I had dreamed about going to Venice since my sister went there on a school trip many, many years ago, with her pictures of St Mark’s Square and tales of fun with all her school mates.
Over the years I have heard stories about how smelly Venice had become and how it’s “too touristy” “there are too many people” etc. etc., but this didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for visiting, so as part of my Interrail adventure, Venice was a definite. I knew I wanted to go but after the negative comments I had heard, I wasn’t expecting to fall in love as much as I did.
I had just travelled on the Bernina Express through Switzerland from Chur through St Moritz and arrived in Torino, a beautiful part of Northern Italy, nestling beneath the huge mountains, earlier that day. My connecting Venice train left Torino about 6pm and I arrived in Venice at about 11pm.
As you step out of the train station and hear the water lapping up against the Vaporetta platforms, it hits you, the realisation you are in Venice, the smell of the sea, the bobbing up and down of the vaporetta platforms and the boats going back and fore, up and down the waterways. I sidled past some homeless beggars unable to give them anything as my budget was so tight. It was late and there weren’t many people around so I wandered around the platform taking in the scenery through all my senses, trying to find a way to buy a ticket for the vaporetta, as my hostel was on another island called Giudecca, which I must say I was initially disappointed by, because I wanted to be on the main island, or so I thought until I reached Giudecca!!!
My first impressions of the island of Giudecca were not the best, I arrived at my hostel which is one of the world’s largest hostel organisations called Generator and as I approached I could see lots of young people hanging outside smoking with a lot of noise coming from within. I made my way through the crowds to the reception, wondering of I would get any sleep that night and went to my room which was a huge dorm, with about 30 people in it. I quickly changed my opinion on reaching my bed, even though I was in a room with so many people the beds had been built like individual private beds with their own surrounding walls which gave privacy and everyone had their own locker below with your very own charging point on the wall within your own bed pod for your phones and iPad and laptops etc. The hostel was so big that no sound carried up from downstairs. On this trip I only had my phone and battery pack which proved to be invaluable.
I would say this hostel and my experience in Venice was one of the highlights of my trip, even though there was a lot going on at the entrance it was relatively quiet in the rooms. There was a café and bar downstairs which was a bit expensive to eat at but the drinks were ok. I met some wonderful people in this hostel, number one being Erin from Wisconsin who shared my bottle of fizzy red one night while telling me stories about her amazing job in Disneyland. She was a Disney fanatic and has been to every Disney park in the world except Anaheim which ironically is in her own country. She was telling me how wonderful it was to work for the Disney community (as they like to call it, rather than corporation, probably because it sounds more friendly) and how much she enjoyed it, we chatted way into the night. The following morning we shared a vaporetta over to the main Venice Island to do some of the touristy things, pics at the Bridge of Sighs, St Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge, we also managed to get a good deal on a Gondola ride which you have to do while in Venice of course!! It was cheaper to share as you pay one price for the Gondola, we only had half an hour but it was lovely to visit some of the back lane waterways with the Gondolier relating tales of ancient Venice and Venetian people, now long gone and how history had shaped modern Venice.
Venice was so beautiful, there were certain canals where the aroma was slightly offensive to the nostrils, but on the whole it just smelt of the sea. I just loved everything about it and the islands were one of the best bits. After we had done the Gondola ride, Erin and I went our separate ways as we both wanted to do different things, I went for a stroll through the cobbled backstreets looking for somewhere to eat that wasn’t overpriced. I thought if I went away from the main area that it would be cheaper, I found a lovely little place, on a quiet little side street with the sounds of Italian music wafting over from the quaint little bar opposite.
The meal wasn’t the best but it satisfied my hunger and thankfully I’m not a great foodie and very rarely eat out, but was hungry early today. After my meal I made my way toward the vaporetta station which takes you to the other islands of Venice which quickly became my favourite, Murano and Burano.
I will write a separate blog about the islands as they were so special, but my whole trip to Venice was much more special than I thought it would be for many reasons.
On the first day I went for a walk around Guidecca to find my feet, get a feel for the area and find the shop to buy essentials like wine and hummus LOL!! I bought some sparkly wine for lunch for about 3 Euros and some tasty humus with salad, I found a lovely spot on a bench near the water’s edge to sit and enjoy my lunch. For some reason, since I have been traveling, there are some moments that remain with me forever, for not very special reasons other than the way I feel at the time, but I remember every detail so vividly, and this moment was one of those.
The sounds were of the local Italian people enjoying their lunch in the nearby restaurant, laughing and chatting about their lives, while the loud calling seagulls swooped for food scrap remains along the waters’ edge. The boats regularly made their way up and down the river, just like any city street busy with cars, the rivers were always busy with boats of all kinds coming and going, delivering goods, delivering people, or just sight-seeing. The smells were of the salty sea air mingled with Italian herbs and spices from the food at the local table. The ambience was peaceful and tranquil, I opened my fizzy wine and ate my lunch, savouring the moment, the sun was shining and casting shadows and rays of light across the waters’ surface amid the many ripples of life from across it’s wide expanse. Across the water I could see St Mark’s Square and the main skyline of Venice with the Grand canal’s busy comings and goings. The sun’s warmth was so welcome after spending time in the freezing snowy landscape of Switzerland.
The moment is firmly imprinted on my mind as a feeling of freedom, a feeling of happiness, a feeling of wonder at my great fortune that brought me to this place at this time.
I met a lovely couple in the local hostelry who were newlyweds and were staying at the Hilton hotel, which is on the Island of Guidecca and they gave me their boat pass, which was free so I could use it all day to get back and fore. We had a lovely chat where I told them about my life and recent plans, showed them photos of my kids and they told me their story which was a special story of love and I wished them all the joy in the world as we said our goodbyes.
I carried on my exploration of the Island of Guidecca, exploring the churches and squares and walking around the vaporetta stations, checking which ones to catch to take me to the places I wanted to visit the next day. The vaporetta system works very much the same as any transport system in the city, you had to catch a certain number boat to take you to certain places, so the next day I wanted to go to St Mark’s Square, I found the station I needed and made my way back to the hostel to maybe eat, dependant on prices, with my bottle of fizzy red, planning the following day in my mind.
This is when I met Erin, we chatted for a while then went to the bar for food where we met another Welsh guy from Swansea and Marc, a guy from Belgium, we all shared food and drinks and laughed about each other’s travel stories, and it was just what I imagined the travel life would be like. Such fun, age is not a barrier; fun is fun whatever age you are! Traveling is amazing and the stories you hear make you want to go to the places you hear about, hence the stories of travellers who started out with a plan to travel for a year and ended up 15 years later still experiencing new wonderful people and events all over the world.