It's a cool early morning in Bellagio, a small, ritzy village tucked away on a little peninsula in the middle of Lake Como. More about this part of Italy later, though. First, we need to continue our journey to Venice below...
We were pleased with our accommodations at Villa Sonnino. A nice surprise as one is never sure if hotels live up to the pictures and reviews on the Internet. I would highly recommend this one, though; the room was spacious and comfortable, the hotel is well situated for day trips into the Tuscan hills, and it's calm and peaceful at night.
After several cappuccinos, we drove north to Venice at a nice, leisurely pace of 120 km/h. "You can go 130," I suggested as cars zoomed pass. We were cautious of the speed control boxes, though. Every so many kilometers there's a sign warning you of a speed camera and, just as they warned, there appears a silver metal box on the side of the autostrada with a picture of a policeman and a camera. Now, this method of speed control works well directly beside the silver box. But, once passed, everyone speeds back up to 140+ km/h until the next one. It seems the Italians know exactly where these speed boxes are as their speed oscillates from fast to very, very fast!
We reached the coast and the entrance to Venice by early afternoon.
And crossed the causeway (Italy's version of the seven mile bridge? yet not as long) towards the cruise ships and towering parking garages. We must be close.
Parking was simple, getting from the garage to the hotel, however, involved more thinking. Italy could use a bit more in the useful sign department to help tourists find their way. I relied on intuition and managed to find our way to the main bus terminal where you can catch a water bus (vaporetto) into the city. Wayne was a bit more disoriented, followed me closely, and was looking forward to successfully arriving at our destination.
"It's just like taking the bus in Paris, but on water," I exclaimed. He was still not convinced but did start to enjoy the ride. We took line 1 which travels down the Grand Canal. Our stop was Accademia. We had a ways to go from the piazza de Roma.
One is struck by the engineering and fortitude of early venetians to build a city in the middle of a lagoon. That same drive and determination seems, at times, to be lacking in the 21st century.
Our hotel, really a guest house with about eight rooms, was located in the Dorsoduro district, a quiet residential part of Venice.
We were only a few minutes from the vaporetto stop, a few steps behind the Guggenheim, and a few steps from the main canal overlooking the island of Giudecca.
There are a couple of quiet canals around the hotel. Here, one is far from the frenzy and chaos of the Rialto or St Marks Square, thankfully.
Just around the corner, we picked up two slices of pizza and a beer, found a bench and watched the world go by on foot and by boat.
After enjoying the view from the Accademia bridge, one of only two principal bridges crossing the Grand Canal,
and watched the many gondoliers come and go with their fares (some gondoliers were even texting while gondoliering!),
we meandered into our neighborhood and explored.
We stumbled onto this Swiss chalet at the corner of two canals. It's one of only a few gondola repair shops left in Venice.
Hmm, not like the UPS trucks back home!
And more gondoliers. They are everywhere calling out "Gondola, gondola rides" pulling visitors in to pay the 80 € for a 40 minute ride.
This canal was on the main gondola tour with one after another passing by.
We wandered away from the canals and turned down many narrow side streets, marveling at the sense of solitude within the denseness of the city.
And after wandering the narrow streets you find yourself in another small square. It's easy to get turned around in this city. But you can't get lost since you're on, after all, an island! Now, which street should we take? Let me check the iPhone to see where we are and then consult the map. What did Magellan do without his iPhone?
Venice has charmed and intrigued us. We are looking forward to our next two days in this unique city.
Location:Venice, Italy
