As some of you know, for some reason when I wake up I’m always very disoriented and need a good couple of minutes to figure out where I am, what day it is and what I need to do. I don’t think I had ever been more confused than when I woke up at about 4:30am yesterday. I sat up, looked around for a light and was really struggling. I finally found some window shades and opened them to look out onto an empty farm. I was very confused and concerned at this point.
The fact that the train was stopped made it more confusing. If it was moving along, then I would’ve at least been able to deduce that I was on a train. After a couple minutes, I finally figured out where I was. Waking up in a different bed or couch, in a different city, in a different country, every day, definitely plays some fun games with me and trying to figure out where the heck I am.
Anyway, when I added Venice to my itinerary, many warned that it would be very hot and full of tourist. No problem, I figured, I’d just get there super early and see the city before the tourists wake up. Aiding the plan was that I found a hostel on a separate island, San Erasmo. I hit the city at 6am and it was nearly a ghost town, even though in 4 short hours, it would be jam packed. This was perfect for walking around the entire island and exploring such an incredible, unique place.
As I’m sure many of you know, Venice is a city without paved roads or motorized vehicles. The only two forms of travel throughout the city is by boat or foot. Since I was there so early, I was able to see how the shipments are just that, brought by ship. Boats filled with food, drinks, and whatever else needed, were navigating the canals and restocking the various restaurants. By about 10am I visited the naval museum since I had learned about how powerful the Venetian navy was a couple hundred years ago.
When I left the museum, it was almost 11am and the city was absolutely packed with tourists. It was sweltering hot and maneuvering around the packs was getting to be too annoying. Since its high tourist season, there are many travel groups. I’ve overheard the leaders of the groups warn the people to stay in a tight knit pack and not let anyone in, as its common to have pickpocketers around some of the major tourist attractions. The leader is often holding a big colorful umbrella or a simple hankerchief on a stick, so that people can follow. These inpenetrable packs of 40-50 people make navigating even tougher.
So I stopped by the train station and collected my bags to head off to the port and catch a boat to the hostel. One thing that is really handy for travelling is being able to use lockers at the train stations. Since I’m in places for a short period of time, I can usually leave my big backpack behind and throw a couple of things in my man-bag for easy travelling. That has been extremely helpful.
Venice’s public transportation is, of course, boats. They circle the island and also go down the main canal that splits the island. The travel card covered the boats to the other islands too, so I made my way to San Erasmo. At this point, I was getting battered in my attempted battle, sunblockless against the Venetian sun. So it was good to get to the cover of the hostel, which was just a big country house. San Erasmo is a very slow paced and much less crowded island, just a 20 minute boat ride from Venice. The hostel is simply a big house with many bedrooms. It had a huge porch, which was perfect for relaxing during the afternoon. There were families, couples and individual travellers alike.
The hostel also had free bikes to use to tour the island, so I figured it would be ridiculous to pass up that great benefit. The problem was that the bikes were pink women’s bikes, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I’m sure the locals enjoyed, or were scared of, the sight of a bright white skinned, topless American guy cruising the island in his lady Schwinn. And I enjoyed it just as much. Of course, I didn’t take into account that I knew nothing about the island or its roads and aimlessly wandered. After about 2 hours I started to regret not paying attention to where I was going as I was thoroughly lost. However, like any times that I find myself lost, like a man, I figure that the most practical way to get out of my predicament is to continually wander rather than ask directions.
For once, that planned work as I stumbled on the hostel. That evening, they served an incredible 4 course dinner, for a bargain price. I met a Canadien couple, Vince and Marylou, and Carissa from California. After dinner, we decided to head back to the Venice, only to have a huge storm break out when we were on the boat. Fortunately it only lasted about a half hour and scared off the crowds, making the island a little more comfortable. After a couple hours of wandering, we realized that the phone number we needed to call to book a boat back wasn’t working and we had to catch the last public boat. The problem is that it was leaving in 15 minutes and we were nowhere near the station. So the four of us, in dress clothes, on a hot Venetian night, sprinted through the city and luckily got to our boat about 5 seconds before it departed.
I really enjoyed Venice, it is phenomenally beautiful and surreal to walk around given how unique it is. Obviously it’s much more suited for couples, girls and their moms, or old people, not quite the number one destination for someone like me, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
Right now I’m on my way to Milan, but upon a friend’s recommendation I’m going to stop off in Verona, which is conveniently on the same train line. This evening I’ll get into Milan and am staying at a hostel right by the train station. The ride out to the airport is a bit of a jaunt and I want to get there well before the flight time after missing my last flight to Greece weeks ago.
I land in Athens at about 2:30pm and have about 7 hours to burn before getting to Piraeus, the port city outside of Athens, to take my boat down to Chania. I’m really feeling quite fine about my intense travel schedule. As I’ve said, I find the trains incredibly relaxing and a nice way to experience the many countries I’ve been through. Admittedly, it’ll be nice to settle into Chania for the next 10 days, but I’m not feeling nearly as worn out as I thought I might.
Phil
