Traveling in Venice
Venice 2017
We have successfully completed our mountain route through northern Italy. Now our path lay to the very heart of the country - sunny Venice. Our transplant took place in the small town of Rovereto.
Rovereto
Here we had a few hours, it was necessary, firstly, to have a bite to eat. And secondly, lie down to rest somewhere in the park. There are not many attractions here. Having chosen a tastier restaurant for ourselves, we ordered a dish from the most appetizing Italian words. They brought me something very incomprehensible, and Dasha even got on the soup that she wanted to order. By the way, we also liked the city itself. It seems to be no longer touristic, but no less cozy. When we were relaxing in the park, the boys ran up to us and spoke to us in Italian. When we said that we only speak English, one of them became discouraged, and the second proudly asked “What time is it? ”. The boy felt proud that it was not in vain that he learned English. To Venice, we had a ticket for two trains with a seven-minute transfer. But the trains here run strictly according to the schedule and are most likely waiting for each other. If you miss the train, you still have 4 hours to catch another one of the same kind. There were not many passengers at all - the entire carriage was personally ours. The second train was a traditional double-decker. Of course, we took a higher place)
Mestre
Mestre is the mainland of Venice. This is a big city from which there is a lot of transport over the bridge directly to the island. Our hotel was one block from the train station. The hotel was chosen in Mestre due to the extremely high housing prices in Venice itself in the summer. The train ride to Venice takes 12 minutes, the ticket costs 1.25 euros. But the total road from Mestre to the central square of the island is about an hour one way.
It was already quite night when our train arrived in Mestre. It turned out that our hotel is located in the black quarter. The number of black guys here went through the roof. There was, of course, one fair-skinned girl, but she was busy catching customers along the road. Everything would be fine, but these guys also want something from us. We just walked in silence with stone faces. There was also the task of getting some water from a pump in a dark park. The situation was a little tense. According to the booking reviews, we have an Arab manager at the hotel. There were few joyful factors. But as soon as we got to the hotel, at the reception we were met by a very positive guy with a wide smile.
Our hotel was a large apartment in which rooms were rented separately. But it didn't look like an apartment. It was most likely a museum of medieval arts or a very old castle. Everything was very imaginative.
On the photo wallpaper of the beginning of the twentieth century in the form of a black and white picture with horse races. There is a fireplace in the middle of the great hall, volumes of enigmatic books on the shelves.
In the bathroom, the walls are lined with mosaic curtains, portraits and large black-and-white photographs hang everywhere. In the corridor hung a portrait of a very, very pleased man. Metal blinds could be closed on the windows in the room. Now I felt absolute comfort and safety. Above our bed hung an expensive Murano glass chandelier. And the owner is really cool. To complete the picture, the hotel lacked a chandelier with candles.
In the morning, there was not a single hint of a black quarter in the area. Everything is civilized, ordinary people and tourists go. Now we are ready to go to Venice.
The ticket machine was very sociable. It seemed that he was ready to talk on absolutely any topic, but not about selling tickets. Even when the process of buying tickets was already underway, the machine constantly tried to move out and change the subject. In the event that the machine had problems with the Internet, then all our heart-to-heart conversation did not bring any sense at all. But trains run every 15-20 minutes. So, we are taking our first steps in Venice.
Venice
At first, Venice seems very crowded and inhospitable, but as soon as you start to go deeper, everything changes dramatically for the better. But unfortunately, it quickly sticks. Streets, bridges and canals. They are everywhere. It is physically impossible to survive here without a good GPS. If the battery runs out, you will have to wander forever among more than 400 bridges, 150 channels and 118 islands. Remembering the roads through the streets is completely unrealistic. But, fortunately, there are always life-saving signs to the central square and the station. It's like two sides on a compass. The many beauties of Venice lie among the thousands of courtyards. Thus, having entered the house of the conservatory, we found a schematic sculpture of a man, instead of whose face a huge blue eye was watching us.
