No trip to Italy would be complete without a visit to Venice, the beautiful “City of Bridges” that sits on over one hundred islands in a saltwater lagoon on the Adriatic coast. Unique among European cities, there are no roads and no cars, with all transportation entirely by boat or on foot.
The train journey from Florence was our pièce de résistance with the ticket machine. Its initial recommendations all involved expensive intercity trains, but by drilling into “more options”, we found an itinerary involving three regional trains connecting in Prato and Bologna, costing a fraction of the price, and arriving two hours earlier! We were warned about tight connections, but as usual the trains were running right on time, and we had our packs on and were ready to go at each stop. Even the four minutes between trains in Prato caused us no problems, although the kids found it all very exciting as we dashed through the station subways!
Once in Venice, we boarded a vaporetta (water bus) for a scenic ride along the Grand Canal that winds through the center of the city, admiring the spectacular architecture of the bridges and buildings that rise right out of the water on either side. We were dropped at Piazza San Marco, the iconic central square on the waterfront. After exploring St Mark's Basilica, we left most of the tourists behind, and wandered for several hours along the smaller canals and quieter residential alleys, passing through some beautiful little piazzas as we wound our way back to the train station. Along the way, it was fascinating to watch the water traffic going by, including all kinds of private and commercial boats maneuvering around each other, negotiating the narrow waterways with impressive skill. The whole city was a magical experience, incredibly beautiful and quite unlike anything we'd seen anywhere else.
We were unable to find affordable accommodation in Venice itself, so opted instead to stay at a youth hostel in Padua, about 50 km to the west, which turned out to be a great decision. The hostel was on a quiet leafy street, and like most Italian hostels, very efficient and well organized. And the city was the perfect place to relax. The main shopping street, Via Roma, is closed to car traffic, and has a great atmosphere with beautiful architecture and lots of outdoor cafés, and everyone from teenagers to old grandpas riding around on their beat-up old bicycles. Near our hostel we found the elegant Prato della Valle park, and wandering through the piazzas in the older part of town, we discovered wonderful fruit and vegetable markets at every turn. Definitely a place we could enjoy exploring further on a future visit.
Love to you all.