Venice - Oct 3-5

We made it to the city of islands and are happy to report it hasn't sunk!  Hotel is conveniently located which will be a blessing when leaving for Venezia Mestre (airport) in a couple days.  The usual three flights of stairs were not preferable but common for us so what are we to do?  Weather continues to be mid-high 20s, muggy in afternoon then pleasant in evening.  The cots in our room was a bit of a surprise but it felt like camp.

First thing we noticed, other than the crowds, were how many stores appear to now be owned by immigrants rather than Venezians.  "Made in PRC" is now just as common as "Made in Italy".

Now on to all the beautiful things Venice still is.  The canals at sunset muted by the summer haze, the crisp colour of the same in the early morning, the plethora of church bells pealing the time, all the boats, gondolas, taxis and vaperetti fights for the same space on the canals.

Our first afternoon and evening were spent just wandering close to our accommodation; or that is how it all started.  One must get lost in Venice to truly enjoy the unexpected sights.  Then when hunger finally demanded our attention we enjoyed a lovely meal on a canal - a local trattoria called Portini (?).  The waiter was an absolute hoot, and a real character.  The food was memorable even in it's simplicity - we had lasagna and a huge salad....which was good becuawe my half of the lasagna kept getting smaller as Elda was enjoying it immensely.

We have continued our now necessary gelato each afternoon and fear Oct 6th will be a hard day for both of us with no gelato to be found on our flights.

The next day was all about the islands.  The vaperetti are very busy so it takes much longer then you expect to get anywhere; however we did still manage to spend time on both Murano and Burano. The journay by sea there and back were a sightseeing trip just in themselves.  I love the early morning fog and how everything changes when it dissapates.  As always the glass art on Murano was just breathtaking.  And on Burano the colours are remarkable everywhere you look.  Even the pale houses stand out by their lack of colour.  We checked out the lace too while on Burano.  It is hard to believe the intricacy of some of it.

On our return trip we got off at the St. Marco stop to see the usual tourist stuff and on our way back we also wandered to see the Bodolo (?) staircase and the Rialto bridge before hopping on another vaperetto and going back to our neighbourhood for dinner.  This evening we actually returned to the sae place as last night as it was so good.  It was quite the dinner as we got there late, there was a family birthday happening, and the next thing we know there is dancing, singing, a whole lot of laughter and (wait for it) more lemoncello.  Elda now knows not to inhale sharply once swallowing.  Oh the fun we had - they just included us in all their festivities and it was great fun.  Elda and I were still almost crying from laughing so hard on our way back to the room.

On our final day we took off early out of the hotel to try and catch as much morning light as possible.  Took a vapertto to an area we hadn`t walked through yet and just wandered.  Next thing we knew we were in another area, then another, and finally we wormed our way over to the bus station to get our tickets to take us to our final hotel near the airport for later that afternoon.  Just in case anyone was wondering we did manage to squeeze in one more gelato. 

Then came our bus adventure - I don`t think people who hate tourists should be the drivers to the bus that goes to the airport (just saying).  And the buses are the long ones and if you are in one of the back portions you have no idea what stop you are actually at; and when your bus driver is not so helpful and leaves the stops before people can even get off it is equally unhelpful.  Let`s just say we now know what the airport is like and arrived at our intended stop on the return trip and were happy to see our hostess waiting for us at the bus stop we were supposed to be let off at.  The fact that she was there to pick us up is a story in itself.

At this point we are heading out to find our last meal in Italy before our holy-cow-in-the-morning flight home.  So for now this will be our last entry....unless the flight home is interesting as most of our transfers ave been; then perhaps there will also be a post-trip post.  Otherwise we will try and add some pictures tonight and then will see you all soon.  Looking forward to our 4 hours sleep tonight.

Roma – Oct 1-3

Ferry arrived in Ancona on time and while waiting for the elevator to take us down to car deck we met  a lady named Jane from Australia who took a year off from her life (as she put it) to spend living in Sicily and travelling around Europe. Together we managed to get a cab and made iI to the train station in plenty of time to buy tickets, have a caffe, and still make the 8:25 am train to Rome!  Yippee – no waiting around for the afternoon for the next train.  Arriving in Rome we found one of our B&B hosts immediately as she was there holding up my name.  Aren’t we important?  The B&B was well situated to the train station which will come in handy when we have to return to it a couple days later for our train to Venice.

