1-7 September 2012
Arriving in Italy was cool, as I was glad to visit a friend for the first time this trip. Gianluca and I met in Margaret River a couple of years ago. We became good mates and he invited me to come and visit in Italy! Gianluca works in a ticket office in Fusina on the mainland, which sells tickets for the boat to Venice. It runs every hour, on the hour between 8am and 10pm I think, and returns each half hour from Venice. 4 times I took the boat across while he was at work and each time he gave me a free ticket. Gianluca lives with he’s parents and they are very lovely. Paola and Fabio speak a little English, but we managed to understand each other pretty well. Italian and English words are similar, most of the time I can understand words. On the 2nd night Paula cooked a lovely meal of pesto pasta with crusty bread, salad, prosciutto patties and then Gelato. I was so full I nearly exploded. Ha. They don’t use cold pesto dip in Italy, it must be only in Oz. On my last night, Paola made a lovely tomato based tortellini for the entrée and for mains we ate cold chicken, a hot pea dish and kalamata olives. When I told Paola I want to try a chicken and mushroom risotto while in Italy, she said when I come back next time she’ll cook it for me! I can’t wait. Paola and Fabio also insisted I bring Mum and Dad here when they visit Europe. We are all welcome to come and stay with them.
Venice is a fantastic maze!! The map I had didn’t show each street and canal, but gave me a general idea. On my first day in Venice I just wandered and followed the crowd. It was pretty fun. It’s hard to find cheap places to eat, but I managed. There are lots of photo opportunities, and it would have been more fun with a friend. While wandering around, only twice I came across a dead end in the laneways. Otherwise it’s a vast grid, which is connected by cobblestone laneways, canals & bridges. The café’s and restaurants prefer not to provide wifi. Only around one in 20 have it, and of those I had to find one with reasonable prices. It’s manageable but sometimes it’s just easier to sit down and pay extra for a coffee or red wine. Red wine is served chilled here, which I like because it’s been hot. On my last night at Gianluca’s house I bought a nice bottle of red and some German beers for everybody. Fabio put the bottle of red straight in to the freezer along with the beers.
Italy is cool. The people so far have been really helpful and kind. Gianluca’s work mates are really nice and helped me out. The ice cream is amazing. I have never had such a lovely, tasty, smooth ice cream!! I didn’t know to expect this, so when I had one I was in heaven. I’ve since found out Italy is famous for their ice cream… I just thought they were famous for Ducati, Ferrari and Valentino Rossi! The coffee and pizza aren’t dissimilar from home; the Italians in Melbourne have already sorted that out.
In total I spent 4 days and one night in Venice. Gianluca took he’s girlfriend Stephania & I for a drink on Sunday night and I took the boat during the days Gianluca went to work. I saw Venice while raining, first thing in the morning without all the tourists, at night and during the day. I enjoyed each time, although it can get very busy in the daytime. It was relatively warm while I was there, above 25° most of the time. When it rained I sought refuge in a café with Wi-Fi. It was great & once I cooled down I watched the crazy tourists walking/running around in the rain trying to see everything in one day. I found a really nice restaurant, Bar Da Sandro, on my 2nd last day in Venice. They had great local food and cheap drinks for Venice. I had some coffees here along with a small carafe of red wine one afternoon. The Wi-Fi connection was great and it was central.
The San Marco area is the main tourist attraction in Venice. Here you can find the most expensive restaurants & all the big designer brands like LV, Versace, Omega watches, shops which sell just gloves that look expensive and all the main international brands which charge vast amounts of money for their name. I checked one menu and a champagne cocktail was €26… I ran. I avoided eating and drinking in San Marco when I could. The main attractions I visited in Venice were the bridge of sighs, Piaza San Marco (San Marco Square) and the Rialto Bridge. I was happy just walking around taking photos of the canals, Gondolas and streets. Gondola rides were €80 for 40 minutes so I didn’t bother to go for a ride. When mum and dad come over, maybe I’ll jump in with them!! ;)
Gianluca took Stephania & I out for dinner a couple of times. We went to a chicken restaurant where they have free peanuts in a barrel at the entrance. You are welcome to eat as many as you want and throw the shells on the floor. It’s weird but fun. I couldn’t help but to leave the shells on the table on my placemat, but I did throw a few onto the floor for a laugh. He also took us to Jesolo. We had dinner at a lovely pizza restaurant and we took Stephania’s dog in with us. They let you take a dog to the dinner table!! Different. We all had pizza and a drink, it cost €43 or $54. After dinner we grabbed a beer from a bar and walked down to the beach. It was my first time at the Adriatic Sea. The beach was full of banana lounges and umbrellas like Bali, but there was more than Bali… lots more. From the path to the beach there were around 15-20 rows of seats. There were thousands along the beach. It was a cool place. Mazzini square was pretty busy, 10pm on a Wednesday night and there were still people with kids everywhere. Apparently it wasn’t even busy. Wow.
It was a bit lonely walking around Venice day in day out by myself. I think in future I’ll get onto couch surfing to find people who will chill out in the city with me. I’m still not experiencing the spark which I know is there somewhere, I’m not sure it’s my medicine or if I’m still getting used to travelling solo. I felt really happy at the GP because that’s what I was in this part of Europe for and I really enjoyed hanging out with Brian from Ireland.
Friday 7th september I took the train to Milan for €36. There was a dog in the corner of the train on a blanket. Europe is very dog friendly. My stay in Venice was great thanks to Gianluca and he’s family. Their hospitality was fantastic! I would love to have them come and stay in Melbourne and show them around.
- 3 Marmalade croissants and 3 sml Oj’s in a shop cost €9… breaky for 3.
- A pizza costs around €8-10 at most places. It comes uncut and only in one size… a large plate. Yum…
- There are no cars or motorbikes and not many bicycles in Venice. It is a maze of cobblestone streets and bridges over canals.
- If you come to Venice, don’t bring heavy luggage with wheels as there are lots of stairs and it looks very frustrating trying to drag your luggage everywhere. haha
- Bathrooms can still be outdated… pay the €1.50 to use a nice toilet, soap and hand towel.
- Wifi isn’t easy to find…. One in every 20 café’s/restaurants.
- Red wine is served cold…. Awesome.
- There are cruise ships everywhere …they pay to go past San Marco Square… 2 tug boats guide the ships past.
- Europe: always carry coins for using public bathrooms and for getting trams or trains.
- Europe: no need for a helmet on bicycles.
- Venice is built on stilts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice... Interesting reading.
- In Italy it is legal to drink in public. We made the most of this on the beach one night.
- Every country I’ve been to so far, have streets ice cream. I didn’t know it was such a big company. It’s called Algida in Europe though.
- Richard Branson’s company Virgin has Gyms called “Virgin Active” in Italy.
- There is a lot of Maize growing in the fields
- $1 = €0.82 or €1 = $1.20
A Postcard I wrote to Jen & Jeff:
Ciao from Venice,
Venice is lovely. I’ve got lost, ate pizza, drank coffee, drank cold red wine, got ripped off, got lost again, tripped over cobblestones, was angry at all the tourists, took too many photos and loved every minute.
MY Facebook status September 3, 2012:
“It’s raining in Venice... Sitting outside a cafe with a glass of Italian red wine listening to funky Italian music!! Different & cool! — at Bacarando Ai Corazzieri”