Today we let ourselves have a bit of a sleep in - and also took it slowly in the morning because we were (I was) a little nervous about jumping out on the street. Last night had been so lovely, and I just knew it would be hectic with all the tourists out there. Over the course of the morning, I received a few messages from my old colleague in Berlin Marisela asking if we were going to visit any of the other islands, like Murano and Burano. This was a question that kept popping up all day:
- do we go to Murano and/or Burano at all or spend all our time in Venice main?
- if we do go to Murano and/or Burano, do we do the tour that the hotel offered and take away any hassle (it would be for 4ish hours), or do we do our own thing?
It literally took us all day to come to a decision on this, which I'll get to later.
We finally jumped out mid-morning and of course, Venice was buzzing. There were people everywhere, although it wasn't shoulder to shoulder and we never felt particularly over crowded. We retraced much of our steps from the night before, and now the streets were also filled with vendors, making the streets and alley ways tighter. The plan was to walk all the way to San Marco Square, which would take, on paper, about half an hour.
We were really located in a perfect place - while San Marco square was beautiful, the walk to it was much better. We passed many shops and walked over many canals and bridges, stopping all the while for photos. At first all of my photos were pretty damn shit - I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong. I eventually realised that my framing was right off - I was getting too close to the canal walls and this wasn't working for the skinny landscape in front of me.
The canals were filled, as to be expected, with boats of varying shapes and sizes. There were many motorboats - as no on has cars, here, of course! And - as you would expect - there were plenty of gondolas too. Now, we had talked long and hard about this and decided not to get a gondola. They are expensive (€80 for 30 minutes. Yes. Just let that sink in for a minute - and that's just before 7pm, it gets more expensive after that). We had plenty of enjoyment watching them navigate the canals and traffic jams that we didn't need to be in one.
When we popped out in San Marco Square, the throngs of people were immense. The Basilica looked beautiful, and you could climb the tower, which had been on my list as a potential "view" spot. It was €8 though, and that's a bit pricy for a view for us at the moment! We also didn't go in the basilica because of the queues. We have seen a lot of churches and religious places, and will be heading to the Vatican soon, so we were quite ok with leaving that off the list.
By now, we realised that we were on the edge of Venice, where there were a tonne of vendors and gondolas amassed. One bridge we could see in the distance looked like it was crawling shoulder to shoulder with ants. Thankfully it eased up by the time we got there. We passed by the Bridge of Sighs, and it was gondola city. Overrun. In fact, we thought you would never really get much of a journey for your money here because the traffic jams were pretty consistent!
Venice isn't renown for it's good food - or cheap food, so I had googled some places that were in the price range. There was a place apparently not far from where we were which did pasta in a box which got great reviews. After a false start getting there - Dan's offline maps sent us on a bit of a goose chase - we eventually found it. The line was pretty massive but it moved so quickly that I hadn't made up my mind by the time we got to the front.
In the end I went with a super cheese one and Dan the bolognese topped with cheese, and we grabbed little wines each. There was no where to sit here, so I asked the man behind the counter where the best place to go was. He looked so happy that I asked! "You go left, then right, then you'll get to a lovely square!" We followed his instructions and we did indeed land upon a little square.
It was quite lovely sitting here - we found a little ledge to perch on to eat our pasta and drink our wine, watching the gondolas and boats go past. It seemed that he directed every one here - so many pasta boxes walked into the square! There wasn't a lot of space to sit, I think we got the last one.
Next up, we wanted to see the Academia Bridge. After getting a bit lost in all the backstreets, we found it. Covered, in it's entirety, in scaffolding and wooden boards. Nothing to see here, folks!
By now, the heat of the day, my need to sit down, and just being slightly overwhelmed got to me and so when we found a shady spot, we took the opportunity to pause and figure out our next move. We were so close to the Ponte dei Pugni, or the "fighting" bridge as we had nicknamed it, so the plan was to check it out, and then back to the accommodation to regroup.