The eye was electronic and was constantly doing different tricks) In the same courtyard, opera singing was heard from the balcony. In one of the yards, a metal sock hung on straps. In general, the courtyards of Venice are gold. Before each trip, we mark the places we will visit with stars on the map.
In terms of the number of stars per city, Venice is our absolute leader. If you do not check the map, then in most cases you will come to a dead end. That is steps into the water.
It's quite dangerous when you return to the hotel at night. In one of these cul-de-sacs, we found a hotel with a huge chandelier and lit candles. This is the candelabra I wanted to walk around with last night at our hotel. The desire to hold the chandelier overwhelmed me so much that I even went into the hotel, took an unbearable chandelier and walked with it for a couple of meters. With food in Venice, everything is quite simple. You can always find fast food restaurants selling shmat pizza for 2.5 - 4 euros.
In restaurants, things are a little more complicated, almost everywhere they add 2 euros per person for service to the order. On mainland Italy, they also added, but it seems to be smaller. Throughout Venice, gondola rides are actively enjoyed.
But the price of 80 euros stops a little. People unite in groups, and the most severe ones look at their phones for the whole walk. We rode much cheaper. Traghetto is a €2 service where you are melted down on a gondola across the Grand Canal. By the way, we really enjoyed it. There are two very beautiful places in the central Piazza San Marco. The first is the first Florian cafe in Venice.
The cafe is hard to miss. The orchestra playing simply magical music beckons. The second beautiful place is St. Mark's Cathedral.
We never got around to getting inside, but from the square it looked very impressive. This is really the building against which you want to be photographed. For us, there was another obligatory place in the center - Hard Rock cafe. Moreover, we have never eaten in the cafe itself, but we definitely visit them in every country and take a photo. In Venice, I even bought myself a souvenir in the Hard Rock Shop.
By the way, in Venice there was a legendary meeting of two travelers. That day I was wearing an exclusive Hard Rock Macau T-shirt. On one of the streets, a tourist wearing a Hard Rock Niagara Waterfalls T-shirt came out to meet me. It was like a connection of two opposite parts of the world somewhere in the center.
Further according to the plan, we had a park area in Venice. On the way we went to a small square where we saw a very unusual exhibition. A swimmer girl with her eyes closed was basking on a pedestal. It was not clear whether it was a sculpture or a person who disguised himself as a “Living Sculpture” type.
The wind swayed the hair peeking out from under the cap, every fold, bone and vein was visible on the leg. A group of tourists looked at the sculpture with the same fascination and bewilderment. I plucked up the courage and decided to touch the leg. It was really embarrassing, suddenly it's still a living person. At the last moment, one of the tourists noticed how the muscles on her face moved. But by coincidence it just seemed. I touched the leg and it became clear that this is a sculpture, but how alive and believable it is! Even the drops of water on the body are like real ones. There were also other sculptures in the park, but the first one was the most shocking. Soon we got to the park complex, settled down among the tourists in a clearing and dozed off. In Venice, you have to walk a lot, and in the direct sun it is very exhausting. At one point, you open your eyes and suddenly realize that you are in Venice - cool.
There were also some exhibitions in the park, but at 25 euros per person we were not sure that we would appreciate it so much. Now we still need to get to the main Venetian bridge. The area surrounding the Grand Canal around the main Rialto Bridge is probably the coziest. And in the evening it is also very romantic.
Another cool thing that caught my eye was how the kids played games in groups on the streets. And in one of the courtyards, a birthday was celebrated, so there was also a table with various drinks and goodies, to which children ran up to feast on during their games.
We, having chosen a more comfortable bridge, enjoyed the local Bellini drink. It is a mixture of champagne and very concentrated peach juice. The drink is sold in literally every store. By the way, very tasty.
We had hot sunny weather. But the sun is quite strong on the eyes. It is advisable to take sunglasses when traveling.
But in the evening, Venice becomes the city to which I would return all the time to spend the evenings here. By the night when you have to look for the way out of Venice. The streets become completely deserted, the lighting is dim. This makes them seem even more comfortable.
