From Venice to Rome (1/4)

Venice. January 2020 – in 24 hours

We arrive at Treviso airport at 6 pm, with a delay of about one hour. We have just started our holiday and we are excited. When we left Cluj I saw the sunset, and as we got up in the air we saw the sun rising and setting for the second time on the same day.

The good part is that the transfer ticket we took to Venice is valid 4 hours so the delay does not affect us. The ticket is 7.10 € per person (bus + train). The bus stops at the airport and leaves you exactly at the train station.

In an hour we arrive at our Airbnb apartment.

Jimmy, our host, recommends a few restaurants and sights. The apartment is pretty basic, but we took it because we wanted to be on the island, close to all the attractions, given the limited time. In the evening we go out for walks on the bridges, the streets full of Christmas lights, souvenir shops / masks / trinkets made of Murano glass / magnets and other things.

We try to find the restaurants recommended by Jimmy, but we are not very successful and we start to doubt our orientation capabilities. Finally, we stop at a terrace and eat outside. Although it’s pretty cold, it’s nice because there are some kind of warmers. A menu costs € 15.5 and includes a serving of pasta (pomodoro/bolognese) with parmesan at discretion, meat of choice (chicken/fish) and salad or fries. We also take 2 cans of beer with 6 € each. In the end we pay 46 €.

In the morning we realize the weather forecast was right and the rain follows us constantly during the day. That’s the risk when you want to visit in January.

As we pass through the San Marco Market, there are no famous pigeons (they also hid from the rain) and it is quite deserted. However, we couldn’t have fed them anyway because this is forbidden in Venice, among many others such as: you are not allowed to sit down in the market or walk in a bathing suit in public. You can’t ride a bicycle, not even if you walk besides it.

We go on a 4 hour half-hour boat tour (GetYourGuide) that includes the islands of Murano, Burano and Torchello.

The first is famous for Murano glass and when we arrive a glass master creates a glass horse in front of us as a demonstration. Their presentation shop contains very fine things, but also slightly expensive for us: hundreds or thousands of euros. We have 50 minutes to wander on this island and it is enough.

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In Burano we take interesting photos with colorful houses and we walk around the shops.

50 mins on Torchello..absolute desert and nothing interesting. The only thing I visited was the toilet for 1.5 euros 🙂

It is still raining.

Upon return, we pass again through the San Marco market, which in the meanwhile was filled with tourists, obviously most of them Chinese (we did not know anything about Corona virus at the time ).

At times we see traces of the flood from November, last year, which was the biggest since 1966.

Basilica San Marco – because we already left the accommodation, we have our backpacks and we can not enter with them. The good part is that the luggage can be left in a room on a street near the church, for free, for one hour. We can only enjoy this break. We are trying to resist the temptation of leaving them there for the rest of the day. For a fee, you can climb in the tower of the church, but we do not do it because we are convinced that we will later go on the terrace of a mall which has a great view (google: Fondaco dei tedeschi terrace – it is possible to book online and does not cost anything). We leave to see Rialto Bridge

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Next to the bridge we find the mall where we enter and walk through exaggerated expensive shops, waiting for the time when we can go up to the terrace. When we finally get there, we are greeted by a poster with “bad weather – closed” and we are very disappointed. We open the umbrella once again and we go further to look for magnets.

As you move away from the market, up north, the shops are cheaper. In our way to Tronchetto (from where we take the first Flixbus to Bologna) we find a small bar where we can rest and take a break from the rain. Espresso + Cappuccino + Sandwich + Croissant 7.20 €.

For 2 days we have not seen or heard any cars. We didn’t had to look both ways when crossing the street so we are shocked to return to reality. At 6pm we leave for Bologna, we board the bus that costs about 7 €, pretty wet, a little tired, but excited about the new destination.