One way to the UK?

Well, the Eurostar train from Venice to Ancona was nice and enjoyable and such a change from the Busabout Bus! It was a little quiet actually after travelling with so many people in Europe.

Ancona really didn’t have much in it – the Lonely Planet was not lying! We got off the train, headed for the toilet (did I mention Mara was ill with some stomach bug!?), went and had something to eat and then headed over to the Internet Cafe… wasted some time there with our limited Euros (didn’t get any more from bank as Croatia has own currency) and then to waste more time we walked to the Ferry Terminal instead of taking the bus! We then hung around at the terminal for a few hours… checked in, went though customs (once they opened the bloody lines up!) and then boarded the ferry at about 730pm. Our room was SO nice! Little beds all made for us, and a nice ensuite bathroom and space to put our bags — it was better than some of the hostels and definitely better than the first Paris hotel we were put in.

Ten hour ferry ride to Croatia was actually good cuz we slept for almost all of it! Had a conversation with soem sleazy guy in the restaurant up top when we were exploring the boat, and then at 0530 they woke up most people for breakfast in the restaurant (all inclusive on our ticket) so we ate breaky, then ran back to rooms and grabbed our bags to disembark. Once through customs again (the ONLY place in Europe to stamp my EU Passport!) we had nothing to do except find our boat and look around Split. At 1230 we were allowed to board the boat and lunch was at 1300.

This brings me to Croatia part of the blog! Which requires a totally different page/style/effect etc, etc!!!

Well, the ride to Venice didn’t actually seem that long (looking back now…) however I remember we got in quite late! Lis Mara and I called a taxi from the camping ground to take us to our Hotel, Hotel Primavera closer to actual Venice! Turns out it’s pretty much on the highway/main road from Venice, but luckily there were buses just down the road. So first night in Venice, because Lis was leaving the morning after the next night (!) we headed into Venice (the actual island) on the first night and walked around, got lost as is usual for there, and found a place for dinner which charged quite a bit for simple food!!! We walked around a fair bit and saw so many nice shops full of shoes, chocolate, bakery treats, more shoes and stacks of glass jewellery! I love the glass jewellery, however this time nothing hugely took my fancy so I didn’t get anything for myself. We kind of rushed back to the main Piazza Roma so that we made the last bus back to the Hotel Road, and we were also rushing because it had started raining!!! We got pretty well drenched, especially on the run back from the bus-stop to the Hotel.

Next day, our whole day in Venice, we started out with breaky at the Hotel (mm quite nice, the usual bread and things to go on top) and then headed into Piazza Roma and caught a vaporetto out to the island Murano – where they make glass. They glassmakers moved to Murano some many years ago so that they didn’t catch Venice on fire! The water taxi (vaporetto) we got there was SO low on the water it was a little scary, and I got splashed when another boat pulled up aprubtly at the street… yes, there are ‘streets’ marked on the water! We got to pass by St Michele which is the Cemetry Island and quite interesting to see how fortressed it is! More so than Venice itself actually. On arrivin in Murano we were headed to a glass blowing factory where we got to see the men in action! It was great to see, but not hugely exciting and we didn’t tip the guys after the ‘display’ cuz well they weren’t even that good looking haha. We then wandered around the factory’s shop (nice stuff there) and then headed to explore Murano for a while, which included going into many many glass shops and running past the rising waters on the streets! We also saw a guy selling vegies/goods from his boat! After a while we got a vaporetto back to Venice’s Piazza Roma, and then jumped on the Vaporetto #1 which took us down the Grand Canal. Might I add, lovely things to see, a cheap way to see it all, and the weather was nice!

It was funny when we got off near St Mark’s that the waters were only just receding and most of the place was still flooded! I wouldn’t have believed the postcards had I not experienced it myself!!! We didn’t go into the Basilca as the lines were HUGE and teetering on the makeshift wooden walkways above the flooded streets/square didn’t really appeal to us three girls.

In all, Venice was great and I encourage you all to visit before it completely floods and goes under! I think in years (years) to come it will be like one of those mysterious underwater cities for explorers – no wonder most people live on the main Mestre!

We said goodbye to Lis on our last morning in Venice together :o(  I was sad to see her go after spending so much time together around Europe! Lis went to Marco Polo airport, also known as Venice Airport (stupid private hire driver!!!) and Mara and I headed to the train station to get the Eurostar to Ancona (via Bologna).