Venice
Venice is a very nice place to visit, for the fit. This is not the sort of place that is user-friendly for prams, wheelchairs and anyone who can't get about in a sprightly manner. There are bridges over all the canals and no ramps, just loads of steps. There are no buses, taxis, rickshaws or even bicycles. Foot transport and of course the canals.
The most striking thing about Venice has to be the noise. Just a low hum of humanity all over the place, without traffic noise there is a very calming effect and most of the time nobody seems to want to break the spell. The one exception to this is the Gondoliers. They shout at each other all the time, although having no Italian, I had not a clue what about.
The one thing that struck me was the lack of smell. Of course in the backwater places there are probably lots of rats and garbage, but in the more accessible -touristy areas, no mess, no rubbish, and everywhere clean and tidy. I suppose the pigeons see to most of the crumbs etc.
As for the mass of humanity, the Bridge of Sighs viewpoint was an almost solid mass of people with cameras, all vying for the best camera angle. I took a mental picture as my main reference and can refer to that whenever I stop to think about it. Of course I can't show that to anyone, so I took a backup shot or two with the digital camera. (I wonder which image will last longest)
St Mark's Square is very impressive, with it's vendor carts full of tourist tat and guides (licenced and unlicenced) milling about with their crocodiles of followers. I was quite surprised (and impressed) to see a concert of live music at lunchtime in one of the cafes on the square. This in stark contrast to the spectacle that many queued to see in the cathedral and the Campanile.
The Campanile is apparently the tallest building in Venice, unfortunately I can only guess as to the view from the top. My excuse is that it was too hot to queue.
I only wish someone had told me before we set out that there was a dress code for visiting the cathedral, or we may have dressed accordingly. As it was the queue seemed endless.
We arrived by coach, and our first port of call was the taxation box office. The city has decided to levy a charge on all coaches that visit. This charge is supposed to be for "improvements" but no-one has seen a sign of these as yet. A nice little earner is the phrase that springs to mind.
From here we went to the coach park and disembarked, passing through a small shopping area en route to the docks but we were pressing on so quickly that we didn't have time to browse (good, money stayed in pocket for once). Once on the boat, we went out into the lagoon, passed the Grand Canal and landed by even more shops. Four bridges back was the turning to St Marks Square. (The last of these was the viewpoint to the Bridge of Sighs).
If only we didn't have to stay with the guide, we could have taken our time and enjoyed the stroll, but we had an appointment with a gondola so we had to keep the pace up, and it had to be the hottest day of our holiday so far.
The gondolas are an expensive way of getting from A-B, if the experience I have had is any guide. We got a 20 minute spin on one for the princely sum of 120 Euros (£75) and that was shared between six of us. Nice work if you can get it.
Once we had been on our gondola, our time was our own, so we ate next, then strolled for a while before we had to be back for our boat tour of the lagoon. We looked in shop windows at the outrageously expensive clothes and the Moreno glassware which was very impressive.
Everyone told us that Venice is a very expensive place to eat, so we didn't frequent the tables in Saint Marks square, we bought takeaway pizza and fruit from a hole-in-the-wall vendor and it was delicious. On top of a hotel breakfast and knowing there was a hotel evening meal to look forward to, we could manage on a snack.
Our boat tour of the lagoon was a little disapponting, as our guide could not be heard properly over the tannoy system which was largely drowned out by the engine noise. Then a German came on doing her bit (sometimes in English) we totally lost the plot, her accent being so thick. So we contented ourselves with hearing the occasional word and just sat back to enjoy the views and take some pictures.
At the end of that we were instructed to stay on the boat, as it was our transport back to the coach park. Once at the coach park, we had a few mnutes to take in the shops (again) while our driver brought the coach to us and then it was time to set out back again.
One thing to watch out for on the coaches in Italy is that the drivers don't like cleaning the coaches out after each trip so they impose a no eating ban to keep their efforts to a minimum. That can be a problem on a two hour trip of course.
The most striking thing about Venice has to be the noise. Just a low hum of humanity all over the place, without traffic noise there is a very calming effect and most of the time nobody seems to want to break the spell. The one exception to this is the Gondoliers. They shout at each other all the time, although having no Italian, I had not a clue what about.
The one thing that struck me was the lack of smell. Of course in the backwater places there are probably lots of rats and garbage, but in the more accessible -touristy areas, no mess, no rubbish, and everywhere clean and tidy. I suppose the pigeons see to most of the crumbs etc.
As for the mass of humanity, the Bridge of Sighs viewpoint was an almost solid mass of people with cameras, all vying for the best camera angle. I took a mental picture as my main reference and can refer to that whenever I stop to think about it. Of course I can't show that to anyone, so I took a backup shot or two with the digital camera. (I wonder which image will last longest)
St Mark's Square is very impressive, with it's vendor carts full of tourist tat and guides (licenced and unlicenced) milling about with their crocodiles of followers. I was quite surprised (and impressed) to see a concert of live music at lunchtime in one of the cafes on the square. This in stark contrast to the spectacle that many queued to see in the cathedral and the Campanile.
The Campanile is apparently the tallest building in Venice, unfortunately I can only guess as to the view from the top. My excuse is that it was too hot to queue.
I only wish someone had told me before we set out that there was a dress code for visiting the cathedral, or we may have dressed accordingly. As it was the queue seemed endless.
We arrived by coach, and our first port of call was the taxation box office. The city has decided to levy a charge on all coaches that visit. This charge is supposed to be for "improvements" but no-one has seen a sign of these as yet. A nice little earner is the phrase that springs to mind.
From here we went to the coach park and disembarked, passing through a small shopping area en route to the docks but we were pressing on so quickly that we didn't have time to browse (good, money stayed in pocket for once). Once on the boat, we went out into the lagoon, passed the Grand Canal and landed by even more shops. Four bridges back was the turning to St Marks Square. (The last of these was the viewpoint to the Bridge of Sighs).
If only we didn't have to stay with the guide, we could have taken our time and enjoyed the stroll, but we had an appointment with a gondola so we had to keep the pace up, and it had to be the hottest day of our holiday so far.
The gondolas are an expensive way of getting from A-B, if the experience I have had is any guide. We got a 20 minute spin on one for the princely sum of 120 Euros (£75) and that was shared between six of us. Nice work if you can get it.
Once we had been on our gondola, our time was our own, so we ate next, then strolled for a while before we had to be back for our boat tour of the lagoon. We looked in shop windows at the outrageously expensive clothes and the Moreno glassware which was very impressive.
Everyone told us that Venice is a very expensive place to eat, so we didn't frequent the tables in Saint Marks square, we bought takeaway pizza and fruit from a hole-in-the-wall vendor and it was delicious. On top of a hotel breakfast and knowing there was a hotel evening meal to look forward to, we could manage on a snack.
Our boat tour of the lagoon was a little disapponting, as our guide could not be heard properly over the tannoy system which was largely drowned out by the engine noise. Then a German came on doing her bit (sometimes in English) we totally lost the plot, her accent being so thick. So we contented ourselves with hearing the occasional word and just sat back to enjoy the views and take some pictures.
At the end of that we were instructed to stay on the boat, as it was our transport back to the coach park. Once at the coach park, we had a few mnutes to take in the shops (again) while our driver brought the coach to us and then it was time to set out back again.
One thing to watch out for on the coaches in Italy is that the drivers don't like cleaning the coaches out after each trip so they impose a no eating ban to keep their efforts to a minimum. That can be a problem on a two hour trip of course.
posted by Alan at 7:49 AM
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