Matt Richardson

Italy (Part IV) - Venice

October 19, 2004 | 2 Minute Read

This is going to be a short one because:

<OL type=a>

  • I'm getting sick of writing about Italy
  • I'm sure you're getting sick of hearing about Italy
  • I was only there for about 22 hours in total
  • </OL>

    So, caught the train once again, and arrived in Venice (also known as Venezia), right at the perfect time to get caught in some really horrible weather. Windy, rainy, cold. Not much fun really. And seeing that we were only there overnight, it was pretty annoying.

    But, ignoring the weather, we went wandering around Venice, having a look round, getting the vibe of the city. Its quite cool, as there are no cars at all, and not even any bicycles. Everyone gets around on foot. Its quite good, but there's none of the 'normal' sounds (of cars) of a city. I was also warned that it can get a bit smelly with all those canals - but turned out fine - no problems.

    I think i'm going to go dot-points, as my brain isn't working the best right now:

    • Its a veritable rabbit warren of a city - pretty cool though. Lots of little alley ways and little streets (and lots of lost tourists looking at maps).
    • The canals have an odd colour too them - sort of a cloudy blue, almost aqua colour (maybe i'll have to show you a photo).
    • Saw St Marks Basillica, and San Marco Square - both pretty cool.
    • At one point in San Marco Square, all the birds decided it would be a good idea to get up and fly about for a bit - so i got some pretty cool photos of that. Very Alfred Hitchcock - The Birds (not that i've seen it :)).
    • The hostel was called Palazza Venobia. Which means Venobia Palace. Which, it pretty much was. It was this huge old building, with huge frescos on the walls, and a huge ballroom with sculptures and everything. Really cool.
    • Met an american guy (Tim) in the hostel, who was travelling by himself, so we joined up with him for a while to wander about. He ended up heading up to Innsbruck with us later on as well.
    • Caught a bus-boat (a vaporetti) round the city, just so that we could check out the place. Ended up joining up with a lone Aussie for a while (cant remember her name), and the 4 of us wandered around for the morning, before we had to go and catch the train.
    • On the way to Innsbruck, we went via Verona - didn't actually see the place, but i vaguely remembered it from Romeo and Juliet, so thats pretty cool :).

    Pretty good time, all up. And that, folks, is Italy.

    Oh, one last thing - I think i'll definitely have to go back to Italy. Preferably, this time with a girlfriend/partner - Italy is a place that seems to be pretty good for couples. Lots of romatic places to go, things to see, things to do. One day.

    Tagged: On Travels