Vanessa's parents live about an hour away north of Venice so it was an easy daytrip for us but two weeks with them and we still hadn't detoured in. Back from the mountains we got up reasonably early for the first time in weeks (definitely in holiday mode) to drive to the nearest train station in Bassano. Our first experience on public transport was pretty painless and we were able to enjoy the view passing fields of corn and tomatoes from our comfy window seats.
The train station in Venice lets you off right outside the vaporetto stop (water buses or ferries) in Santa Croce. It is pretty busy as you would expect for a place like Venice but there aren't that big a lines for the vaporettos as we had expected. We were able to hop on a ferry straight away to head for San Marcos Piazza. Floating along with a gentle sea breeze, was a nice way to see some of Venice from the waterways it is famous for. Apart from walking boat is the only mode of transport so as you can imagine the main routes are pretty busy with local ferries shipping tourists, workers making food and drink deliveries as well as the police and fire-fighters patrolling the canals.
The train station in Venice lets you off right outside the vaporetto stop (water buses or ferries) in Santa Croce. It is pretty busy as you would expect for a place like Venice but there aren't that big a lines for the vaporettos as we had expected. We were able to hop on a ferry straight away to head for San Marcos Piazza. Floating along with a gentle sea breeze, was a nice way to see some of Venice from the waterways it is famous for. Apart from walking boat is the only mode of transport so as you can imagine the main routes are pretty busy with local ferries shipping tourists, workers making food and drink deliveries as well as the police and fire-fighters patrolling the canals.
Once on land again we joined the masses outside Palazzo Ducale admiring its elegant pink exterior before weaving our way to St Marks Basilica. The basilica took almost 800 years to build so it is pretty impressive. The queue to get inside is pretty daunting but we joined it anyways and were inside surprisingly quickly. Only problem was that we were both in singlets and shorts and being a religious place, shoulders and knees need to be covered. We both had tops to throw over our shoulders but unfortunately my jean shorts were not appropriate so for one euro I got a sheet of horrible brown cloth to try wrap around my legs. Apart from jeans which are way too hot to be wearing in the middle of summer in Italy, I don't actually have anything that is acceptable length. Guess its an excuse to go shopping for a nice skirt or dress before we
visit some other places such as Vatican City ;)
visit some other places such as Vatican City ;)
The church ceiling was spectacular. Some of the dome mosaics are said to be made with 24 carat gold to represent the divine light. The gold shimmering background flank some beautiful images and motifs telling religious stories.
Outside we followed the masses through a few lane ways selling expensive gelato, glassware and other touristy knickknacks before we branched of at the famous Rialto bridge (famous because in todays costs it was almost $19million to build) to explore some of the other alleys. It is amazing you can be walking down one very busy lane then turn off and a couple of minutes later be strolling down alleys with no one else in sight. Although I think Venice is a comparatively small city to some of the cities we have visited, it is easy to get lost in the labyrinth of alleys and canals stopping for an espresso or gelato in one of the little stores. Often we would come to where the lane meets a canal only to find no bridge at that point to cross. Boats are floating outside the houses as we would park our cars on a street. Like all cities graffiti lined the back alleys and in the canals wooden shutters opened out onto small beds of flowers potted beneath.
Outside we followed the masses through a few lane ways selling expensive gelato, glassware and other touristy knickknacks before we branched of at the famous Rialto bridge (famous because in todays costs it was almost $19million to build) to explore some of the other alleys. It is amazing you can be walking down one very busy lane then turn off and a couple of minutes later be strolling down alleys with no one else in sight. Although I think Venice is a comparatively small city to some of the cities we have visited, it is easy to get lost in the labyrinth of alleys and canals stopping for an espresso or gelato in one of the little stores. Often we would come to where the lane meets a canal only to find no bridge at that point to cross. Boats are floating outside the houses as we would park our cars on a street. Like all cities graffiti lined the back alleys and in the canals wooden shutters opened out onto small beds of flowers potted beneath.
We passed a few gondolas in the larger canals but having seen the large line of traffic waiting to drop people off and pick them up at St Marks square it killed any romantic notion of rowing the waterways of Venice. After walking around in the heat checking out the sights of Venice we found a small bar down a quiet alley to spend the rest of our afternoon cooling off trying out the local wines of the Venetian region before heading back to the station for our train home.
Vanessa had warned us about making sure we validated our tickets at the little machines they have at the station. Of course in our rush to get on the next train back to Bassano we forgot. Lucky for us there was no conductors checking the tickets on board as it could have been a huge fine for us (500euro each)! It also meant a free ride as we could exchange the tickets back for cash later. Back in Bassano Vanessa and Vane picked us up to take us to a typical bar for this area. Bassano is know for a special type of drink also called Bassano. It was pretty potent and quite sweet made from the leftovers of wine making including the skins, seeds an stems of the grapes. Although my mouth did feel a little bit like it was on fire from the strong mix it was a good way to unwind and finish of our day reflecting on our first day of independent travel in Italy. Time to go plan where to next.