Much has changed in 20 years in Rome; yet so much has stayed the same.  And despite the short amount of time we had there we managed to see a lot: Spanish Stairs, Trevi Fountain, plenty of churches including St. Peter’s, the Pantheon, Vittoria Emmanuele monument, Coliseum, more roman ruins then you can shake a stick at, Apollo Temple, St. Angelo bridge….  By the time our own personal Roma Express tour ended two days later our feet were so sore. 

On our full day the transportation sector was on strike so our original plan of taking the metro to St. Pete’s and walking back became walking there and back. 

 

By the time we arrived back in our neighbourhood all we wanted to do was sit down – and we did this in a restaurant called Vecchia Roma. An underground restaurant known for its authentic roman cuisine and a place you MUST have reservations for. Although they found us a table (we got there early – 7 pm) we watched as many other people without reservations got turned away. We decided to try the fixed menu (x2) and there was so much food we could probably have just used ½ of one portion. But the food was GOOD! Homemade bread like I remember being made fresh from my Italian family, pasta with fresh sauce not something from a jar, etc. The meal included wine, water, dessert, salad, potatoes, caffe, and liqueur as well.

Afterwards, sore and tired but pleasantly full (okay stuffed) we made our way back to our B&B to get ready for our morning train to Venice, laughing about lemoncello the whole way.

Split - Sept 29-30

Oh but the day starts early when you have to be at the wharf BY 5:45am.  Why can't the transportation sector arrange ferries and flights for a more reasonable time?  Makes for sleepy afternoons when you have to get up that early.  But we did make it down to the ferry early and a good thing we did to as there were already a lot of people down there and the loading process was pretty much everyone for themselves and a mad dash to get up the ramp, find somewhere to stow your luggage and then a race t see if you would be one of the lucky ones able to get a seat for the 2 hour trip.  Bleary eyes or not we were not going to stand and managed to get some premo seats - yippee!  By the time the boat got to the first port en route people we lying in the aisles, sitting in the luggage compartment area or just camping out where ever they were able to find a spare couple feet on the ground.  The trip itself was quite smooth and we even managed to get in close to the time we expected to.....only about 20 minutes late. 

Our host was to meet up at the pier but they never appeared to based on what I remembered for our last e-mail communication we headed off, ignoring the bad advice for a couple locals, and made our way up to the high rise we hoped was the right one and rang the bell......no one answered.We knew we were at the right place when John 3:16 was posted on the pillar just outside the door. Eventually after many odd looks a helpful neighbour confirmed we were in the right place and through Croatian and charades said she would go check if they were home in case the intercom wasn’t working.  No they weren’t home but fortunately the lovely helpful lady called her cell and found that they were down on the main strip (we probably passed her) having breakfast.  Apparently she thought we were arriving the next day – which explains why she wasn’t there to pick us up.  So about 1.5 hours after we got to the house she arrived very apologetic.  It ended up working in our favour as we were supposed to check out the next day by 11am but we didn’t have to check in for our ferry to Ancona, Italy until 7pm, so because of her mix-up she said we could make ourselves at home for the whole next day until we headed down to the port. A real blessing in disguise as it turned out.

Our weather continues to be fabulous and it ended up being the hottest Sept 29^th on record according to our host.  The first event on our agenda once we freshened up was to go to the old town and wander.  On our walk (a shorter version then we were originally told) it was evident that Split was a much dirtier city than Dubrovnik or Korcula and covered with graffiti .

This was unfortunately no different within the walled old town.  Between being tired and that it really took away from it for both of us. And the number people – oh my goodness. There were probably no more than there were in Dubrovnik but for some reason it seemed so much louder. We gave the old town a fair shake but both agree the other two were our favourites. 

Is it time for gelato yet? Of course it is!  Gelato in hand we checked out a couple restaurants for later then followed the harbour back to our accommodation to have a quick shower and relax before we went back into town for dinner.  As much as I hate to say it the butterfest continued at Fife restaurant. I was so excited that they had some different veggie options but they were out of stock – how is that possible when we got there early? They were out of tea too…now this is a really bad thing for my travelling companion. 

