Adventures in Venezia

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  Venice, Veneto, Italy
Friday, June 20, 2008

mood: boiling

So i am here in Venice now. We spent Wednesday driving through the Alps down into Italy. The scenery didnt change much as we headed down, the alps look almost exactly the same, but you could tell as we climbed lower as the look of the mountains changed, they definately werent as high. but it was amazing to see these ridges and rises with huge houses and castle-like buildings almost looking like they were part of the rocky outcrops. and the hillsides were covered in rows of grapevines and orchards. some looked like they were dangling of the sides of the hills.

after a full afternoon of driving, we got to Venice. we are actually staying about 15 mins out of the city, in a camping place called Alba D'Oro. I am sharing a cabin with 2 other girls from Boronia

birthday dessert

. Small world. We have 3 beds and an ensuite. there is aircon, but strangely enough it doesnt work. Funny how that seems to happen alot.

This campsite is also used primarily by Topdeck, a company which rivals Contiki through Europe. This means that there are alot of young, crazy people here. Most people who travel on tours like those are looking at spending more time drunk or hungover, then soaking up the atmosphere of a place. Its promoted like that. which is fine for some people, each to their own. The good thing about my thing that i am doing, Busabout, is that you can make it whatever you want it to be. I didnt come away to get drunk every night and then feel sick and sleep on the bus all day. I couldnt afford to! so i do find the hords of drunk people screaming and laughing at 2am slightly annoying. but thats just me.

The campsite here has a small minimart, resturant, pool and bar. its kind of like the same setup as Ios and Mykonos, but i dont think it has the same vibe. Its a little too teeny-bopperish. but im here to see venice, not to hang out in the camp. and you dont want to spend much time here anyway, the camp is right next to the airport. the end of the runway is litterally pointing at the campsite. You can almost reach up and touch the bottoms of the planes as they fly over

Venice petrol station

. Not really, but its incredibly loud! And they fly from about 6am till around 11pm. but its alot cheaper than staying in town.

Our first night here i spent with the 2 sisters (Kylie and Jackie) that i had been chatting to the night before in St Johann, along with 2 other NZ girls that they had met up with here who had also been on Busabout but were leaving the next day. It was Kylies 25th birthday, and so we had a cookup to celebrate. The sisters are backpacking around in a tent (crazy) and have brought with them small camping burner and frypans, so we took it in turns to cook our food - you could only do one at a time as the pans were so small! Actually Kylie cooked for us, as she works in hospitality, and she does a great job. I had toast with cheese and eggs. Best meal i have had so far. It was soooo delicious. You dont realise how much you miss simple food when your away. I havent been able to cook anything since i got to Europe, and buying takeaway isnt the same as having food cooked like this. It makes me want to buy a burner myself!! We celebrated Kylies birthday with some cake and icecream from the restaurant, watched some soccer in the bar, and then i headed to bed.

Thursday morning i headed in with Kylie and Jackie to explore Venice. The city dates back to the 5th and 6th centuries, when barbarians forced the Venetians off their land and onto a swamp

canal in Murano

. it was originally its own entity, but Napoleon ended up coming and giving it to Austria, until in the 1860's when all the little areas became whats now known as Italy. they built their entire city on wooden posts sunk into the ground, and the current city is made up of 117 islands, and has over 400 bridges. Its huge, and you get lost incredibly easily. It is also the most expensive city in Italy. A gondola ride during the day was over 80euros for an hour. thats about $150aus to sit in a boat. not in my price range. at night it can be over 120euros. crazy. The city is actually sinking, which poses a bit of a problem. its actually falling apart, we saw multiple buildings which were just crumbling to pieces. but somehow, that just adds to the beauty of Venice.

We chose the cheaper option of transport, the Vaporetti, which are like public water ferries. it was still 14euro for a 12hr pass, but it was worth it as you could use it as much as you liked. we got on a boat which took us around the outside of venice, and then to an island off the main area called Murano. We had a very amusing incident while on our way there. The ferries are quite small, about the size of a bus, and all have an indoor seating area with windows. we were sitting in a section of seats next to a window, which had a section that you can open to let the breeze in. now its very hot here, about 30 degrees during the day, so of course we had the window open. halfway through our trip, the ferry turned, and all 3 of us watched in slow motion as a huge freak wave came towards us, smashed into the side of the boat, poured in through the window, and absolutely soaked us with water. somehow, it hit only on our window, and so we were the only ones who got wet. we screamed of course, and jumped out of our seats incredibly quickly, dripping wet and covered in little bits of sea weed. luckily we saw the very funny side of it, as did most of the other people who watched it happen

glass sculpture in Murano

. We spent the next few minutes giggling and wringing out our clothes. we couldnt sit down again, as the seats were wet, so we stood in the cabin until we got to the island. one local lady walked past on her way off and said to us that 'she had never seen anything like it'. needless to say, any trips following that one we were  incredibly cautious to check the windows were locked, and looked out for any more freak waves.

