Venice: The Six Hour Experience
Written: Dec 15 '03 (Updated Dec 17 '03)
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Pros: An enchanting city, lovely for walks.
Cons: None that I could see in my six hours or so.
The Bottom Line: I would go again, even if I had only six hours to spend in total over two days.
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| mridula's Full Review: Venice |
Before going to Italy in September 2003, I read many reviews on Venice at Epinions and if you want to read the most helpful review in my opinion please read Grad’s review:
http://www.epinions.com/content_106776661636
Before the visit, I was a bit apprehensive whether Venice would live up to my sky-high expectations, after all, all these years Venice had been my dream destination. But my primary purpose for visiting Italy was to attend an academic conference on Small Firms (my Ph.D thesis topic) in Modena, and not tourism. So going to Venice was to be packed somewhere in my hectic schedule, hectic because I had only half a day free on the day I arrived and half a day when the conference got over. I arrived on September 11, 2003 1.30 p.m. Italy time. September 12 was completely devoted to the conference and later in the evening was the conference dinner. September 13, I had my paper presentation and after the lunch the conference was over. On September 14, I was taking a flight back from Bologna at 10.30 a.m.
On September 11, though I was completely jetlagged I decided to go to Venice, so that if I got delayed on 13th due to some reason I would not be going back home without having seen Venice. Now a few of you might think- why not to stay back after the conference instead of this mad rush? Well, my conference organizers (University of Modena) paid my hotel rent. I live in India and earn in Indian rupees and they do not go very far in Euro or dollars. I think I can afford staying back for a day or two but it would be really extravagant and right now my priorities are different. So as I was saying earlier I went to Venice on September 11 for a few hours but they were really worth it.
Getting there: I was travelling from New Delhi to Bologna (on Swiss Air, via Zurich). Bologna is the nearest airport to Modena and from the airport itself one can take a bus to Modena. After arriving in Modena I found my hotel (Hotel Centrale) and dumped my small luggage (just a shoulder bag) there. After a shower, I was off to Venice.
I guess no one is going to take the crazy route to Venice that I did but just in case. If you are traveling from Modena, you take a train to Bologna first. From there you can get on a train to Venice. The whole trip takes around 2 ½ to 3 hours. The web site for train schedules and bookings in Italy is
http://www.trenitalia.com/
The site is very easy to use and it would be helpful to check the availability of trains before hand. The schedule can vary from day to day. I could purchase the ticket just before boarding the train without any difficulty. The trains in general were only half full (September does not seem to be a heavy tourist season) and I could always get a window seat to enjoy the view. The cost of the ticket from Bologna to Venice was 10 Euro.
Venice has two stations, Mestre and Santa Lucia. If one is travelling beyond Mestre, chances are very strong that you are a tourist. After five minutes of travelling from Mestre suddenly I found that every one in my car was standing up and pulling the windows down (it was non-AC train). That is how the approach to Venice affects people. There was only water as far as I could see and a faint outline of various objects of the city. I was quite awestruck by the view, so much so that I forgot to stand. I could hardly wait to get into the city.
Venice as I saw it: I got out from the train station and it was raining lightly. Right in front was a fountain and kids were playing near it. A few yards to its right was a huge tent pitched and some kind of exhibition was going on, though I did not visit it. Beyond it was a canal, and I started wandering in just any direction that caught my fancy. I started walking on my left and there were a lot of shops selling various glass souvenirs and Venetian masks. The display windows of the mask shops look very curious and eye catching. I had no particular thing in my mind while I started my stroll.
There were various boats (water taxies) and gondolas in the canals but I did not try any of those for the simple reason that I knew that gondolas are very expensive (many reviews at Epinions say so) and anyway I am very fond of walking. I really liked the atmosphere of the city a lot. I was so tired after my journey from New Delhi to Modena and then to Venice. But the sight of water, houses, churches and bridges large and small cheered me immensely. I almost forgot my fatigue. After wandering for a while, I was requested by a couple to take a photograph of them together on a small wooden bridge with row of houses over the canal in the background. I took it gladly, as I need the same favor myself because of being alone. On first glance Venice seemed to be a very romantic place and I was vaguely missing my husband all the time I was there. It is not a place to visit alone.
