BELLA VENEZIA !

Me looking over towards the Palazzo Ducale- Venezia

Well I've been back from Venice for 6 days now and I just haven't had time to write a blog entry until this morning! That's not to say that I've been busy partying or anything in Pavia- more like translating a 3,000 word essay from English to Spanish and also writing a 5,000 word essay on film translation which hasn't been an easy feat! Anyway, those two major pieces of work are now out of the way thank goodness, and all that is left is to revise Italian language this weekend ready for the language course exam on Monday, write a Civil war film analysis for my Spanish Civilisation class and do a mild bit of reading for the exams at the end of June. It's fine, all is under control!

Tuesday was a lovely day as I had my American friend Amanda who I met in Salamanca (She was actually one of Flo's flatmates) come to visit me in Pavia for the afternoon. She's been doing a bit of travelling around Europe before she heads back to the States, and when she said she was coming to Milan I suggested she came down to Pavia for the afternoon so we could have a catch up and I could show her around my second Erasmus home! We first went to my favourite cafe 'Pane e Salame' for some lunch as we were quite pekkish, followed by some cappuccinos on the piazza in the sunshine! Luckily the weather was gorgeous and afterwards we did some girly shopping in the highstreet and then I took her to try our famous Italian gelato (Ice cream) down by the river. On Wednesday I had nothing to do in the morning so I offered to meet her again in Milan for 2 hours so she could see the center. I met her around 9 and we just relaxed out and walked around by the Duomo and the shops. She loved the Duomo (As does everyone I guess!) and then we went to sit down by the Castello Sforzeco where we were both quite amused for a while watching an old lady hunting for change in the fountain in broad daylight! Embarassing right? I then said goodbye to Amanda at 11 as she went to get on the coach to the airport! The lucky thing is currently in Barcelona before heading back to Salamanca to collect her belongings before her flight back to the U.S in a week. We had a great time catching up, and I was really pleased to see her. Now I just need to figure out when I can go over to the States in the future!

Amanda and Me on the piazza with our cappuccinos

Model-looking Amanda by the Ticino river

Amanda by the fountain in Milan

Now for the major part of my blog entry and the one that I've been looking forward to writing about- VENEZIA! As you know, my Mum came over last week on Thursday and we had booked train tickets and a B&B in Venice for the weekend. I had been looking forward to going for a long time, and somehow the time just crept up (As it does!) and Venice was upon us! My good friend Malene went to collect Mum from the Central station in Milan as I was in my Italian Language class, and then after the class I went to meet them both at the station in Pavia. After dropping Mum's case off at the flat, we wandered into the center as it was such a lovely evening and we were both starving! I took her to Loft for the aperitivo and we munched away happily and enjoyed our cocktails before heading back to the flat for me to pack and for us both to have an early night as we had to get the train to Milan at 7.16 to be in Milan ready to catch our fast train across to Venice at 8.35 on Friday morning.

The journey passed really quickly as I was reading the Venice guide book, and then 2 and a half hours later we arrived in Venezia Santa Lucia station. We wandered out of the station and I could hear Mum gasp as she took in the view in front of her! I don't think she was expecting to see canals and gondolas within a second of arrival! We decided to get on a Vaporetto (AKA water bus!- remember there are no buses in Venice!) to get to our B&B which was located in the Dorsoduro region of the city- south of the railway station.

A map of central Venice showing the districts

The Basilica 'Santa Maria Della Salute'