The Ponte dei Pugni, or Bridge of Fists - back in the 1600's, every year rival factions used to hold fist fights on the bridge until it was eventually outlawed, which took about 100 years...
Back at the accommodation, I fell instantly asleep and had a decent nap. Woo! Napping is great!
When I woke up, Dan had a suggestion for me. Turns out, he won a voucher for petrol back in New Zealand and his mum had exchanged the voucher for cash for us. The amount was almost the same as a gondola ride. At first, I was very much no. We had decided we were not going to do a gondola, as much as I would like to! That's a few dinners out. But then, when I was looking up whether it really is worth the money, I started to change my tune, and thought it might be a lovely thing to do after all in Venice while we're here and....
So the gondola was now on the cards. Not for tonight, as it would be getting into expensive zone soon, but for the morrow, or maybe the morning of the day after as we had given ourselves extra time here in Venice. While we were sitting here, we also tried to figure out these damn islands that had been plaguing us all day. More researching about whether it was worth visiting them, and it also seemed like a good idea.
One other thing that we really wanted to do was catch the ferry from the beginning of the Grand Canal to the end, or to the end of the line in Lido. So a plan was hatched: we would buy ourselves the €20 ferry 24 hour pass tonight, and take the ferry at sunset. This ticket would also be valid for Murano and Burano, which we could visit the next day - we had 24 hour to use up the ticket. These trips alone paid back the cost of the pass, at €7.50 a normal trip, so we hop skipped it out of our accommodation to head to the ferry terminal.
The idea was to start at the beginning of the line, not least to try to get the best seats for the view. We were about 2 stops walking distance from the beginning, and considered getting on - but the ferries we saw were smash packed so continued with the plan. This was a good plan. When we got to the first ferry terminal, we had pole position - and after a short 10ish minute wait, I ran for the front of the ship, thwarting some other people who had the same idea.
Dan and I positioned ourselves at the very front and we had an excellent view for the journey. I'll note here that the ferry is actually a lot slower than just walking - it took almost an hour to get to San Marco when it takes about half an hour on foot. We did it simply for the view, but it's also good for resting to your feet.
The ferry very quickly filled up. The stop we were going to get on at - it was standing room only, by that point. We were very glad we had waited the extra few minutes and walked the extra distance! The journey took us all along the Grand Canal, which was beautiful lit up in the last few rays of the sun. The gondolas were out in force. Soon the sun was below the horizon, and there was a little bit of pink in the sky. We decided not to get out at San Marco as was the original idea - but stuff it, let's go to the end of the line at Lido!
Lido is another island altogether, and is the "beach" island. We figured why not! The journey to there took a little over an hour. We stepped off at Lido, although I considered that we could just stay on and go back the way we came, like some other people were doing. But we had come this far, we might as well look.
The sky was getting quite dark by now, and we walked a short distance. After consulting the map, we realised that it would only take us a few minutes - about 10 - to literally cross the island to the beach. What does a Venice beach look like, we wondered?
On the way, we of course discovered a kitty. This cat was SO FLUFFY and turned out to be quite hilarious. It meowed as we approached and let us pat it. It then started following us, tangling itself up in my legs. Then it would stop and look at me like, "Wait, you're still here?" Then I'd try to pat it, and it wouldn't know what to do. Then it would let me pat it. Then it would look at me like, "I'll protect you!" and would walk with us for a while. It was really a confused cat.
Really soon we hit the waterfront, which was blocked off by a big row of hedges. We turned right and kept walking until we saw a way down to the beach. Or so we thought. Venice beaches (or at least this stretch), was only open until 5pm, and was paid entry... This concept is so foreign to an Australian who has access to any beach at any time, really!
We contemplated this odd beachness to the sound of electro music pumping. Opposite where we were standing, was an old London bus (or Italian equivalent). It was a panini-cum-bar bus, and we figured we'd come all this way, why not have a beer. Wine was too expensive, beer was definitely not cheap but we each ordered a local beer and climbed up the stair case to the second level of the bus.
