Euro Trip Part 3: Buon Giorno Venezia!

We arrived at Treviso airport at around 8.30pm. Initially we were planning to just spend the night at the airport before making our way to Venice in the morning, but it was still early and none of us felt too eager to be sleeping on the floor that night. Hence we made some calls and managed to get a room at Hotel Tri Santi in Treviso town.

Salvatore the owner was very nice in picking us up for no extra charge from the airport, and the hotel itself turned out to be a quite pleasant little hotel on the outskirts of town. After watching John Q dubbed in Italian for a while (with running commentary by Fahmy), we fell asleep soon enough.

Next morning, after checking out we took the bus to the train station and headed for Venezia St Lucia station. It only took about 15 minutes or so, and before you know it the Grand Canal is in front of our eyes.

We headed straight for the hostel, which is located just opposite the station across the Grand Canal. Almost immediately we started our city tour. First we headed for the Jewish Quarter but found nothing much of interest there so we headed towards Ponte de Rialto, the famous white bridge instead. There on, we walked towards Piazza San Marco. We managed to stop once or twice for gelatto fixes. Lecka-lecka don't even cut it close, if you ask me. It was an art trying to eat 3 scoops of gelatto packed tightly on a small cone, cue sticky fingers all around =D

The Piazza is jampacked with tourist, all jostling for a good spot to take photos. We walked a bit further to Riva degli Schiavoni to take more pictures and to just hang around the Piazza for a little bit. It was a beautiful place to be in, looking at the wonderful buildings on one side and the open water and gondolas piered on the other. The weather was cooperating too, it was just perfect indeed.

Then only we look for a place to fill our grumbling stomachs. We found a nice quiet pizzeria just off the main tourist areas, and rested our feet over a long lingering lunch. We went walking around for a bit more before heading back to the Piazza just when the sun started going down. Too bad for us, it was a bit cloudy by then so we did not manage to catch the amber hues that we expected. You can't always have everything right?

Going back to the hostel after that was a challenge. Since Barcelona I have always fallen into the role of 'pathfinder', the guy with the well worn map always in hand. In Venice for the first time, I got lost. But the saying goes that to get the Venice experience, you have to get lost in the labyrinth of small streets and endless canals and bridges. So we got lost and ended up going the opposite way at one time (not my fault this time, honest!). But soon enough I found my bearings back and we found our way to the right canal, bridge and street. It was a relief, since we were all getting quite hungry and tired too.

Dinner was at a nice ristorante by the Grand Canal, right in front of our hostel. The food was good and the ambience was priceless. Too bad it started to get really windy, chilling us to the bone!

Sleep came easy of course, weary bones looking forward to rest for several hours before it's time to get going again.

Next morning, we took the waterbus to Murano Island nearby to see glassmakers strut their stuff. Had lunch in nearby Serenella (the best pasta ever!), and took the next waterbus to Burano Island. Burano is a quaint fishing island, with vibrant multicoloured houses presenting a postcard perfect photo op. We spent only a short time in Burano (but of course, I had time for another gelatto fix!) before heading back towards Piazzale Roma in Venice.

Grabbed our bags, and boarded the bus at Piazzale Roma to head straight for Treviso airport. It's time to go back to London. For Charis it's the end of her Euro Trip, she's returning to Malaysia the next morning while for the three of us, London is just a temporary stop for our next leg - Amsterdam!

And of course, you'll have to wait for Part 4 for that ;)