After walking off some butter along the promenade– this is very nice – and through the old town a bit without the thousands of other tourists we decided to take an earlier evening and make up for some of the sleep we missed the previous night.







Along the way we came across several weddings in progress and stopped to watch one ceremony just end and saw all the celebrations just outside the church. Flares, flowers, singing, dancing and a real spirit of family and community.

 

Everything looks better after a good nights’ sleep and this was equally true for Split – and today was beach day.  So we suited up and walked to the only sandy beach in Split (Bacivice). We took our e-readers, water, snack but no cameras.  From what we could see many men did not get the no speedos memo (ugh).  There were however plenty of specimens that may freely wear them any time they want! For these a camera would have come in handy. Overall we found that compared to what we are used to most of the men in Croatia seem very fit, no matter their age.  It appears that for the men Sunday is a day to meet at the beach and play handball in the surf, and for family and friends to meet and just hang out. It was very nice to see that community is alive and well - coming from a society that is so much more insular.  We really need more community back home. After a couple hours reading, walking in the surf and having lunch by the sea it was market and gelato time.  Then out of the blue in came the muggy, stuffy feeling, but this time it was followed by the rain. Fine then – sightseeing ended and after a trip back under as many eaves as possible we arrived at the apartment and prepared for our ferry. 

We were glad to have left early when we arrived amidst several tour groups all trying to go through security and get onto the ship at the same time as us. And again we were there at least 30 minutes earlier than we were told to be. Our stateroom was tight for two so couldn’t imagine how 4 were supposed to fit in there, but thankfully we did not have any cabin mates.

We had dinner in the dining room and then watched as we floated away from Split.

 

Korcula - Sept 27-28

We got our keys, freshened up, then went out to explore the town a bit before finding some supper.  I think we would both agree that we had to unwind a bit before we could start to enjoy Korcula.  Our unusual transfer left us a bit frazzled.  But once we got out and had  to walk along the promenade and enjoy the sea views it did not take long for us to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding us.  We could tell right away we would like this island.  We could feel the sea breeze coming up to the upper promenade but even with that the temperature was hot - mid to high20s and promised to be so the next day. 

Eventually our hunger got the best of us but were too tired to enjoy sitting by the sea so tried the little Italian restaurant just a block away from our accommodation, so we could savour the sea views the following evening when would be less tired.  With full tummies we went back to our room to discover, unfortunately, how uncomfortable 18th century manor beds can be.  After scouring through our luggage were able to ALMOST make Elda a non feather pillow substitute.  As she would testify the next morning, "almost" was not quite good enough! 

For the first part of the next morning we walked around like two old ladies . But there was exploring to do so we made the best make shift breakfast possible with supplies we had brought with us, and then made our way to the cobbled streets. 

The town is not as picturesque as Dubrovnik, but had a equally nice small village feel about. 

Being a small old town one could easily go from one sea view to the next by walking a few blocks in any direction, which we did several times in our day and a half on Korcula.  And as with Dubrovnik, depending on the light a familiar view would turn new with the time of day.    After exploring the old town, we walked a little further afield, eventually walking along the marina, having lunch - because Elda said I had to, before having my daily gelato. 

Again, we had another gorgeous hot day. 

So hot in fact, that Elda didn't even where a sweater.  Since we were without swim suits at at time, we wandered down to a little beach, and sat on a pier, and soaked our tired feet in the Adriatic Sea.  After the initial sizzle of hot feet, it was so refreshing.

 Feeling revitalized we followed the road along the sea.  Returning, we got the laptop and had tea along the promenade while Cheryl caught up with emails and the blog.  The weather has been very interesting on this trip and seems to follow a pattern - coolness very early in the morning, continues to increase in temperature until mid afternoon, at which time a cool breeze comes in, and the gets very muggy and humid and stays that way until early evening.  If we are to get rain it is in that late afternoon - rains briefly and then shines again. Dinner tonight (restaurant shall remain nameless so they can stay in business) reminded us of one of those places  that Gorden Ramsey would want to do a restaurant makeover on.  Needless to say, our butter adventures continued.  We ended the evening with another stroll along the sea promenade and headed back to our room to prepare for our very early check in for the Catamaran ride to Split.