There were two guys sitting up here already playing cards, and we excused ourselves as we squished past them. The bus was laid out with very low floor benches made out of what looked like pallet crates, with cushions thrown over the top. The roof of the downstairs area had been raised to fit the kitchen, and the roof up here had been sawed off and raised up on sticks so that people could generally stand up to move around.
It was covered in a funky red glow, and Dan and I giggled our way through our beer, sitting like naughty kids up the back of the bus. At one point the other guys left, leaving Dan and I the only people up the top. At about this time, the DJ downstairs started to play - if you can guess it - That's amore by Dean Martin, and we definitely got our karaoke on! It was a lot of fun. The DJ then returned to happy electro, we finished our beers, and climbed down from the bus.
We walked back to the ferry port, and checked the bus times. There was one going where we needed in a few minutes, and oddly enough another one after that. We jumped on the earlier ferry, when Dan suddenly said, which direction does this ferry go in? Turns out that we hopped on the ferry which ended up where we needed to go, but went the complete opposite direction around the islands than we needed. Oh well, we were already on our way.
To be honest, both of us were pretty glad when we got off at the Nova port - our ferry driver seemed to want to sink the boat. When we left Lido, I think the rope was still attached, and so we went back and forth about 3 times before we actually set off... And every port we went into, the boat launched into the docking station with a painful scrape. I was sure we were letting in water!
By getting off at the Nova port instead of the train station, we could practice for tomorrow. This is where we would need to catch the ferry to Burano and Murano. By now it was after 10pm, and we made our way through the backstreets until we finally hit the main street we recognised. Although we got mildly lost in these back streets, it was amazing still to turn a corner and suddenly see a pumping little bar with a crowd of locals outside, as we squeezed past them trying not to be burnt by their cigarettes or spill their wines. The back streets are oh so quiet, and so narrow, and people have their washing hung up, or little flower beds out of their windows, or religious relics painted onto the side of the buildings.
Back on the main stretch, we made our way back to our accommodation. I was so glad we still had another full day and a half in Venice - our original plan to have only one day would never have been enough!
Til next time,
xx
- do we go to Murano and/or Burano at all or spend all our time in Venice main?
- if we do go to Murano and/or Burano, do we do the tour that the hotel offered and take away any hassle (it would be for 4ish hours), or do we do our own thing?
It literally took us all day to come to a decision on this, which I'll get to later.
We finally jumped out mid-morning and of course, Venice was buzzing. There were people everywhere, although it wasn't shoulder to shoulder and we never felt particularly over crowded. We retraced much of our steps from the night before, and now the streets were also filled with vendors, making the streets and alley ways tighter. The plan was to walk all the way to San Marco Square, which would take, on paper, about half an hour.
We were really located in a perfect place - while San Marco square was beautiful, the walk to it was much better. We passed many shops and walked over many canals and bridges, stopping all the while for photos. At first all of my photos were pretty damn shit - I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong. I eventually realised that my framing was right off - I was getting too close to the canal walls and this wasn't working for the skinny landscape in front of me.
The canals were filled, as to be expected, with boats of varying shapes and sizes. There were many motorboats - as no on has cars, here, of course! And - as you would expect - there were plenty of gondolas too. Now, we had talked long and hard about this and decided not to get a gondola. They are expensive (€80 for 30 minutes. Yes. Just let that sink in for a minute - and that's just before 7pm, it gets more expensive after that). We had plenty of enjoyment watching them navigate the canals and traffic jams that we didn't need to be in one.
When we popped out in San Marco Square, the throngs of people were immense. The Basilica looked beautiful, and you could climb the tower, which had been on my list as a potential "view" spot. It was €8 though, and that's a bit pricy for a view for us at the moment! We also didn't go in the basilica because of the queues. We have seen a lot of churches and religious places, and will be heading to the Vatican soon, so we were quite ok with leaving that off the list.
