As I write this we are now in Venice for our last 3 days, it is 6.30pm when the price of the gondola rides goes up to 150 Euro – but you do get entertainment as there is one going past our window now with piano accordion playing – and the bells have just peeled in the tower across the rooftops.
We started the morning with bells as well – our hotel in Castelrotto was right next door to the church and I think it was 6am when the bells first rang. They went again at 7am and then again at 8am and these were the “okay if you are not awake now then you will be when this is finished” version ! The hotel directory says they provide wake up calls – I don’t think it would be something they have to provide very often !
Driving the scenic Dolomites
We had breakfast, finished off some blogging and packing up and it was after 10am before we got away. Our route today took us further east, through the Dolomites to Cortina, before turning south to Venice. It was very overcast and foggy when we got up so we didn’t expect to get much of a view of the Dolomites as they would be in cloud – and this was part of the reason for our late start. Anyway, we headed off through the green hills and farms and little towns heading into the Dolomites to travel through 3 scenic routes along the way to Cortina – through the Gardena Pass, the Valparosa Pass and the Falzarego Pass.
Beautifully craggy mountains
I think we must have climbed so high that we were above the clouds as we came into more and more sunshine as we went. The whole area here is a winter wonderland but as that has not started yet, all the towns and their hotels and resorts are pretty much closed as each one was almost like a ghost town as we passed through. But the mountains were just spectacular and although the winding roads and hairpins had nothing on Stevio Pass, they were wonderful driving.
The chairlift
Along the Falzarego Pass, we came to a spot called Lagazuoi where a chairlift takes you to a peak with spectacular views. Having got there and seeing the chairlift, I decided the views were spectacular enough from where we were ! Even Adrienne
looked a bit daunted by the prospect. So we continued on instead. Not much further on, we came to a spot in the pass where there is an old stone fort which was occupied by the Austrian Army as a strategic point in WWI in fighting the Italians. It was a desolate spot and must have been miserable for the poor soldiers there in the middle of winter !
Into the misty valleys …
It was from here too that we started our descent – and certainly from the clouds that filled the valleys below us at this point, we had been above the clouds. So our day went from pretty much as high as we could get to as low as we could get by the time we had reached the canals of Venice !
We arrived in Cortina, which was closed like most of the other towns along the way, and it wasn’t long before we were back to the Autostrada for the last leg of our drive into Venice. By the time we reached Venice we had driven nearly 1,100km in total. It seemed longer however I think this had a lot to do with the slower speeds on many of the roads we travelled. All the towns slow you to 50km per hour all the way through the town and then as you leave the town it goes up to 70 before hitting 90. But just as you hit 90 you seem to hit another town so you are back to 50. I must say I was very impressed with the Mercedes B180 to drive. It had plenty of guts and the handling through all the winding roads was excellent. With all the tight bends we had to manoeuvre, its turning circle was perfect.
Our first glimpses of Venice
Reaching Venice and crossing the causeway onto the island, we had to drop the car at a parking station where all the car hire companies have a dropoff point. We then had to walk some way to the water taxi stand at the canal to arrange a dropoff to our hotel near St Marks Square. Like all taxi drivers, this one seemed to know a back canal as we skirted the grand canal until we got closer to the main canal near St Marks. In the main canal, it was like Pitt St and then we had to dodge what looked like a dragon boat type gondola race which had its starting rope stretched out across the canal.
Having avoided that, then we turned into the canal our hotel was in and headed under the famous Bridge of Sighs – the last view criminals saw before their imprisonment – reputedly they would sigh as they had their last glimpse of beautiful Venice and freedom. After a gondola jam in the canal, our taxi pulled up to the canal entrance to the hotel and we checked in.
After checking in and watching some of the gondolas passing along the canal under our window, we headed off on a circular walk Adrienne had planned for us, down to St Marks Square, along numerous little alleys and over numerous little bridges over numerous canals packed with numerous gondolas – we are sure back to the tourist crowds here. We popped out of an alley near the Rialto Bridge, stopped to pickup a very late snack for lunch, skirted more little alleys and ended up back at St Marks Square.
View from our hotel
And we had caught up to where I started this blog – and the various musical gondolas going past under our window continued until we left about 7.30pm to find somewhere for dinner. We had passed some quiet looking spots on our walk and we managed to find them again and ended up at the Al Teatro Restaurant near the theatre. We shared a seafood plate of Venice specialties and then had pizzas, all of which were delicious. On the way back, we found our way down to the main canal and were amazed and the difference in the number of people around. We had read that a lot of tour groups come into the town during the day and left in the evening so if you lived or were staying in the city hotels like us, the crowds disappeared in the evening – and this was certainly the case. We strolled back through St Marks again and it was lovely to listen to the bands from the cafes on the square serenading the passersby. Unfortunately the hawkers that populated Rome also populate Venice with the same crappy stuff and hassle you as you walk past which dampens the moment a bit.
More of Venice tomorrow.