As I pack and plan for my second trip to Paris, I think it is high time I finish this journey. Yes, it has taken a long time to finish it, more because of some personal problems which I have now managed well. So, dear readers and followers, I am back with my travel stories and the bit of history associated with the places. I know you waited long but as my most favourite saying goes “better late than never”!
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| Delivery Guy |
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| Morning |
The last time I posted, we were in the gondolas of Venice and we were singing “
Do lafzo ki hain …”, starting from there this blog post will only be about Venice and the awesome two days we spent there. After the night drama, the morning was pretty cool since everyone was still sleeping. I left everyone in their beds and was out again with the camera. I walked alone in the streets, crossing the bridges, going into the unknown. The city was awaking up too, the goods boats had come, and the men were loading their special trollies with them, to be delivered to the shops. Since, in Venice everything comes from outside and there are no motorable roads, the only way to get these goods supplied are these men with these trollies. The trollies are specially designed which makes them go easily over the steps of the bridges. Also there were sweepers and joggers in the streets. The place looked like any other city now, only maybe from the 19
th century. The street lights, the walls, the paved roads, and the iron bridges, everything has such romance in it, that one gets overwhelmed with it. In no time I had reached Rialto bridge. From here I called home since the internet was not working at the apartment and coin-booth was my only option. I took a vaporatto (water-bus) from there and crossed the bridge from below.
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| Rialto Bridge |
Rialto Bridge or Ponte di Rialto is the oldest bridge over the Grand Canal. The bridge in its present stone form was designed by Antonio da Ponte and was completed in 1591. It is a strange design for a bridge since it just has two ramps from both banks meeting in the centre. Though this design was criticized, but it still stands erect defying all criticism and is one of the icons of Venice. The bus took me till Ferrovia where I got down and just roamed about. Now few tourists have stated popping up. I came back by a direct bus to the apartment and was happy to see that everyone was ready and breakfast was being made. I joined them in making the pasta I bought and it came out nice considering there was very little salt available.
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| Glass Artist at work in Murano |
After a stomach full of breakfast, we were out and our first destination was Murano. Vaporatto 4.1 goes to Murano from Giardini. It took about 40 minutes since the island is on the other side of Venice. A lot of people were going to the island known for its glass making. After getting down from the bus, we just followed the crowd and reached a glass factory. There was a queue and we just joined knowing not what it was about, later we found out that they were displaying the making of glass objects and then there was an exhibition and sale point. It was actually arranged by the shop to attract more tourists. Anyway, the show was nice. Our glass artist showed how glass is blown and he also made a Cavalli in front of our eyes. It was pretty impressive, I bought two cavallies from their shop. Murano’s reputation as a centre for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and the destruction of the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still associated with Venetian glass. Though many of the souvenirs were made in PRC (People’s Republic of China), but original Murano glass can be identified by a logo which says Murano.
After the souvenir shopping we went about the island. This island is also divided in two by a Grand Canal. As we were walking in the narrow streets we were discussing how everything looks same as in Venice. And as they say, there is a different charm in getting lost in the streets of Venice, it is so awesomely romantic!
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| In front of our Apartment |
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| Lido Beach |
Back to the mainland (oops main island!), our first search was for toilet. Public toilets are rare and costly in Venice since it is difficult to arrange for the disposal of waste. So, after desperately roaming around, I realised that there was no other was than to take help from a restaurant. We reached near a church (I forgot the name, there are 100s of churches), and went into one of the bars there and thankfully they had a toilet and the bartender was happy to show me the way. After I was relieved, I ordered a cappuccino, out of courtesy and paid the 2.5 euros and took the cup and sat outside on their tables. My other friends did the same thing, just that the waiter said that he will bring the order to the table. It was two beers and one coffee. After merrily enjoying the sun and the rest, when the waiter brings their bill, it was just double priced. Well, they have been scammed, and there was no way to get out of it. So they decided to pay up and I ended up feeling superior.
