After a really long day and very little sleep, arriving in Venice was not the greatest. The airport had a dingy feel to it and no one seemed interested in being friendly or helpful. I almost missed the bus stop for my campsite and when I did get there, the staff weren't very friendly either, but maybe they had just had a long day at work... One of the people who was working when I arrived was also working the next morning before 8am. I stayed at a campsite in the suburbs that rented tents instead of at a hostel or hotel in Venice because it was easy to get to from the airport and much less expensive than staying in Venice proper. It was kind of fun, too. And I was only a short bus ride from the city.
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| The Rialto Bridge. |
The morning and my trip into the actual city of Venice made me forget the inconveniences of the previous night. Venice is packed full of tourists, but for good reason. It's a very enchanting place. The canals were pretty cool. I arrived at St. Mark's Square early in the day so it was only starting to fill up, but the museums around the square already had line ups! I skipped them this time (maybe when I come back I'll brave the crowds). I spent most of the day wandering and getting lost, and it was great. I ended up in really pretty residential areas devoid of other tourists a few times. I had pizza for lunch in a little cafe near the Grand Canal, but at the residential end so it was nice and calm. I think it's the only place I saw all day that had more locals than tourists. Or maybe they were Italian speaking tourists...
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| Venetians have IKEA bedding too! |
I stopped in at a free exhibit about Vivaldi and violin making in Italy. The whole day reminded me of the
Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery cassette we used to listen to when I was little.
The one museum I made it to (this time, I fly home from Venice too) was the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection. I wasn't a huge fan of the Kandinsky pieces on display, but the Calder, Miro, Magritte and others were great. The gallery was much more intimate than the New York Guggenheim, and is housed in Peggy Guggenheim's former home. An intern did a talk about her life... She was
an interesting lady! I sure have been getting my fill of 20th century art so far on this trip.
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| The Grand Canal. |
From Venice, I went to Trieste, Italy for a brief stop before catching a bus to Croatia. The old part of Trieste seemed better maintained than Venice. But the bus station was awful. The train station next door was nice and modern. The toilets in the bus station were free (unlike everywhere else) but there were no seats, no toilet paper, no soap and the stall doors didn't close. I was surprised the toilets flushed. Anyway, back to the actual town... I didn't have a map because the tourist info points tend to be far from the transportation hubs in every city I've been to. Luckily, it was easy to orient myself as long as I knew where the water was.
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| A facade in the main square in Trieste. |
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| In Trieste. |