Inside the Basilica

Me on a cute little bridge

The Vaporetto tickets we discovered were quite pricey at 7 euros for a one-way ticket which you can use for 90 minutes, however it was useful for our first trip with the cases as we didn't want to be lugging those around all of Venice's tiny streets! We got off on the waterfront of the Dorsoduro district and then spent a good 10 minutes looking for our B&B which wasn't really very well signposted. Nethertheless, we arrived and were greeted by a lovely lady and her partner who run the B&B together and were shown to our room. It was a lovely large clean room, however unfortunately without a view of the canal like the other rooms had. The bathroom also was very nice and clean with a power shower which was a nice surprise! Soon after arrivng we freshened up and set off out again to explore Venice for the rest of the day. First of all we just wandered around the Dorsoduro peninsula and came across a Basilica called 'Santa Maria Della Salute' which was very grand-looking! We had a wander inside and then had a look around the canals nearby before hopping on a vaporetto for 2 minutes which took us over to the Piazza San Marco which is the hub of the city. Mum loved the Basilica di San Marco and the waterfront with all of the gondolas! I felt like I was in a photographer's heaven and of course started snapping away like crazy with my new camera. Overall I took over 1000 photos, however included in this blog is just a selection of the very best. I love this set below which are all in black and white of the Piazza and the surrounding area. I just love black and white photos- they look so classy and professional! (Don't worry Dad- there are plenty of colourful ones coming up in the rest of the blog! haha)

Off-duty gondolas by St Mark's Square

The Basilica

The Palazzo Ducale

A view through one of the arches onto the Piazza

An off-duty Gondola

The Piazza including the Campanile

A Venetian Lamp-post and the Palazzo Ducale

The Campanile 'Bell-tower'

After wandering around by the Piazza we decided to grab some take-away quick lunch from a cafe called 'Bar al Campanile'. We had hot wraps filled with salad and cheese and went to sit down on some steps in the Piazza to enjoy them whilst admiring the view. Minutes later however some people came to tell us off wearing orange t-shirts with 'San Marco Guardian' written on the back. They said that the Piazza is an 'outdoor museum' and that eating or drinking sat down is not permitted! Mum and I said that was fine, and the people wandered off to tell off some other tourists so we moved location to another place on the Piazza. We had just sat down when seconds later another two appeared to tell us off again! First time it wasn't so annoying, but then the second time Mum and I were a bit angry as we just wanted to eat our food whilst it was still hot. We had no intention of littering or harming the Piazza in any way! I didn't personally get a photo of the guardians, but found this one online to include in this entry! It's a funny job for these people to have don't you think? It must get boring telling tourists off all day long for eating/drinking on the Piazza!

Our yummy wraps for lunch

The guardians in orange telling off some tourists

We then decided to start exploring the back streets of Venice, and I honestly felt like I was in a film! The city is like a film set- so picturesque and with a unique atmosphere like nowhere else in the world that I've been. Whilst we were walking along the tiny narrow streets, we found a genuine Venetian mask shop and decided to go in to admire all of the masks for a bit! They are typically worn during the Carnival season in February and the designs can get quite elaborate! The shopkeeper was very friendly and I started chatting away to him in Italian and said that I'd love to come back to Venice for the carnival next year and to try on a mask! and then he let me try one on there and then! I even got a hat and a cloak too! Check out the photos below! I think I suit being a Venetian :) I can't wait to come back for the Carnival next year in February if only for a short weekend as of course I'll have final year Uni work to do. I suppose I could always claim that I'm going for a cultural language-speaking trip though couldn't I? 

After leaving the shop, we then came across an antiques market 'Mercatino dell'antiquariato' on the campo San Maurizo in the center near the Piazza. Mum was drawn in like a bee to honey and started viewing the antiques high and low! There were so many that I don't think she knew where to look. We found all-sorts from china to ancient books, posters, paintings, broaches, bags, mirrors, furniture...... the list is endless! I did rather like a silver antique photo frame, however the 100 euro price tag was a bit too far out of my league I think! 

A full-length photo of me!

A close up of my mask and hat!

A poster for the market

All of the bits and bobs in the market

Me browsing!

Me trying on a mask among all of the antique items!

Mum looks much scarier I swear!

An antique gorgeous mirror! - can you see me browsing in the background? :)

I took a liking to another mirror ..