By now, we realised that we were on the edge of Venice, where there were a tonne of vendors and gondolas amassed. One bridge we could see in the distance looked like it was crawling shoulder to shoulder with ants. Thankfully it eased up by the time we got there. We passed by the Bridge of Sighs, and it was gondola city. Overrun. In fact, we thought you would never really get much of a journey for your money here because the traffic jams were pretty consistent!
Venice isn't renown for it's good food - or cheap food, so I had googled some places that were in the price range. There was a place apparently not far from where we were which did pasta in a box which got great reviews. After a false start getting there - Dan's offline maps sent us on a bit of a goose chase - we eventually found it. The line was pretty massive but it moved so quickly that I hadn't made up my mind by the time we got to the front.
In the end I went with a super cheese one and Dan the bolognese topped with cheese, and we grabbed little wines each. There was no where to sit here, so I asked the man behind the counter where the best place to go was. He looked so happy that I asked! "You go left, then right, then you'll get to a lovely square!" We followed his instructions and we did indeed land upon a little square.
It was quite lovely sitting here - we found a little ledge to perch on to eat our pasta and drink our wine, watching the gondolas and boats go past. It seemed that he directed every one here - so many pasta boxes walked into the square! There wasn't a lot of space to sit, I think we got the last one.
Next up, we wanted to see the Academia Bridge. After getting a bit lost in all the backstreets, we found it. Covered, in it's entirety, in scaffolding and wooden boards. Nothing to see here, folks!
By now, the heat of the day, my need to sit down, and just being slightly overwhelmed got to me and so when we found a shady spot, we took the opportunity to pause and figure out our next move. We were so close to the Ponte dei Pugni, or the "fighting" bridge as we had nicknamed it, so the plan was to check it out, and then back to the accommodation to regroup.
The Ponte dei Pugni, or Bridge of Fists - back in the 1600's, every year rival factions used to hold fist fights on the bridge until it was eventually outlawed, which took about 100 years...
Back at the accommodation, I fell instantly asleep and had a decent nap. Woo! Napping is great!
When I woke up, Dan had a suggestion for me. Turns out, he won a voucher for petrol back in New Zealand and his mum had exchanged the voucher for cash for us. The amount was almost the same as a gondola ride. At first, I was very much no. We had decided we were not going to do a gondola, as much as I would like to! That's a few dinners out. But then, when I was looking up whether it really is worth the money, I started to change my tune, and thought it might be a lovely thing to do after all in Venice while we're here and....
So the gondola was now on the cards. Not for tonight, as it would be getting into expensive zone soon, but for the morrow, or maybe the morning of the day after as we had given ourselves extra time here in Venice. While we were sitting here, we also tried to figure out these damn islands that had been plaguing us all day. More researching about whether it was worth visiting them, and it also seemed like a good idea.
One other thing that we really wanted to do was catch the ferry from the beginning of the Grand Canal to the end, or to the end of the line in Lido. So a plan was hatched: we would buy ourselves the €20 ferry 24 hour pass tonight, and take the ferry at sunset. This ticket would also be valid for Murano and Burano, which we could visit the next day - we had 24 hour to use up the ticket. These trips alone paid back the cost of the pass, at €7.50 a normal trip, so we hop skipped it out of our accommodation to head to the ferry terminal.
The idea was to start at the beginning of the line, not least to try to get the best seats for the view. We were about 2 stops walking distance from the beginning, and considered getting on - but the ferries we saw were smash packed so continued with the plan. This was a good plan. When we got to the first ferry terminal, we had pole position - and after a short 10ish minute wait, I ran for the front of the ship, thwarting some other people who had the same idea.
Dan and I positioned ourselves at the very front and we had an excellent view for the journey. I'll note here that the ferry is actually a lot slower than just walking - it took almost an hour to get to San Marco when it takes about half an hour on foot. We did it simply for the view, but it's also good for resting to your feet.