The only negative, but okay, I won’t write about bags of shit, evening Venice is still very cool. The road from the center in Mestre takes about an hour, and in a 50-minute walk you need to overcome countless streets and bridges. Since there were still 20 minutes before our train, we had time to enjoy the rising moon over the canal and the city at night, watching the passing gondolas.
We started the next morning with a hike to a cape. By the lack of tourists on the streets, it seemed that we had chosen not the most touristy place in Venice. The bright sun made itself felt well. From time to time it was necessary to rest the eyes by visiting the semi-dark galleries. There are many in Venice. At first we got into a rather boring art exhibition. But entering the second gallery turned my knowledge of contemporary art exhibitions for the better. In the first hall there were many holes in the walls, in each hole a coffee cup was illuminated. In the second room hung a large tiger with a coffee cup in its mouth. From time to time the tiger growled menacingly. There were many 2D wooden bunnies hanging in the next room.
Bunnies were actively running in the air, two old TVs were also hanging, on which different cups of coffee were broadcast. The song "Tea for two" was playing on the xylophone. Hall with bunnies is a real relaxation for the nervous system. The next hall was enveloped in red volcanoes, and ferocious wolves made of lava stood in the center. The acoustics of the hall intensified the feeling of fear. The next room was dark, in the middle the eyes of a predatory panther that lay on the couch shone, and at the end, through the opening, you could see the girl over the cliff. The girl had a cup in her hands, and the girl herself laughed merrily and loudly.
The atmosphere of this exhibition was magical. We even once again returned to the hall with bunnies. A nice addition was that this exhibition is absolutely free, and it is dedicated to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Italian coffee brand Illy.
We got to Punta della Dogana. The views are certainly beautiful, but those bunnies and the girl just did not leave my head. We went to the bridge over the Grand Canal by courtyards. There we got to another museum, the exhibition there was dedicated to bones and glass.
Burano Island
A very popular place in Venice is the island of colorful houses Burano. It can be reached by ferry. The island is quite small, connected by bridges to a couple of small islands.
The colorful houses are really pleasing to the eye. You can walk around the island without a map, just walk through all the nooks and crannies until the houses are nice to the eye. On one of the neighboring islands, you can walk along the green fields. There is also a crooked tower on Burano, similar to the Leaning one.
But don’t take a picture of the tower, in the pictures it turns out no crooked than the tiles that our workers laid during the repair. 40 minutes by ferry and we are back in Venice.
I don't know where the second part of the day went, but we constantly wandered around and looked at something. We had one important mission. Six months ago, my parents were in Venice and brought a whole bunch of promotional parmesan. For the past six months, I have been rubbing parmesan into literally all my dishes. And it was awesome. Right before the trip, stocks ran out. Mom marked the store where the action was. And you know what? This promotion has been waiting for us! It was true for a couple of euros more expensive. But 12 euros for a kilogram of delicious parmesan is a great price. Having collected cheese for 30 euros, my lip almost cracked from happiness.
Now my reserves are replenished for another six months at least. We also marked the narrowest street. But there are so many narrow streets in Venice that you can call any one that way.
The next day we had a day flight. We also went for a walk around Mestre. The town is also quite touristic. From the memorable was a monorail tram that, in addition to the rails, also travels on wheels along the road.
Summing up, I want to say that we really, really liked Italy. The main impressions are inspired by Verona and Lake Garda. After seeing the beauties, Venice was perceived not so brightly, but it was a great addition to our trip. Perhaps if we started from Venice, then Verona would not be perceived that way. In terms of gastronomy, Italy is inferior to Turkey and Asian countries. They cook delicious food, but not in all restaurants. We rarely return to countries a second time due to a list that has not yet been visited. But I am sure that this was not the last meeting with Italy.
Trip Information
Date of travel: 3.06. 2017 – 10.06. 2017
Duration: 6 full days
Full days without rain: 4
Air tickets: UIA bought 10 months in advance.
Excursions: All by yourself
Trip difficulty: 3/10 (easy)
