticed about Venice already is the lack of public seating! On our walk I recognised what I thought was Banksy picture (and it is). The final stop on our very long walk was at the basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, the outside of which is currently being restored! We took the opportunity to have a seat and watch the world go by, before going inside for a quick look. The basilica is very close to our accommodation, but separated by a canal, the Grand Canal in fact, meaning we had a look walk back to our window ledges, for a couple of beers and some gondola action.
Walking is hungry business, needing good sustenance, so we headed out in the evening for a meal in St Margaret’s Square. Naturally we had bruschetta, pasta and wine! When in Italy, one must eat the culturally appropriate food, mustn’t one! Then of course, one feels way too full and one must walk a long way to help it digest. Lucky we have a million bridges to cross.
Wednesday 20th September (day 52)
Another late start today, the beauty of spending a few days in a city. There’s no need to rush, no need for “20 minutes and back on the bus”. Some time late in the morning, we left home and wandered to a local, overstuffed cafe for a coffee and a pastry. Fortunately both were good, as the service was far from it. Today’s plan involves walking into the Castello area. In doing so we walked along the Grand Canal, crossing many bridges, before we sought a seat for a while. A bit of cooling down, people watching and some planning was needed. Onwards we somewhere wanders into the area where quite a few exhibits are underway. One we looked through focuses on Scotland and the forest clearing, in the highlands, as well as the impact of industrial commerce across the country (random). Another focuses on fish and fishing, and the impact of commercial fishing on traditional fishers in Africa, linking to poverty and starvation resulting in people becoming refugees. That one was quite thought provoking.
Back out in the sun we kept Criss crossing bridges, ending up in the very back and top corner of the city, deep in the formed boat building area, and found a huge set of sculptures, called building bridges. Quite appropriate, given my quest to cross as many bridges as possible. My interpretation was that the sets of hands were from the same people, but spanned time, from initially meeting, through to ending peacefully, however the artist offers the following explanation:
FRIENDSHIP
The solemnity of two palms touching gently but firmly creates a symmetry expressing a state of trust and support, based on mutual experience and looking ahead to a future together.
WISDOM
The meeting of hands young and old evokes knowledge and understanding crossing generations.
HELP
The connection of two hands symbolising both empathy and understanding in a state of physical, emotional and moral support that builds lasting relationships.
FAITH
The grasp of a tiny hand clutching a parent’s fingers in blind faith is a reminder of the responsibility to nurture our younger generation to grow in confidence, self-worth and dependability.
HOPE
The initial joining of interlaced fingers represents optimism for the future. Hope gives us the strength to persevere in worthwhile endeavours when all appears lost.
LOVE
The tightly interlocked fingers suggest the intensity of bodies clinging to one another in passionate devotion; the physical manifestation of a state of being that is fundamental to us all.
Today’s late lunch was consumed in the Castello neighbourhood. We chose a bar with some nice outdoor seating, picked some carbohydrate and decided to try limoncello spritz. We should have stopped at one each, but they were so nice we ordered another and then our heads seemed to exploded. It is fair to say, that I have never felt so drunk on two drinks! In other news, not only are they over-proof, but they are also over-priced, with our teeny, tiny meal and 2 drinks each costing us €40! Admittedly we got our monies worth, but I do wonder of they were spiked with a little something more than the recipe calls for …
With the afternoon evaporating, we needed to make a run for home, so we could use the 20 minutes to make a coffee, in an attempt to sober up. It didn’t seem to do much good, but by the time we ran across the city to meet our walking tour guide at 6pm, we were pretty well sobered up. Thankfully. And thankfully, the tour was very leisurely and laid back, with a fabulous guide, Andrea, who took us back to San Marco Sq, along almost the same route as we ran! We started at the Grand Canal, wandering past the palaces, where the more you earned, the higher up the building you lived, in the rooms with the smaller windows. We heard how the leadership of the city was passed from one aristocrat family, to the next, with the aristocracy determined by how much you paid, rather than any birthright.
We went into the Jewish ghetto, where we heard the dreadful truth about rounding up people of the Jewish faith, and how the doctor took his own life, rather than share his medical records with officials. And we saw stolpersteine on the ground.