The ferry very quickly filled up. The stop we were going to get on at - it was standing room only, by that point. We were very glad we had waited the extra few minutes and walked the extra distance! The journey took us all along the Grand Canal, which was beautiful lit up in the last few rays of the sun. The gondolas were out in force. Soon the sun was below the horizon, and there was a little bit of pink in the sky. We decided not to get out at San Marco as was the original idea - but stuff it, let's go to the end of the line at Lido!
Lido is another island altogether, and is the "beach" island. We figured why not! The journey to there took a little over an hour. We stepped off at Lido, although I considered that we could just stay on and go back the way we came, like some other people were doing. But we had come this far, we might as well look.
The sky was getting quite dark by now, and we walked a short distance. After consulting the map, we realised that it would only take us a few minutes - about 10 - to literally cross the island to the beach. What does a Venice beach look like, we wondered?
On the way, we of course discovered a kitty. This cat was SO FLUFFY and turned out to be quite hilarious. It meowed as we approached and let us pat it. It then started following us, tangling itself up in my legs. Then it would stop and look at me like, "Wait, you're still here?" Then I'd try to pat it, and it wouldn't know what to do. Then it would let me pat it. Then it would look at me like, "I'll protect you!" and would walk with us for a while. It was really a confused cat.
Really soon we hit the waterfront, which was blocked off by a big row of hedges. We turned right and kept walking until we saw a way down to the beach. Or so we thought. Venice beaches (or at least this stretch), was only open until 5pm, and was paid entry... This concept is so foreign to an Australian who has access to any beach at any time, really!
We contemplated this odd beachness to the sound of electro music pumping. Opposite where we were standing, was an old London bus (or Italian equivalent). It was a panini-cum-bar bus, and we figured we'd come all this way, why not have a beer. Wine was too expensive, beer was definitely not cheap but we each ordered a local beer and climbed up the stair case to the second level of the bus.
There were two guys sitting up here already playing cards, and we excused ourselves as we squished past them. The bus was laid out with very low floor benches made out of what looked like pallet crates, with cushions thrown over the top. The roof of the downstairs area had been raised to fit the kitchen, and the roof up here had been sawed off and raised up on sticks so that people could generally stand up to move around.
It was covered in a funky red glow, and Dan and I giggled our way through our beer, sitting like naughty kids up the back of the bus. At one point the other guys left, leaving Dan and I the only people up the top. At about this time, the DJ downstairs started to play - if you can guess it - That's amore by Dean Martin, and we definitely got our karaoke on! It was a lot of fun. The DJ then returned to happy electro, we finished our beers, and climbed down from the bus.
We walked back to the ferry port, and checked the bus times. There was one going where we needed in a few minutes, and oddly enough another one after that. We jumped on the earlier ferry, when Dan suddenly said, which direction does this ferry go in? Turns out that we hopped on the ferry which ended up where we needed to go, but went the complete opposite direction around the islands than we needed. Oh well, we were already on our way.
To be honest, both of us were pretty glad when we got off at the Nova port - our ferry driver seemed to want to sink the boat. When we left Lido, I think the rope was still attached, and so we went back and forth about 3 times before we actually set off... And every port we went into, the boat launched into the docking station with a painful scrape. I was sure we were letting in water!
By getting off at the Nova port instead of the train station, we could practice for tomorrow. This is where we would need to catch the ferry to Burano and Murano. By now it was after 10pm, and we made our way through the backstreets until we finally hit the main street we recognised. Although we got mildly lost in these back streets, it was amazing still to turn a corner and suddenly see a pumping little bar with a crowd of locals outside, as we squeezed past them trying not to be burnt by their cigarettes or spill their wines. The back streets are oh so quiet, and so narrow, and people have their washing hung up, or little flower beds out of their windows, or religious relics painted onto the side of the buildings.
Back on the main stretch, we made our way back to our accommodation. I was so glad we still had another full day and a half in Venice - our original plan to have only one day would never have been enough!
Til next time,
xx
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