the island of Murano is famous for its Venetian glass blowing. No wonder its famous, they are amazing. The glass was originally made all over the city, but they were afraid that it could burn the city down, so they moved the glass blowing onto the one island. The island is full of shops with mostly jewellry, sculptures and plates/glasses/vases made of the glass, very overpriced and touristy, but incredibly stunning. because glass blowing is done by hand, it means that no 2 pieces will ever be the same. and every blower has a different style, so every shop was different. As most people back home would know, im not one to go out and buy random things. And so far on this trip i havent either. But this was the first place that i found things that i wanted. although not prepared to fork out 60euros for a plate, i came very close to buying myself a beautiful ring. i just couldnt justify the 25euro price tag.

After we wandered Murano and drooled over the amazing glass, we caught a Vaporetti back to the main part of Venice, got a delicious gelato, and then cruised down the 'main drag' - the grand canal. this is the busiest part of Venice, there are so many boats, and it is a sight to be seen. We jumped off at the end, at St Marks Square, and visited the amazing Basilia San Marco (St Marks Basilia), built to house the remains of St Mark, which were stolen from Egypt

me and a bridge

. The roof of the Basilia is mosaics of tiles depicting different things, all framed by tiny gold mosaic tiles. it is incredible to see. to go inside we had to line up, and once inside had to purchase orange sarong things for 1 euro to tie around our waists, as its disrespectful to go inside with your knees showing. we werent allowed to take pictures inside, but i snuck a few photos from the outside so you can see what the roof was like. it was incredible. once a day from 11 - 12 they turn some lights on inside so that the gold roof is illuminated. we were too late to see it but it was still spectacular none the less.

The square outside the Basilia is huge, and features more stores full of the glass, as well as more touristy shopping like clothing, carnevale masks and other jewellry. its also full of dirty pigeons. up until the last few years the pigeons were seen as sacred, and they were fed by the government, as well as covered by laws stopping people harassing them etc. but last month, it was decided that they are pests, and it is now illegal to feed them. people still do, its discusting to see them letting the pigeons sit on their hands and stuff. they are diseased and dirty. yuk. stupid tourists...

we wandered the streets of venice for the avo, took some photos, soaked up the atmosphere, and then caught the transfer back to camp at about 5pm as we were all very exhausted after our big day

Venice canal

. I had a snooze for a couple of hours, then we had another cookup on the burner, i bought some beef patties, rolls, cheese and my leftover eggs, and made a delicious burger. Kylie and Jackie had some rice and chicken meal out of a can. it looked like dog food. yummy. We took the cooking stuff up to the canal at the back of the campsite, but got kicked out at the end by some of the staff, as they had to close the access gate.

Because of all the water around here, there are a hell of a lot of mozzies, and i have been getting eaten alive at night. I didnt bring any insect repellant with me when i came away, and the only stuff here is about 7 euros for a little bottle, so i havent bothered to buy any. but the nights here have been stinking hot, and so i havent had a very good night sleep the last couple of nights, as i keep tossing and turning and scratching my bites.its probably not helped by the fact that there are 3 people sleeping in a tiny little room.

We played a couple of games of cards and watched the soccer after dinner, but we were all so tired after our big day exploring that we headed off to bed quite early. the bar was having a toga party, so there were alot of topdeck guys and girls walking around wearing sheets. kind of ammusing but not worth getting woken up in the middle of the night when they stumble home past my cabin

fountain

. lovely.

today has involved a lot of sweet nothing. its been so hot that its not worth heading back into venice as you almost boil alive. we saw everything yesterday anyway. i might go have a swim, and relax with one of my new books that i have managed to pickup along my travels. i only brought one book with me, but got given another when in athens. i finished and traded my first book after the greek islands, and am currently reading my 3rd. its so easy to trade as you travel along, so im sure i will never be short of some entertainment.

well thats 2 entries in one day. my brain is hurting from having to think so much! i will post photos as soon as humanly possible, i promise. its a painful process.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

gondolas	Grand Canal	Grand Canal 2	Grand Canal 3
Venetian masks	St Marks Basilica	gold roof in St Marks	gold roof in St Marks 2
me and Jackie	St Marks Square	St Marks Basilica 2	more masks
gondola traffic jam	back canal of Venice	view of Grand Canal from bridge	Kylie, Jackie and me
Beautiful canals

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