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| Piazza San Marco |
The next target was lunch, and I was sure I was not eating Indian for lunch. We found a small pizzeria making fresh pizzas. We ordered piadini, filled with cheese and chicken, and with that we had spinach calzones. Though the calzones were hard, but the filled piadina was awesome. It was one of the best of real Italian cuisine I had during this trip. And there is no better experience than having a hot and awesome piadina by the side of a Venetian canal with gondolas passing by. Well, the best thing would be if you were on the gondola with your loved one, but still, I did love the piadina! After that we found our way towards a vaporatto stop and boarded a bus to Lido. By the time we reached Lido, it was afternoon. The beach was cold and windy, not many people were to be seen. Maybe July/August will be more suitable time to enjoy the beach. It was not a great beach though, a bit rough and also it is known that the water of the Adriatic is not very great. But still, it was nice to see open sea after many days. On the way back, me and Satish took one drink each of Spritz. It was a good drink, but not as much attractive as the limoncello.
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| Doge's Palace |
Back to the main island, we stopped by our apartment and then walked to St. Mark’s Square or Piazza San Marco. On the way, I had to give tips to a novice photographer, who somehow managed to recognize me as a great photographer (maybe because of the tripod). We were supposed to go to San Giorgio, but we lost way and thought that there were no boats available. So, instead, we roamed about Santa Maria della Salute. It was getting cold, so we made back to San Marco. The square was looking great with all lights. The only sad thing was that the campanile was closed for renovation and so we could not climb to the top. I think I will do that in Assassin’s Creed II.
Back to the apartment it was dinner time. With all the limited resources I made some garlic chicken, and it turned out eatable. After that it was sleep time.
The next day was a busy one as we have to pack and leave the room. We cleaned everything and packed our bags and left it at the staircase. It did not seem safe, but we did not have gold in our backpacks. Our host gave us an extra key so that we can come back anytime to collect the bags. Once out, our first stop was Giorgio which was missed yesterday. The morning was nice, and even though the Isle of San Giorgio was same as any other part of Venice (except for the beautiful church and its awesome wooden interiors), we did not feel a bit bored. The church was really beautiful and unlike most churches of Venice had free entry. The wood work was really awesome which made Venkat give his punch line of the trip “where did they get all these wood from?”
We were back again to San Marco and this time it was some serious souvenir shopping. In no time everyone was lost in the umpteen shops in the Piazza. I got some magnets and some more glass items. Then went about taking shots of the square. Soon it was time to bid adieu to the floating city. We rushed to get our luggage and took the bus 4.2 to Piazzale Roma, from where we will get our actual bus to Trevisio airport.
Piazzale Roma is the last place where vehicular traffic comes in Venice. It is a big bus terminus.
We went to see some Venetian masks, but their size were too big, and the smaller ones were not very attractive. Lunch was at a small cafe which made us fresh pizza margarita. And then we boarded the bus to Trevisio. Soon I was asleep but was awake when we reached the airport. Everything was usual after that, except that we did not get bus from Rygge, but the bus service had promised a seat so until the next bus came, that one bus also waited with all the passengers. Hence we got a bit late to reach home.
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| Venetian Masks |
Venice remained a dream still. After coming home as soon as I close my eyes and think of the last two days, I felt like I was in a boat, and the sounds of water splashing on the banks filled my ears. Venice, yes, the most beautiful city I have ever been. Romance oozes from every nook and corner of the city and for a crazy romanticist like me, all the more. The old houses, the blue water, the pitch black gondolas, the iron bridges, everything is pure art. I am sure I will come back here again, and next time I will take a museum pass and see all the museums, and churches and everything. And I am going to stay here more minimum 5 days, well that may be too much, but who cares. And to all my readers, do not miss Venice, even if it is just for one day, you should and must visit.
Cash Register
Piadini Lunch: 32 Euros for 4
Spritz: 2.50 Euros each
Self made Dinner: about 20 euros for 4
Next day lunch at cafe: 26.10 euros for 4
Piazzale Roma to Terviso Bus: 7 euros per person.
Next up: Amsterdam.
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