Wonderful Venice...

Hi Blog followers,  

Well we said our goodbyes to Lake Garda and the people we met at Camping Piantelle and hit the toll road to Venice, as we said before it was only about 90 miles to our exit off the motorway to Camping Jolly (which was recommended to us by Max the Italian).  We pulled into a huge paved open reception area with the large swimming pool & bar/cafe to one side and the reception & shop opposite with nice benches outside with plenty of people just sitting enjoying the sun, so it was check in and get a pitch (we booked & paid for 3 nights and bought our bus tickets for the next morning) and were told pitch 8 over by the perimeter fence but Julie liked pitch 7 as it had a bit more sun.  First impressions were good and we went for a nice swim at the pool and found some sun loungers just to relax before hitting Venice the next day.  We noticed while sitting there that it was very popular with young groups of back packers/students and there were quite a few ready-tents and bungalows on this site and just a handful of touring pitches for motorhomes/caravans.  As the sun went down we had our dinner outside and a few glasses of wine and said a few hellos to the couple of other vans parked in our section and one directly behind us had a full Italian family in it, Mum, Dad, Daughter and Grandson so the poor Dad was sleeping under the awning on a camp bed.  

Time came for bed and all was OK till about 2am when we were woken up by the Italian Dad shouting and the sound of a bit of a scuffle going on.  As I opened our blind to see what was going on I saw a man run past and jump the perimeter fence and disappear into the night, then with that the poor fella packed down the whole van awning, tables, chairs, etc etc and got someone to let him out the campsite and he disappeared, by this time it was 3am so where on earth he was going to go at that time god only knows.  We didn’t sleep a wink the rest of the night as we were worried about security on this site (it’s the most important thing to us and we have managed to stay safe for the last 8 months) and were also worried about leaving the van for the next couple of days as we would be in Venice all day until late in the evenings so decided that first thing in the morning we would go to reception and ask for a refund of the remaining two nights & bus tickets and head to the original site we had chosen prior to Max’s recommendation, Camping Venezia. We think what had happened was that someone from outside came over the fence at a certain low spot and was having a look round in his awning as there were a few bags/boxes of stuff laying about but obviously the intruder didn’t realise there was a fella sleeping there until he disturbed him!  First thing in the morning I went to reception but the girl said no refund was possible but she wasn’t aware of what had happened during the night.  Julie wasn’t happy about it so she went and asked to speak to a Manager and explained that something serious had happened for a family to up sticks and leave at 3am, while she was in reception a young girl was also making a complaint about having a bag of wine/chocolates stolen from her tent/bungalow which confirmed our security concerns and probably why there weren’t that many motorhomes/caravans there to start with.  The girl in reception went outside and had a discussion with a more official looking bloke who knew about the overnight problem so they didn’t have a leg to stand on and refunded us the remaining 2 nights and bus tickets.  We packed the van up and drove the 5 miles to Camping Venezia, only a small site but what a difference, a hidden gem with fantastic new facilities, proper security and most of all lots of other motorhomes/caravans, this is where everyone was, it’s funny really how things happen for a reason.  We settled in, had our breakfast, a refreshing shower and bought our bus tickets from reception then decided to head into Venice early afternoon.  

To get to Venice was so easy you just went out through a secure coded gate at the back of the campsite and the bus stop was right there with a choice of a number 5 or 19 direct bus which took only 8 minutes into the Piazza Roma where the road ended, buses terminated and the canals & water buses took over, just perfect.  Sitting at the campsite you’d never imagine you were just a stones throw from the beautiful City of Venice, Camping Venezia just ticked all the boxes in every way. One thing that someone had mentioned was that you could buy a travel card to use on all public transport, water buses (traghettos) so once the bus dropped us at the Piazza Roma our first stop was into the tourist office to buy our ticket for unlimited journeys for 24 hours from when you started using it so enough to cover 2 days for €20 each, so with ticket in hand we headed off and then got the first glimpse of the Grand Canal and the first main bridge, the Ponte degli Scalzi, the first of only three bridges over the Grand Canal.

After a quick look at the map which was just like a map of the London Underground it was just a matter of getting the right boat going in the right direction, easier said than done when you are standing there with pontoons (stations) everywhere you look and boats of every description, ranging from water buses, rusty old rubbish carrying boats to beautifully polished/veneered water taxi’s to even TNT delivery boats, just going everywhere with no rules of the road as they say.  

After looking at the underground style map of all the routes/canals we hopped onto one of the floating pontoons and began to wait for our water bus when Julie had a major blonde moment and thought that this was actually the boat that was going to take us around and then piped up “our boat isn’t like that one” and pointed to a boat going past, with that I informed her “this is the station and not a boat you div!!!!!!” We did laugh but to be honest it was all a bit overwhelming and we were like excited kids again, we caught our first water bus which set off along the Grand Canal past the Casino De Venezia to the second bridge over the Grand Canal the Rialto Bridge with it’s famous narrow shops lining either side of the bridge.

From there we set off on foot through narrow streets and along the sides of countless narrow canals & small bridges with just mind blowing architecture everywhere, it reminded us of the narrow backstreets of Barcelona which we had really enjoyed.  

We then jumped onto another water bus under the third bridge over the Grand Canal, the Ponte de Accademia, along past the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute to probably the most famous spot, St Mark's Square.

 

Luckily St Mark's Square wasn’t that busy, and when you stand there and look around it’s just all mind blowing.  Dominating it all is the final resting place of St Mark, the Basilica St Marco with it’s intricate architecture and painted murals and the decorated blue & gold clock tower opposite which shows the movement of the sun between one zodiac sign to another.  Then just around the corner is the Doge’s Palace, once the centre of the Venetian Empire and Government with it’s secret prison cells.

From there we continued our way through more narrow streets and over countless bridges, and jumped on more water buses and at one point we ended up next to the main canal that the big cruise ships use and then made our way across to Isola di S.Giorgio where we went into the Church and up the bell tower and got a fantastic view over all of Venice just as the sun was going down. 

We decided not to take a trip on a Gondola as they were everywhere, at one point it was like the equivalent of the M25 and there was even a bit of river rage going on!! Probably the best and romantic time to go on one would be in the evening when it’s a bit quieter but after a long day we treated ourselves to a lovely meal instead in nice little restaurant in a narrow back street before heading back to camp via the Rialto bridge at night and one of the many museums lit up along the way.

There was just one last place we wanted to find before we left which was called the Scala del Bovolo, roughly translated to the snails staircase because it’s shape is like a snails shell, which is known as one of the hardest pieces of architecture to find amongst the narrow back streets and is off the beaten track but we were determined to find it so after finding and following a bit of a cryptic clue on Google we managed to track it down eventually, and here’s the proof!!!

I could go on and on about what we saw and where we went (or where we didn’t) but unless you are there it’s hard to put it down on paper but hopefully the pictures have said it all, so after three nights and 2 fantastic full on days in Venice and a large beer before we set of on our travels again.

We crossed the border very briefly into Slovenia (soggy, wet & cold at that!!) and have now landed in Croatia, completely new territory again for us and the sun is now shining again :-)

That’s all for another week.

J&J

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