The Grand Tour of Italy - Venice - a day on the water then a trip to the snow

Ferries, Bus and Train

Home Insurance must be pricey

On the ferry to everywhere

Rialto Bridge - more shops!

At Venice St. Lucia we headed straight ahead and down the steps to the ferry boat quay. A 24 hrs ‘season ticket’ costs 18 Euros and allows unlimited travel on all the routes. It was a bright, sunny crisp day and TW was on a mission to travel as many nautical miles as possible! Our first cruise was along a couple of canals to Crea and our B & B, Ca’ Fontanea in Cannaregio, another booking success for yours truly as it was lovely. It was away from the canal and set in a small piazza and cost 65 Euros.

I am afraid I made it a bit of a boo-boo as we approached the Ca’ Fontanea, or more accurately a poo-poo!. I was towing TW’s wheeled suitcase and my route took me straight through a very fresh doggy doo-dah. This, you will appreciate, tempered the excitement of our arrival! TW’s first task, before we could go for lunch, was to clean her wheelie, Aaah yuk! At least we found a use for the bidet!

We had spotted a nice little Trattoria between the ferry stop and the Hotel so we headed there. It was the size of an average living room and very Italian. The only other foreigners were a friendly couple from over the hill in Cookham UK! We just had Spaghetti Bolognese with wine, they had the full menu which include very bony rabbits. After a very pleasant lunch we set off on our tour of the city and the surrounding islands!

The closest TW got to Gondola

The centre was extremely busy on this sunny November Saturday. St Marks Square was partially flooded; so that’s why the shops sell such smart designer wellies. Anyway, lots to see, including the sea. The ferry boats seem to go out into the ocean, past enormous cruise ships. Eventually darkness fell and we could start our journey back to the Hotel. I avoided putting my foot in anything and, after a quick turn-around, we headed off for a recommended fish restaurant. We should have taken the Sat Nav as negotiating Venice and its intertwined streets and canals is not easy at all. Some of the side streets are dead ended by a canal with no crossing or footpath. Swimming is not an option! After walking for about an hour we gave up the search and dived into a nearby pizzeria. Apologies to the restaurant we had booked, we did try to get to you but I blame the debilitating effect of circumnavigating the Northern Adriatic on a cold afternoon without food or drink. At least we saw a bit more of Venice than we would have otherwise and TW met, and misunderstood, lots of friendly people as we asked directions. Glad we stopped off in Venice, it’s touristy in the centre but, in totality, a very different experience. Can’t imagine what it must be like to live here. No sitting in the shade under a spreading chestnut, no bike rides, no grass to cut, no car, no hills to climb. A nice place for an old person to retire perhaps?

Tourists in Venice

Austria here we come

Next stop Austria. There’s a luxury coach from Venice to Villach; where we would pick up the train again. I think it would normally be a train all the way but they are digging tunnels under the Alps or something. The bus trip was value at 29 Euros, we travelled First Class on this leg. It only cost 4 Euros extra and we could make ourselves a coffee or tea or help ourselves to fruit juice. It was a double-decker bus and the cattle class customers upstairs were really packed in. We had a table with lap top socket and loads of room. For much of the way our only fellow customers were a young South African couple, she had never seen snow so was pretty excited. It was a great journey across the plains to Udine, our only stop after Venice, and then we climbed up into the snow covered muntains en route for Villach. Our Austrian driver was a bit of a tiger and delighted in passing the snow ploughs even in the tunnels. Glad we were downstairs! It took about 3hrs 20 min for the journey.
The train was waiting for us in Villach and we headed off on the hour long trip to Bad Gastein through the Tauern Tunnel. This cost 16E40; in second class naturally.

Speeding through Austria

Austria looked beautiful from the train, the trees were heavily laden with snow and there were loads of people out walking. They were probably taking their first opportunity of the season to walk in their winter wonderland. We were soon through the Tunnel under the Tauern Mountains and back 'home' in Bad Hofgastein after our hugely enjoyable 5 hour journey. What a difference a day makes! Let's keep the Italian theme going and head for a Pizza at Hansi's!

Bad Hofgastein in the evening