We heard that in Italy it is always Neptune and never Poseidon, it is always rectangular mirrors and never square, pizza is the French equivalent of a baguette (eaten all the time). We learned about the colours of the flag, green is for tying all the lands (regions) of Italy together, the white is for the mountains (alps and Dolomites) and the red is for blood shed across the country. We heard that Italy developed the concept of copyright and also opened the worlds first casino (do they own the copyright on casinos?). And finally, after a stop for piazza and a Prosecco, we ended in the San Marco Square, beneath the clock we saw yesterday at midday, where we heard that the 2 boys, one older and one younger, each strike the clock on the hour, one a minute before and one a minute after, a long term source of confusion for Venetians.
What a day! As days on this trip go, it’s up there with the most exhausting. Perhaps the middle of the day spritz are still wearing off. We won’t be doing that again …
Thursday 21st September (day 53)
Venice seems to be having a “late start” effect on us. Today was no different, and we didn’t leave home today until 11.30sh. We did take the time to get some washing done, and out on the line – not the one over the canal (no need to air the clean laundry to the gondola traffic). When we did get cracking, we decided to walk all over and to the S. Croce area, which proved harder than it needed to be! We did quite a few laps of the area near San Paolo square, before deciding to just join in and have our daily stand up coffee and pastries. Eventually we got free of the hold that San Paolo sq. seemed to have on us, and continued our walk, arriving at the train station! We managed to tick off quite a few more bridges, before wandering all the way home again, for a late lunch, complete with a cheeky French rosè we have been carrying around, and of course some serenading from the gondolas on our rio.
All refreshed and ready to tick off some more bridges, we used our public transport ticket from Monday (when they were on strike), to take the ferry along the Grand Canal. In hind sight, it was a silly decision to use it during peak hour, as the ferry was jammed full, but it did save us a few steps. We alighted the ferry at the casino stop, and walked to our prepaid and planned activity of night kayaking the canals. This was a very lovely experience, where we went under, rather than over, a few bridges, as well as entering the main lagoon, and seeing the buildings from the water. As regular kayakers, we enjoyed the opportunity to be on the water, without being in the congested gondola thoroughfares. We have experienced the gondola though, taking a traghetto gondola across the Grand Canal (€2). Another lovely day in Venice, capped off with a pizza and plate of lasagne, sitting at a dry table during a rainy evening, tempting fate with a pair of limoncello spritz. A lot less eventful than yesterday!
Friday 22nd September (day 54)
And true to form, we hand a lovely late start today too, although at least we had the excuse of doing a load of washing. After hanging that out the window to dry, we headed out to the Pandora shop so I could add a gondola charm to my collection. A fair trade for the green and gold thong charm I lost somewhere among the streets of Venice. Oh well, better to leave it here than for it to be stolen. Sticking to routine, we found another stand up coffee shop just as it started to rain. Ahh, the washing. Thankfully we have enough days here that we could go home and wait out the rain (and get the washing in before it got soaked).
My mid afternoon the rain had eased off, so we wandered back out into the streets of Venice. Are they still considered streets if there are no cars, bikes or other means of transport using them? Everything here is on foot or by boat. There are a few porters running around, but they’re rare. On a recommendation from Andrea we decided to go and have a look at the crypt in (whose) church, that was apparently used in one of the Indiana Jones films. We knew it flooded, so that was part of the attraction, and sure enough, it was fairly full of water. In fact, Venice was watery today, with the tide already high when we got up, and rising throughout the day. One by one, the steps at the end of our little laneway disappeared under water. I am not sure the visit was wort €3.50 each, but that’s the Venice tax for you! Walking Venice is definitely hard work and deserves a lovely reward, so despite having walked almost nowhere today, we found ourselves at a canal-side wine bar, and asked if they do limoncello spritzs. I thought the wine bar waiter was going to spit on me as he said, “not really we can”. I didn’t understand if meant that they could or couldn’t so I asked, receiving a terse and obviously annoyed affirmative on the spritz. Some things get lost in translation but deep wine glasses full of cold yellow beverage are very appealing and once ours were served 2 other couples were attracted to the venue, requesting “what they’re having”. We obviously started a craze that the waiter probably preferred we hadn’t! To show him there were no hard feelings, I left him a kangaroo. He seemed much politer than when I first asked for the spritz …
With our time in Venice running out, we needed to add a few more bridges to our tally, so we headed off wandering the streets again, finding the flooded bookshop. Because the drummer is such a bookworm and turning Evie into one, we purchased a couple of the very few kids books in English. I feel like the shock of the bookshop being flooded must have almost killed the shop owners, but now it is a bit of an attraction, so something good is coming from it. Finally we made it back to San Marco Sq, where we ascended to the top of the leaning bell tower. This follows our tradition of going to the top of something high on the last night of each trip, to see all the places we’ve visited. I have to say that the view from the bell tower is absolutely amazing and took my breathe away. It was lovely to be up there at sunset and see the city rooftops in all their terracotta glory. I’ll admit though, that the thought that the bell tower leans, and that the who,e city is slowly sinking, and that Andrea doesn’t stand under the sotoportegos for too long in case they collapse, made me want to descend to a relatively safer place, so our stay in the air was shorter than most. I was definitely right not to go up the leaning tower of Pisa!