By the end of our time rumaging through the antiques market (What I really mean to say is by the time I managed to drag Mum away) it was early evening and both of us had aching feet so we wandered back to the B&B for a shower and a rest for a few hours. I even ended up dozing off in the big white bed as it was so comfy, and then two hours later I felt much more refreshed. We then headed off into the center just as the sun was going down to see Venice in the dark. The Piazza was beautiful and all lit up which was lovely, and people were milling around enjoying the atmosphere. Before long we got a bit pekkish so we found a cute little restaurant which I was drawn to as it had a little gondola full of tomatoes outside! Mum opted for a menu of lasagna then chicken and potatoes and I just had a small margherita pizza as that was all that I fancied! The restaurant was quite busy and we sat outside to enjoy our meal. The food was good, but not excellent so I wouldn't recommend a visit there, and it was also pricey- but then again, Venice is pricey! We then wandered back to the B&B for a good nights sleep as we wanted to be up early on Saturday morning to make the most of the day. I felt like a queen in that bed it was so comfy and I had a really good nights sleep which was surprising as  normally I don't sleep very well in a strange bed.

Early evening sky over a canal

Early evening over the Academia bridge

Mum and Me on the Piazza

The gondola full of tomatoes!

My pizza and Mum's lasagna

Mum and Me on the Piazza

We woke up all refreshed on Saturday morning and excited to get out to see Venice again! We popped down to the kitchen in the B&B for breakfast at around 8.30am but I have to say, I wasn't very pleased with the so-called breakfast. Thin white dry stale bread, cheap watery yoghurts, warm milk for my economy cornflakes and a bruised apple. Need I say anymore? Mum however tucked in and made the most of it whilst I decided to go hungry. Never again am I going to choose breakfast as an option for a B&B or hostel without first reading 100 reviews! Despite the vile breakfast I was in a great mood as we headed out into the sunshine towards the Piazza. Mum and I bought some oil paintings of Venice on canvas and then we relaxed out by the waterfront by all of the gondolas and watching the world go by. We had planned to do a trip over to the other islands in the lagoon (Murano, Burano and Torcello) by vaporetto, (See map below for the position of the islands in the Venetian lagoon) however we stumbled across a stall selling tickets for a boat trip all around the lagoon. It was very reasonably priced at 20 euros for an adult and a reduced 15 euro price for students for a 4 hour trip where you would be able to visit all three islands and stop off on each of them for a period of time. Mum and I didn't hesitate in signing up! We then had around an hour and a half until we had to be back at the stall for the start of the trip, so made use of our time by visiting the Campanile on the Piazza- otherwise known as the bell tower. It is the tallest structure in the whole of the city and from the top it is possible to make out nearly every building in the city, but funnily enough not one canal! We zoomed up 99 meters to the top where the views were just spectacular from every direction.

A map showing the position of the islands in the Venetian lagoon- see Venice, Murano, Burano and Torcello

Mum's oil painting

My painting of a canal and gondola

A gondola sign

Me looking out to sea through the gondolas

Mum and Me on the waterfront

Me on a pontoon!

The view north from the campanile.

The western view including the Piazza San Marco

A panoramic view south of the Campanile- Palazzo Ducale to the left and the waterfront at the top

Island of San Giorgio Maggiore south of the Campanile

After half an hour or so admiring the views from the top of the Campanile, we decended in the lift, grabbed a snack lunch and headed towards the Palazzo Ducale and the waterfront where we were to meet for the boat trip. On the way over we spotted some Venetian mask stands so we both had a go at trying some on (much to the annoyance of the stand-owners). I really love the masks and I want to buy one, however I feel that I'm going to wait until I can go to the Carnival one February as then I can wear my mask during the event and have it as a memory. I would also like to buy a proper handmade one though costing around 50-70 euros instead of one of the cheap tacky ones which are mass produced! I hate fake items! After posing with our masks on, we went over to the boat trip stand. There was a huge fuss with people's tickets (luckily not our's) and after 15 minutes or so we finally were led over to the boat where people were pushing and shoving to get on. There were far too many people booked on the trips and of course everyone wanted to sit upstairs on the top deck for the views but there wasn't enough room. Luckily mum and I kept up with the walking pace over to the boat, and we were one of the first onboard so were able to choose some good seats upstairs at the back of the boat. Before long we had set sail for the island of Murano, and we were both enjoying the breeze from the top deck and pretending we were on a private yacht voyage around the Venetian lagoon..... we wern't too far off in reality I guess!

