Fall in love with Venice

That was my third visit to Venice and must say that this time I was enjoying it quite a lot. First time when I was here was almost 15 years ago and from that of experience day I remember just an awful smell. Said to myself that Venice is not worth visiting again. But you never know what life will bring. Second visit in Italy and Venice was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. Short stay, just off email full day here. Decided to go to San Marco, left water bus at Rialto and walked there. Saw Piazza, got quick lunch and decided to walk back to car. But used streets not so popular with tourists. And has change my idea of Venice. Do not go where everybody goes. Use your imagination and allow yourself to be lost in Venice Right then you will start to feel that city,. That was second visit in Venice. And now we had in front of us prospect of another stay there. Wanted to surprise Bozena with that trip but as easy is to hide all preparations (organising B&B, flights, one day off from work with her boss) it is very hide to hide all that bill when they are appearing on the credit card. And Bozena is frequently checking our card spending for any unusual activities. So, there was no surprise for my Wife, she knew all before the trip. She told me that she was actually glad to know about that surprise cause she had could prepare proper clothes for herself and not counting on me being lucky with my choice. There was another thing as well added down the road. Bozena straight from Venice was flying to work conference, so needed to be prepared for that and probably surprise trip (idea was to pick her up from her office just 1.5 hours before the flight)…

Friday morning. Fitness class, last things squeezed into bags, dog to kennel and we were… In the traffic. We should go to Bozena’s office to pick up some stuff for conference. Wanted to do that on the way to airport but haven’t considered impact of railway strike will have on the traffic in Dublin. It was a disaster. Getting from Kingswood on N7 to Pearse Street train station took us more than 1 hour and from there to airport next 45 minutes (via tunnel). Ohhh jeez. On some stage we were afraid that we will miss the flight but… for the first time I was happy when received info that our flight is delayed by 25 minutes. Managed to airport and our gate with couple of minutes to spare. So, we were on our way to city of masks and fancy costumes. Yes, on the way with one changeover in Cologne (remember that I have chose that flight to allow Bozena to go to work and pick her up not suspecting anything, now it wasn’t the case anymore), suppose to be less than 4 hours, so delay on the first flight should be a blessing (less waiting time in Cologne). Or that what we thought actually. Flight from there to Venice was delayed by 50 minutes. So, instead of being in Venice just after 8 PM local time we were after 9. Next time will skip the surprise bit and choose the fastest flight option, no nasty chance for long delays and waiting time on small airports.
Maybe flights and traffic in Dublin were like a small disaster but as soon we pick up the bags in Venice and walk out from security we were surprise with nice welcome. Giuseppe was waiting for us. Even that we met just once previously (Mooathon in Downings last year) he greeted us with huge hug asked about the trip and laugh at my lack of beard. I know that I was talking to Giuseppe little bit on the Facebook and he actually helped me to pull of that surprise trip (he has organised late entry for marathon, B&B, was our guide when comes to Venice and surrounding areas and let us use his car) but was really surprised with greetings. I think that what you are getting back when offering your friendship to someone. After picking us up from airport Giuseppe took us to his local pub (local means closest and probably only in 10-15 km radius) called Momis. Inside like Irish pubs but more relaxed. No screaming, no shouting, no drunk young people. Just great atmosphere. We knew that it was quite late already but we decided to have a small bite before going to B&B. Bozena went for jalapeño bites with cheese and I got chicken salad. Great food, everything fresh, not to heavy. We had a lovely evening and with prospect of another restaurant visit on Sunday we were really excited. I think that marathon was last thing we three could think of. Enjoying good time in great company. After the meal we drove to B&B. Was late, nobody in but our Friend had everything already sorted. Gave us key for the entrance and our room. Showed us the room, left keys for the car (said just, that we have Skoda as well so driving shouldn’t be a problem). Room sorted, car sorted, time for bed. Tomorrow busy day awaits. Expo, walking around Venice…
