2 Elusive

After all the climbing on limestone my arms were screaming for a much-needed rest so Ol hesitantly relented—even negative walls won’t peel him off rock!—and agreed to come along to the city of water. After a 3-hour trip from Arco, we offloaded at the only train station in Venice along with the heavy herd of tourists and began marching through the streets, some so narrow that you almost scrape your elbows. Around every turn is a pleasant surprise; a piazza flanked by old churches, a canal that appears unexpectedly, a shop exhibiting weird and colourful sweets, a funky café (always an amiable discovery for Ol), a market cart loaded with Venetian masks, glass ornaments and silk scarfs, or a street even narrower than the last.

The city stretches across 100 islands in a shallow saltwater lagoon. There are a staggering 400 bridges that connect the islands, which are divided by about 150 canals. The only mode of transport is by foot or on water. The canals are scattered with motor boats and gondolas, the classical Venetian boat, carrying passengers wielding cameras and wide smiles.

Venice at night was the most memorable: the day-tripper tourists have left town, the big-brand shops are closing and hiding behind steel shutters, and the shadowy streets and canals echo with the sounds of the lapping of water against the mossy walls of the buildings.

Cheap eats were available if you took the time to hunt them out, but one time we experienced our most expensive coffee on this trip yet: 5 Euros and it was nothing special! Given the current exchange rate, very ouch!

We didn’t book accommodation ahead of our arrival and later found out that a lot of the hostels were either fully booked or criminally expensive (280 Euros for a 3-star hotel??!!). We spent the night at a hostel, in the ‘emergency room’, namely the attic. It wasn’t a spacious holiday from the van, but it was very cool to be spending the night in Venice.