Me on the Piazza by the Palazzo Ducale

Gondolas by the waterfront

Mum with a mask on!

I went for a more flamboyant design to try on!

The shoreline of Venice

Me on top deck!

Our boat for the trip

Around 20 minutes later we were approaching the island of Murano which is known worldwide for its glass-blowing industry. It is now Venice's sole surviving manufacturing zone and the whole of the island is pretty much given over entirely to shops selling Murano glass products. The boat docked and we all were led into a furnace room where we were given an amazing demonstration of glass-blowing. A craftsman made a vase out of glass and also a little pony! It was incredible to watch and you could feel the heat from the furnace from meters away! We then went into a showroom where you could see magnificent pieces of glass work. I wanted to take home a set of glass stingrays which I fell in love with! The prices were very steep though- I think most people would only be able to afford a small Murano glass bead, let alone a huge sculpture!

A craftsman in action

The glass flower vase made infront of our eyes

A glass pony

The stingrays which I wanted to take home!

We had around 40 minutes on the island before getting back on the boat for the cruise over to the small fishing island of Burano which is also famous for its lace production. The island is also situated in the Venetian lagoon and it is located around 7km from Venice and took around a 30 minute trip from Murano to arrive. The first thing which struck me about Burano was the small brightly coloured houses which you could make out from the water a long way away from the island. Each building is painted in a different bright colour and according to my guide book, local tradition said that the colours once enabled each fisherman to identify his house from out at sea. nowadays though the colours are just used for a decorative effect. I think Burano would be a great place to live in the winter when it is cold, wet and windy, I bet that no one living there is depressed or sad, how could you be when you live in a bright pink house? The other thing which stood out from far at sea on the island was the leaning campanile of the church of San Martino. At first I thought I was deluded that it was leaning, however as we became closer I saw that it really was leaning at an impressive angle! When we got off the boat, we were led by our guide to a demonstration of lace making. Handmaking lace isn't very common thesedays as most is apparently imported or made by machine, however there are still a few elderly Buranese women who make it by hand and we had the pleasure of watching one lady at work. After the lace making demonstration, we headed off to wander around the island for 40 minutes and admire the lovely coloured buildings! It really was a very pretty little island and quite a contrast to Murano and Venice! I felt like I was a cartoon character whilst wandering around!

On approach to Burano from the water

The lace-making demonstration

Some of the little brightly coloured houses

The center of Burano with its leaning Campanile!

Me by some of the houses

Burano again from the water- so cartoon-like!

After our short stop on Burano, we travelled further north for 10 minutes until we reached the last stop on our trip to the island of Torcello. Torcello is at the furthest end of the lagoon and surrounded by wet marshland and mud-flats. It is the oldest settlement in the whole lagoon and it is hard to believe nowadays that it once held the largest population in the lagoon (around the 10th century it was home to 20,000 people). According to my trusty guide book, the island was ridden with malaria around the 12th century and all of the population fled to Burano, Murano or Venice. Torcello is now nearly deserted, and home to no more than 15 people. It is still a tourist spot though as people come here to see Venice's first cathedral- Santa Maria Assunta which was founded in 639 and is still in good condition today. The island seemed so sad to me as there is barely any civilisation there, and if you look out across the lagoon towards Burano across the marshland, you can imagine what it might have been like for the first settlers in the lagoon all of those thousands of years ago. I think that Torcello might be a nice place to go if you wanted some peace and quiet though, for example to read or write a book perhaps. There is one hotel and restaurant joined to the hotel, however no supermarkets or any form of nightlife so one might become bored after a short period of time I think! Perhaps owning a boat and staying there wouldn't be so bad as you could escape to the other islands or Venice when the silence became too deafening! The other important building to mention on Torcello is a church called Santa Fosca which was built in the 11th and 12th centuries. 

