Bilbo in Venice!

Well, Bilbo has been on his travels again - this time very unexpectedly! There had been the suggestion that he might go to Malta to visit a friend of Kathryn and her friend Catherine's called Eileen. For one reason or another this didnt happen but they were still keen to get a bit of last minute warmth before the winter sets in. So a couple of weeks ago, they typed in "cheap breaks" and - in amongst the not-so-cheap trips to DUbai and Cairo were some to Venice.... which was somewhere they'd never thought of but which sounded just right! Enough to do for a few days and, though not far enough south to get lots of heat and sun, at least likely to prolong the nice bits of autumn. And so it proved! There wasn't a lot of time to plan much but the hope was that it would fall into place once they were there!

The trip started with a couple of hours in London before heading to Gatwick on the Gatwick Express. This was really good and seemed to start the break off on the right note - public transport that got us where we wanted when we wanted - cheaply! The flight was all on time and the arrival in Venice was amazing! We landed at about 22.40 and by 23.05, we were on the waterbus to the city! This was definitely a trip into the unknown as we couldn't see where we were going and no real sense of direction! Fortunately, we'd found information online - timetables and even photos of the route to the waterbus stop and there was the lovely moment about an hour into the ride when Catherine spotted the hotel Panorama on the Lido where we were to stay... It was literally metres from the bus-stop and we were made very welcome by Stefano who was on duty that night. He showed us our balcony and we could vaguely see the main part of Venice just across the water - a view which looked even better a couple of days later when the sun came out.

We read somewhere that this was how Venice would have been seen by people who sailed into it - and, if you look closely at the enlarged photo (click on this one), you can see a large cruise liner sailing down between the campanile of S Giorgio Maggiore (on one side of the basin) and that of S Marco (on the other)

But back to our stay (and we have to say that we would recommend the Panorama - it was very comfortable - breakfast was brilliant - and nothing was too much trouble for the staff!)

The first day was, of course, to head for S Marco and get our bearings. We got a 72 hour pass (€31) which got lots of use as we popped on and off boats over the next few days. The weather wasn't particularly good and we found that the Spare and streets were flooded - but the Venetians are used to this and had board walks out so that visitors could get into the church without getting their feet wet! Unfortunately, I didn't get into S Marco's! I was accidentally left in the bags that got checked into the cloakroom - so I didn't get to climb up to the Terrace and marvel at the stunning mosaics - or gaze in admiration at the golden altar piece - or go out and look over the Square and over to the Lagoon - or see what must have been a famous singer walking along miming to Arrivederci Roma for a video! But I did see the pictures (or hear about it as no photos were taken in the churches which did feel very prayerful despite the crowds...)

On top of the two pillars in this one, you can see a winged lion - which represents St Mark who is buried in the basilica and symbols of St Theodore who is the other patron of the City.
In the enlarged versio (clik on the photo) you can just make out the cameraman and singer inthe bottom left-hand corner of the photo - but it isn't very clear!

I was also left in the bag when they went to visit the Doge's Palace next door to the basilica! I understood just how the prisoners felt when they crossed the Bridge of Sighs and caught a last glimpse of the beautiful city and lagoon before being stuck in a dingy prison cell which was in stark contrast to the sumptuously decorated chambers of the Palace itself!

More to come... watch this space!