Venice

We arrived at our campsite outside of Venice in the early afternoon on Friday, our friend Dina who spent the week in Lake Garda would meet us there a few hours later. We spent the time getting ourselves cleaned up and trying to find free internet which we succeeded at  for a short period of time. After Dina showed up we all walked out to the bus stop and waived down the next bus we saw (which is something we noticed others doing when they wanted to get on a bus since they won’t stop at every stop). This we found out would be a mistake.

A bus ride that should have taken 20 minutes seemed to take much longer, and it did since it was the wrong bus. As soon as we figured this out we were already very far from the campsite and Venice so we got off at the next stop and tried to figure out what to do. After asking some locals, we got on two different busses and arrived at Venice 2 hours later. The main piazza where the bus stop and train station are located was filled with tourists, and it was hard to believe all these people could fit on the side walks and bridges without being pushed into the canals.

Venice was very beautiful and impressive but is very difficult to get around, even with a map. With over 100 “islands” and over 400 bridges it is easy to get lost in the many dead ends. Looking at the map and walking around feels like you are a part of an enormous labyrinth, but it is all so amazing that it’s hard to get frustrated and at times pleasant to find yourself lost and away from the tourists on the main streets.

We made our way back to the campsite after asking a bus driver which exact bus we should take to get us home. The campsites in Europe are much different than the state park campgrounds in the States. Here some might have pools, hot tubs, clothes and dish washing stations, restaurants, markets, while others won’t have toilet paper, sitting toilets (only squatting), or even soap. We have also noticed many older couples own permanent campsites with an rv trailer and often a very nice wood addition where they spend most of their “holiday” at the campsite.

The next day we all set out to see more of Venice. We found that it was very difficult to see all of Venice on foot since it is a maze and very large. A water taxi would allow us to see more by water but it was expensive. We did decide to take a Gondola ride which was a bit shorter and slower but very relaxing and offered an unexpected history lesson from the Gondolier, we found out that almost everyone needs a special license to be on the water in Venice but Gondolier’s require schooling for three years and must pass four separate exams before they can start their career.

One of the land marks that we wanted to see was the San Marco Piazza, we made our way there through another smaller piazza where we were greeted with an older local who was singing to the crowd surrounding the the Scuola Grande di San Rocco.

San Marco Piazza was filled with lots of tourists which made sense, since it is a must see landmark of Venice. After taking in all of the sights, we got out the map and made our way back to the bus station. We cooked some dinner back at the campsite and enjoyed our last evening together before Dina flew home the next day and we continued on our bike tour.