Arrival in Torcello by boat

A nice welcome plaque!

The long canal leading to the center of Torcello

The ancient cathedral of Torcello

The church of Santa Fosca

A statue in the gardens of the cathedral

The only houses on Torcello

After our time on Torcello, and when there was nothing else to see (This didn't take long!) we all got on board once again and cruised back to Venice for 40 minutes or so. On arrival, mum and I decided to make our way back to the B&B as we both really wanted a shower and to freshen up before the evening. An hour or so later we emerged feeling nice and clean and promenaded towards the center. We decided to go over to the Rialto bridge which crosses the Grand Canal and houses the Rialto market. It looked spectacular at night and the view from the top over the canal was wonderful. We then made our way back to the Piazza with a bite to eat in our hands and were greeted with a strange surprise! The whole of the piazza (70% I would say) was underwater by a few inches! We were both shocked, however I knew that is is a phenomenon known as 'Acqua Alta' (High water) and occurs normally in the winter time, however is getting worse due to global warming. It happens when exceptional tide peaks occur in the northern Adriatic Sea. The water floods parts of Venice and in some areas wooden board-walks have to be put up by the council so that people can cross the Piazza! The water was a spectacular sight and it was so pretty as you could see all of the lights from the cafes and the buildings around the piazza reflected in the water. People were entering the water and paddling and my own mother was no exception! She wasted no time in getting her shoes off to paddle, and persuaded me to go in as well. At first it was freezing (It is sea water remember!) but then I gradually adjusted to the temperature and it was a lovely feeling! We had some fun taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere before returning to the B&B around midnight when our feet were aching!

Me by the Rialto bridge at night

The view from the top of the Rialto at night

The first sight we saw of the piazza and the 'Acqua Alta'

Can you see mum dancing in the middle?

Me paddling

Me by a lovely Venetian lamp-post

The piazza towards the Basilica flooded

Sunday we got up early once again to go down to breakfast (Yum- That was a sarcastic Yum in case you were wondering!) and after Mum filled up on stale dry thin toast we packed up our suitcases and vacated the room. Luckily the B&B staff were happy to look after the cases for the rest of the day in a spare room so we could enjoy our last day without having to lug them around the city. We decided first to head back over to the Rialto region as we hadn't seen it during the day yet. It looked just as lovely in the daytime, and after snapping away for a while we decided to park up in a lovely looking cafe overlooking the canal called 'Caffé Saraceno' and stop for a cappuccino and a spot of postcard writing on my part! The view was incredible and I'm sure mum enjoyed her large cappuccino whilst watching the gondolas cruise past meters from her. After around 45 minutes in the cafe we decided to leave (We wanted to get our money's worth- those cappuccinos were 5 euros each! plus service charge to sit outside!) and we wandered over to have a look around the Rialto market. It was mostly full of tourist shops which didn't interest us, and then as we were deciding to head off in another direction, I spotted a 'Traghetto' stop. Traghetti are the other mode of crossing the Canal Grande (apart from the few bridges) and they are actual gondolas, except old less-fancy ones. They only cost 50 cents per trip and are a good way to have a gondola ride- except a lot shorter and a lot less fancier. They are however gondolas, so we can now claim that we have been on a gondola- albeit a poor man's gondola. Mum enjoyed her ride anyway!

Mum by the Rialto

Cappuccinos by the Rialto darling!

Mum sipping her cappuccino

Me enjoying my morning cappuccino with a view!

Rialto in Black and White

The Canal Grande from the top of the Rialto bridge- love the bird that sneaked in there!

The market to the side of the Rialto bridge

Towards Rialto

The traghetto stop!