Back home we cooked up our last dinner in Italy (there’s still lunch tomorrow to go), before we took a late evening walk for gelato and a few more bridges. I think my favourite flavour is somewhere between salted caramel and tiramisu and vanilla. I’m not sure though, so I might need to try a few more flavours before the end of this trip.
Saturday 23rd September (day 55)
No late start today unfortunately, as we needed to be up and checked out by 10am. As part of our checkout we needed to ditch the rubbish, something that is a bit complicated on an island. Eventually though, we found the garbos, handed over the rubbish and were free to go. Our day comprised many thousands of steps and many more new bridges, interspersed with coffee and pastry, and capped off with a final meal of bruschetta, pasta, gnocchi and spritzs. Fortunately we had ditched our luggage at a Bounce outlet, and it was still there waiting for us at the end of the day.
We conquered the last bridge with our luggage and boarded our ferry to the airport. There is no typo there, we did indeed board a ferry that (eventually) took us to the airport. I wonder if there is any other international airport that has a ferry terminal at it? It was certainly a first for us. If you are ever over this way, we can recommend the ride to the airport, just triple check the timetable so you aren’t running late like us. As luck would have it though, or flight which had already been brought forward, was delayed by well over an hour, and ended up leaving after the original flight time! All’s well that ends well and so our time in Venice, and in Italy, has come to an end. We have loved both, although we have barely scratched the surface of Italy.
On the other hand, we have walked so much of Venice that our feet and legs ache. It’s an amazing place with an interesting history, unlike anywhere I’ve ever been (except maybe the Uros Islands). It’s hard to imagine that if as the predictions suggest, it will all be gone in 70 years. Certainly, if the way things lean is anything to go by, it does seem to be going down. In the meantime, it has been a great place to visit, and we have managed to cross (how many) unique bridges. We crossed many of the bridges many times, so I suspect we’ve probably crossed (double) actual bridges. Although most a short, they are steep little buggers, that tire you out, especially when you are dragging luggage up and over them. I don’t think I have a favourite but I like some of the stories that accompany them, of barefoot monks crossing over (name), prostitutes and their “titties” (name) and thugs behaving badly (name). Crossing the bridges of Venice filled five days, and took us across the main islands. We’ll have to come back to tackle Murano and Burano and the Lido.
In crossing so many bridges, we’ve come to see many amazing things about the city. It is made up of little squares, entered via sotoportegos, some of which are sagging dramatically. Each square has a capped well (actually they are cisterns), towards the middle. The palaces that make up the rim of each square are ornate on the side that faces the canal, sometimes with huge entry doors directly from gondolas. I have enjoyed finding some of the more interesting door knobs and handles, as well as some of the many stone faces. As for the canals, I am surprised just how clean the they are, with big and little fish happily swimming around, despite the never ending boat traffic.
I think I’ll miss Venice and our little apartment. It has rivalled our Prague apartment for size, and our Amsterdam apartment for comfort. It’s been a real treat to come home, open the windows (there were 5 of them along the canal side) and let the music in. Sitting on the window ledges, waving to the gondoliers and their passengers has been fun, and a unique experience. But now, we are off to Santorini, hoping to do a bit of lazing around. I think we’ve earned it.
The Solo Avocado 