After sometime, I started noticing the signs, little arrows, pointing to Rialto and San Marco (probably the most famous tourist attractions in Venice) and I started following them. On both sides of the roads leading to these famous monuments, are small and colorful shops. People play various musical instruments in some squares and a big crowd keeps walking towards Rialto. Rialto is the most famous, ancient and beautiful bridge in Venice. When I visited it there was a huge crowd in and around it. The bridge looks smashing even though it was packed with people. The houses, canals and gondolas around it form a charming picture. From the station this was a good 40 minutes walk. All this while, in the back of my mind I was continuously thinking of my train schedule and realized suddenly that if I do not start back, I would not get a good link train back to Modena. I grabbed a pizza on my way back from a small shop and it was really excellent. I got into my train walking back full speed (20 minutes) and just after two minutes of my boarding it started moving. I made it back around 11 p.m. to my hotel room and I cannot describe how tired I was. But I promised my self that I would come again to Venice on the last day of my trip.
On September 13, once again I came back to Venice and this time I rolled the windows down, stood up and watched the sunset as I approached the city. It was raining harder this time (but it stopped after a while) and it was dark as night was falling. I was really hungry and decided to try a colorful restaurant with seating arrangement outside. It was magnificent to sit by the canal and see boats and gondolas moving on the lake. The waiter told me that apart from food charge there was a small amount extra (maybe for the view!). I ordered a dish of rice and mushroom and it was just ok and was priced at around 12 Euro. I should have tried pizza again. Later on while walking I noticed many places stated that they do not charge any extra amount apart from the food.
Then I tried to resume my walk to Rialto but there were very few people and with all those narrow empty roads somehow my courage failed. Instead I took a walk around the areas near the station and Venice looked different at night with all those lights on. I picked a few souvenirs from a shop at the train station.
Though I did not do much in Venice apart from walking around but I found those walks and the general atmosphere so beautiful that it was worth it. The atmosphere on those streets with colorful shops full of Venetian masks, glass souvenirs, cafes with violins in display window, fruit vendors and roadside eating arrangements is just great. People seemed to be friendly to the extent that they pointed out the correct way if I asked them and which I do several times as I have a very poor sense of direction (the same is not true for Modena). People also speak English, even if tourist English, much more in Venice than in Modena.
Saying Goodbye: It was just before 11 p.m. and I decided to proceed to Bologna and spend the time at the airport and it was here that I was in for a shock. When I came to Venice on September 11, there were trains to Bologna from Venice Mestre after 11 p.m. but not on September 13. There are many trains going from Santa Lucia to Mestre. I reached Mestre around 11 p.m. only to discover that the next available train to bologna is in the morning at 6.30 a.m. There were many people on the station and I decided to spend the night there instead of checking in a hotel.
It was somewhat cold that night at Mestre. I had only a thin woolen sweater, which was pretty adequate for indoors in non-AC surroundings but not for a night at a station. One of the passengers waiting at the station was having a Heineken. After a while he tried to strike a conversation with me. I was not in a mood. He started the conversation in Italian and to put an end to it I said I speak English only, which is true. That was my undoing. He could somehow guess I was from India and he too turned out to be. He kept on getting drunk and speaking very loudly in Hindi, which only I could understand. I kept on ignoring him and feeling cold. I took a walk outside and saw many hotels just across the street including a Best Western. But they would have at least cost me 100 Euro that is 5000 rupees and around ¼ of my monthly salary (plus my husband earns much more than I do). It still looked like a lot of money to me. I stayed on the station but I would have moved to a hotel if at any point the station were to be deserted. That drunk Indian boarded a train after 2 hours or so. I lasted till 6.30 in the morning and safely caught my plane back to New Delhi. In the plane after the lunch I was so fast asleep that when I got up after some 2 hours I could not figure out where I was.
It was a trip where I got very little sleep. But if I had to do it all over again I will do the same as this trip (only I will check the train schedule properly). Probably I should have walked up to Rialto too at the night. Still it is not everyday that I get a chance to visit my dream destination. I found the place very romantic and charming. My next wish is to visit it with my husband, as a tourist and to spend a few days there instead of the few hours that I did this time.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
mridula
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Location: India
Reviews written: 121
Trusted by: 166 members
About Me:
So Little Time, So Many Places to Visit!
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