Over the other side of the Canal Grande we made our way slowly back towards the piazza enjoying looking around at all of the architecture and canals which we crossed over. I fell in love with a dragon lamp which I thought was incredible, and one canal near the piazza stood out for us as particularly beautiful. It had lovely arches, two bridges, flowers, gondolas and lots of green plants. The bridge was called 'Ponte Dei Bareteri' and it really was a lovely spot to stop for a while and admire the view! I think this was my favourite canal for sure. When we got back to the piazza, I really wanted a photo holding some pigeons in front of the Basilica. I know it is a touristy thing to do, but a lot of people were doing it and the photos looked so cool! We bought a bag of crisps and after crunching some up in my hand, a load of pigeons flocked to my feet and some onto my arms and hands! The feeling was awful I have to admit, and I tried so hard the whole time to not think that I was holding disgusting dirty pigeons, but after a minute my mind returned to reality and freaked out and just threw them all off me! I don't know what I was expecting it to feel like, but it certainly wasn't nice like holding a parrot or some other elegant bird- this was like holding flying rats! The photos came out well though and I'm pleased I did it, although never again! I managed to persuade mum to have a go as well, although she didn't- really didn't!- enjoy it. We both felt disgusting afterwards and couldn't wait to wash our hands and arms a million times with soap! 

The lovely dragon lamp.

The canal view from the 'Ponte Dei Bareteri'

Mum looking like a model in one of the arches near the 'Ponte Dei Bareteri'

A black and white of my favourite canal view

An instagrammed shot of the view in colour

The clock tower

Me by a canal and a gondola

Me overlooking another canal

Me holding the pigeons.........

................And then me freaking out!

Mum's turn!

As we felt disgusting, we then started to head back to the B&B to collect our luggage around 3ish. On the way back, we passed a lovely canal with pretty flowers that I just had to take a photo of, and also spotted another 'faux gondola' AKA a traghetto, and we couldn't resist having another go! Next time in Venice we must go on a gondola- it wouldn't be too expensive if we were in a group of 5! When we arrived at the B&B we both washed our hands a good number of times before making our way by foot over to the area where the train station is located in Cannaregio. At first we were planning on taking a vaporetto back, however we were in good time and the cases weren't that heavy so we decided to walk and surprisingly it only took us half an hour.When we arrived, we just sat down for a rest and a drink and watched the world go by admiring the view for a bit. Mum had a walk over the Scalzi bridge and then we decided to use our last hour having a look in some of the shops near the station. I wasn't planning on buying anything, however spotted a really cute Murano glass snail in a glass shop which I instantly fell in love with. I don't know why, but I've got a thing for snails! This one is adorable and I'm going to put him with an Isle of Wight glass snail which I bought a few years ago!

The pretty canal with flowers

Our second 'faux gondola' trip

Mum onboard!

Me on a gondola! (It really is a gondola so I can say that right?) :)

The view as you step out of the train station

The Ponte Scalzi (Mum in the middle- although it's hard to see her!)

We caught our train at 17.20 back to Milan and then on to Pavia where we arrived back at the flat exhausted around 21.00. I think that pretty much brings me to the end of our time in Venice. It was a short trip, but I think you'll agree that we packed in quite a bit! Anyway, there's still time to see more of this intriguing city in the future- hopefully during Carnival like I've said. I'm going to sign off now, I need to use the rest of today and all of tomorrow to get in some Italian language revision ready for the test on Monday evening. Then on Wednesday Elizabeth comes to visit! I'm going to collect her from Milan around 9 in the morning and then I don't know what our plans are. I guess we'll see some of central Milan and then maybe on Thursday we can see some other city, and then spend all of Friday in Pavia before she has to leave in the evening, then I go to Lyon on the 20th, followed by a trip to the pretty 'Cinque Terre' villages in Liguria on the 28th with Flo when he comes to visit. 

There's plenty of excitement left for my remaining three weeks in Pavia. X Zo