That was just couple of hours in Venice region and we were already excited. On Saturday we were able to see how our B&B looks outside in the full sun. Surroundings were gorgeous. Small canal besides our house, nice views and we could check local produce now. Local produce on that farm are all kinds of pumpkins. Unfortunately all were gone by now, sold out. All we could see really was an kind of samples hanging on the fence of he property. But even that gave us the idea of what pumpkins can look like. We are thinking about round shape pumpkin, like one use for Halloween lamps (or maybe the smaller ones like Hokkaido pumpkins). But in here we saw different shapes – long, straight, curly just name it. In the morning we have met our hosts. Fabiana and her family are the owners of the Ca Marcello. Her father started the B&B / agricultural business which is now passed to another generation. Even though just Fabiana was speaking English we have tried to talk to everyone we could there. We were overwhelmed with tranquillity of the surroundings and lifestyle. So different to ours, different even to what we remember from Rome or Florence. It looks like life is not flying by there just slowly flowing like water in the nearby canal. When you think about Venice you think about canals, gondolas, Rialto, San Marco Piazza and there is so much more to Venice. I think as a tourists not many of us are tempted to visit Venice region (one on the Italian mainland). Thanks to Giuseppe we have seen that Venice and we are so grateful for that. Ok, back to the story… After meeting our hosts we have jumped into ‘our’ Skoda Fabia and drove direction Venice Marathon Expo. Expo is located in one of the biggest parks in Europe – SN Giuliano. After previous visit to Italy and near death experience when driving I was little bit scared of driving there. But as I was previously mentioned that part of Italy is little bit more quiet and calm, same goes for driving. So, it wasn’t as bad as I predicted. But not everything is as brilliant as it looks like, you need to park somewhere. With huge amount of cars trying to get to expo, people stopping cars everywhere it was just madness. To get space passengers were getting of the cars looking for space and were blocking that space until their car hasn’t arrived. One hiccup – parking spaces (will happen again in Venice city). Parked the car, took all necessary documents and went into the park. Passed runners who just finished family run and with a smile on their faces were heading home. After little bit of walking we have walked into big tent in which expo was located. We have wonder around for a while, pick up number and took some brochures of marathons which were looking interesting. But haven’t spent too much time there, main goal was a walk in Venice. So, packed the car and headed towards island. Ignored info that main parking garage is already full, we will sort something out. We will be grand. Have found strange parking lot. Just after entrance bridge to Venice. Parking looks like abandoned loading peer. Didn’t really matter for us. We were sorted. What now? No boat, walk roughly in direction of San Marco Piazza. Ideally we should get there but didn’t matter how. So, we went. First we were using map but then were just turning where we want and sometimes using directions to Rialto or San Marco. This way we were avoiding main streets flooded with tourists. We saw process of producing Venetian mask, had nice handmade icecream on the stick, tried some fancy looking bakery stuff (no idea of the name). We were in no rush, from Piazza Roma (main parking and last place where cars can go) to San Marco took us probably 3.5 hours. But it was really nice. Wanted to sit in San Marco and drink a coffee but we have checked price list. Coffee – 10 euro, tea – 9 euro and mandatory 6 euro charge for listening to band playing (what?). Minimum charge for coffee and tee was 25 euro. Yep, wanted to sit there and had a coffee but we are not crazy. Move on, just looking, no touching. Decided to get on the other side of Grand Canal. We have noticed that there is nice cathedral there. Went on the bridge and ‘saw’ the view which we have on the ‘painted’ photography hanging in our kitchen. Of course we had to try to replicate that view. Took some photos. On the other side of Grand Canal we stopped for coffee and tea. Tasted probably same as the one on San Marco but cost was less than half. Headed then to cathedral of Santa Maria della Salute and then towards and of the island. And that was there where we saw one of the bridges prepared for next day marathon. Ok, I wasn’t impressed. Running first 36 km and after that you have 14 bridges. They not necessary hight but at this stage of the run any bump can be a little mountain for the runner. Heading back to the car and we have passed another couple of these runners bridges. So, I got the idea of marathon finish. Small streets back, no tourists, mainly locals. Good, that how you want to see Venice.

That evening we have spent very quiet. We have just decided to relax. Bed and tv. We haven’t decided to go out for a dinner. Why not? There was nice restaurant with sea food waiting for us. That was already agreed before the trip. Sunday was a restaurant day and the marathon day. Giuseppe suppose to pick up us at 7 in the morning. Or what I thought. Marathon should start at 9:40 for first starters and then rest as it goes… But about that in the next post.