Day 18: Venice, Italy
Despite a decent nights sleep it was still a struggle to raise my body from the sheets this morning! When the mission was finally accomplished, time had ticked on and I was heading down to the station to catch pretty much the same train as yesterday.
In much more confident mood today I opted to just hit the street and take myself wherever my feet carried me, just trying to head in the general direction of Piazza San Marco a good few bends away as you look at a map of the island.
Venice I was discovering rather quickly, wasn’t the easiest place to navigate on foot. I mean, there’s a lot of water for starters (yes, I know you know that) and it’s not possible to just walk along the side of the Grand Canal. I managed to for a while but before long I was being forced away from the great water way and off into side streets and across small stretches of water. I was now officially becoming acquainted with Venice’s backstreets where signposting comes and goes on a whim it seems. I was for the first time in my two days here feeling the warmth of the place. Monuments, buildings, shops and cafes that you never knew existed kept cropping up all over the place. It was odd to feel that in a City famed for its water, it was in such hidden beauties away from the blue passageways that I was experiencing my enjoyment of the place the most.
Not having a guidebook with me or anyone that knew Venice well (or even a few people sharing a little knowledge) I was wandering without any real plan. I didn’t really know what I should be looking for or wanting to see, I was a just hitting and hoping and I think I came out of it quite well! I’d passed the stop for Rialto on my way back from St Marks yesterday and when signs started appearing for it (whatever “it” was), I just followed. When I emerged into streams of tourists I knew I must have hit one of the hot spots and took myself around the streets along Per Rialto and over the bridge (taking time for a snap or 2).
Getting lost can be fun! It CAN be fun; it can also be a royal pain in the backside! My attempts at locating Academia brought me both sets of feelings! I figured after finding Rialto that things wouldn’t be difficult for me but somewhere along the lines I must have veered in the wrong direction and found myself walking alongside another large water way. This however, was NOT the Grand Canal. This was bigger, this was…well, somewhere completely and utterly wrong. Like I said though, wrong can be good, mistakes can turn fortunate and as I walked I as admiring churches galore across the canal. There was no visible way to get across this rather wide stretch of water but the views from where I was walking were certainly worth getting lost for. It was only after about 30 minutes walk and hitting a dead end that I started appreciating the other side of the coin. The one that makes you curse and swear under your breath! The 30 minute walk to get here was obviously going to mean 30 minutes backtracking! Damn this stupid water!
My eventual arrival in Academia was enough of an achievement to warrant a drink at one of the bars. A chance to recoup, recover, enjoy the sun and have a little read for a while. The ability to just take time and soak up a place by simply relaxing and people watching is highly underrated. There are folk that think they always need to be active, moving from this to that, a few pics here, a few pics there and off to the next site. For me, this is one of the great things about travelling. I get more a feel for a place and its people simply by stopping and doing nothing. So, sat relaxing with my coke (I remembered how much my beer had cost me yesterday!) and out of nowhere pops a marching band, a bunch of people with flags and seem to carry out some kind of protest for the next 15 minutes or so before marching back and onto somewhere else. There’s no great story to go with it, I don’t know what any of it was about but it certainly put a smile on my face as I sat there witnessing it!
My intended final destination of St Marks was to elude me today in the end as I eventually wound up on the island opposite it admiring the impressive church. With no obvious way to get across easily and with time pushing into the evening I was left with getting a Vaporetto back to the train station and the train back to my hotel for the night.
Tea consisted of a delightful McDonalds. I was just so hungry I couldn’t wait. I think the only plus point was that I couldn’t be ripped off! After dumping my stuff back at the hotel, a drink seemed like a good idea and the local bar a good option.
A good option huh? Well, that depends what you like! In one way it was a good option in that I wouldn’t have this story had I not gone, on the other hand, watching someone have the crap beaten from them piece by piece isn’t an enjoyable experience! Just sitting there minding my own business, writing some notes down and just generally chilling of my evening and suddenly I hear raised voices across the road. Before I know it there are punches being exchanged between 2 guys. Out of nowhere one of them is joined by 4 others who have all ganged up together on just one guy. It was nasty to witness as they held the guy down kicking him in the face, and then stamping on hid head to finish the job off before leaping into a couple of cars and speeding off before the police and ambulance arrive.
The whole thing had the feel of an incident in a sleepy old town where the whole village is woken by the goings on. This time it was one of the guys (maybe the owner) from the bar I was at who manage d to break the thing up by going over with his dog. I wasn’t long in finishing up my drink and heading back to retire for the evening. Onwards and upwards to Germany tomorrow!!
Tags: Italy, Santa Lucia, Travel, Travel, Venezia, Venice
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