Europe 2010 Day 11 - Venice - Night Views of the City

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6 Oct 2010

After our long ride on the Semmering Railway and our transfer to bus, we are at last in Venice (Venezia), the city famous for its urbanization and waterways. Venice was the cradle of the economically powerful Venetian Republic that lasted a millennium (697 CE to 1797 CE). Throughout its history, the republic was able to stand up to much larger European adversaries, the Eastern Romans, and later, the Ottoman Empire.

Having arrived by bus we proceeded to drag our luggage across the bridges to get to our B&B for two nights. There's absolutely no other roads except from the main connecting highway bridge and the bus terminal. For today, we will be taking in the night views of the city.

Arrived at Piazzale Roma, near the Venezia San Lucia train station.


The little bridge we had to cross with our 20kg luggage.


Main gate of our Bed & Breakfast place, Alla Vera da Pozzo. Waited for almost an hour because we forgot to update our time of arrival. Worst of all, we were bitten by mosquitoes.


Finally we met the very friendly and helpful owner. The master bedroom with attached bathroom... basically, it's the B&B owner's room rented to us for 2 nights !


Alla Vera da Pozzo is beside the main train station a short walk along a narrow alleyway, Calle Priuli dei Cavalletti. Then again, most of Venice consists of little alleyways.


The Grand Canal near the train station


Aerial view of Venice, with the Grand canal appearing as an inverted 'S'.


Gondolas!!!!


Carnival Masks encountered as we walked towards Campo Del Margherita


It's scenic everywhere!


The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Frari for short


Inside Frari


At Campo Del Margherita


View larger
Being near some Universities, we were hoping to find some more reasonably priced food here.


Al Sportivi Pizzeria, no service and cover charge. The "cheapest" place we've found for food. The food's average but do not drink the house wine


Al Sportivi Pizza, tastes okay, €10.40


First tiramisu we had in Italy, one of the nicest although tasted like frozen food.


After dinner we made our way towards Piazza San Marco. This is supposed to be a good place to eat, as recommended by those sitting outside, Casin Del something


Twisting and turning around the dimly lit alleyways, you never know if you'll see something interesting round the corner.


The Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (Basilica of St Mary of Health, completed 1687 CE) at night


Campo San Stefano after crossing the Grand Canal on a bridge


Someone dining by the canal


The famous Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) at night, where the seat of power used to be with iconic St Mark's Campanile(bell tower)


Live music rang throughout the Piazza with almost every cafe here having performances


The Doge's Palace at night, built around 1424 CE. The Doge was the supreme authority in Venice


The Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco, (Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, i.e., St. Mark's Basilica, 1071 CE) at night. The main church of Venice and an example of Byzantine church architecture.


The Piazzetta San Marco, with the San Marco's Lion, the view towards Piazza San Marco. The Piazzetta and the Piazza are right next to each other!


Gondola parking lots at Piazzetta San Marco


Night shot of Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge, built 1591 CE) at the commercial centre of Venice. There are shops on the bridge itself


The night view of the Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge


The tiny alley, Calle Priuli del Cavaletti, near the San Lucia train station to get to our accommodation

That ends our walking trip for our first day in Venice. Our first taste of Italy in Venice gave us the impression that we were in a vast tourist trap. The place is beautiful but food and drink felt horribly overpriced. This made the earlier part of our trip feel like paradise. Unfortunately, we are to spend the better part of the trip in Italy. Yet, little did we know that Venice is actually the nicest tourist trap to be in!

Tonight, we had a good nights rest before tomorrow where we will walk through other parts of Venice and visit the nearby island of Murano, famous for its glass products.

Check back for the next post soon.

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Europe 2010 Day 11 - Vienna to Venice via the Semmering Railway

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6 Oct 2010

Today we depart the Imperial lands and the fantastic beers for the hot sun, wine, and pizza. Our trip to our first stop in Italy takes us from Vienna to Venice (Venezia) via the Semmering Pass on the Semmering Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage site for being the first real mountain rail. We arrived early in the morning at Meidling Bahnhof and embarked on our 8 hour journey.

We are headed from Vienna to Venice through the mountains


One of the trains at the station while waiting for ours to arrive.


Our train. We took the 8.30am train for Vienna-Venice because it passes by the Semmering Pass in the daytime. There are night trains through the area.


Packed lunch


Reserved seats with our reservation information.


The carriages


First look outside as the train moved off. It's rather foggy up here.


Cattle


The train passes rather close to some towns.


I'm not certain which part of the journey is the actual UNESCO part of the Semmering Railway


More cloudy hills. Perhaps it was too foggy to see actual mountains in the background


Designer footbridge.


Very serene


Little towns surrounded by large plots of grass. I presume it's for grazing cattle.


Near Klagenfurt. Looks like a nice resort place, some tour buses were parked in the city


Arrival at Villach Hbf, this took about 4 hours. The train takes us to Villach where we needed to catch this connecting bus the Villach-Venezia route


Scheduled arrival at 12.46pm. Transfered to bus for a scheduled departure at 12.56pm!


We took the front seats on the second level. Nice view but we were over exposed to the blazing hot sun in Italy. The bus waited for some passengers who arrived late due to train delays.


Serene view, near Villach


Freight Train


Oh, Italien


Entering Italy


Can't help but feel sad that the good beer days are over.


Coming down the mountains


The bus stops at Mestre, Italy. The blazing Italian sun ensured we were well baked.


Finally!


Approaching Venice, the cruise ships on the right, the train to Venice on the left


We have arrived after approximately 4 hours of bus.

The entire trip from Vienna to Venice took almost 8 hours. Rather long, which is why there are overnight trains on this route. In all, I didn't feel extremely impressed by the route. Perhaps it was just too cloudy and the full beauty of the place is obscured. The scenery is not unlike some of the beautiful towns around Bavaria in the earlier part of our trip. In contrasts, the Qinghai-Tibetan Railway (the world's highest railway) that we took on our trip out of Tibet last year had some really wacky scenery that one usually does not simply explore on foot. However, the Semmering Railway is more than a century old, being completed in 1854 CE.

Having finally arrived at the bus terminus in Venice, we immediately felt the difference in strength of the sun. Without further ado, we dragged our luggage towards our accommodation.

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