Venice Part II : New experiences

I'm going to start this post with an apology for any spelling or grammatical errors; I've been given what I suspect is a very strong Aperol spritz, which possibility isn't a smart idea on an empty stomach and 34c heat!!

Venice will always be special place and I hope that I'll return to Venice many more times over the coming years. At the moment Sarah's passing is still very raw and there have been times in the last couple of weeks where I have shed tears not only because I'm lonely without Sarah, but because I'm no longer able to share the excitement of travelling with Sarah.

Travelling was always a unifying joy; Sarah and I and we were never happier than when in Italy or better yet Venice. I know that everything must change, but some changes are more difficult to live with than others (more on that later in this post)...

The apartment I rented from Elisabetta and Carlo is a gem located just far enough away from Pizza Santa Maria Elisabetta to be away from the partying teens but only a shortt bus ride (or 20 minute walk) to the Vaporetto stop. It has some of the best views anywhere on the Lido and a Co-Op about five minutes walk away. It also has not one but two balconies to enjoy the view from along with all the amenities you could want including air conditioning!! and it proved to be a fantastic place to base from. The photo below is the balcony facing the Venetian lagoon and the exercise grounds for the local equestrian school.

Day one of my stay in Venice was spent driving down Lido Di Venezia and getting the ferry across to Palestrina initially in the hope that I could confirm if there was still a vehicle ferry which went all the way from Lido di Venezia to Chioggia at the southern end of the lagoon (it could have cut a fair chunk of mileage off my drive to Montecatini). Sadly it's clear there has been no vehicle ferry for the last leg to Chioggia for some time, but I still enjoyed the drive to a part of the Lagoon which Sarah and I only visited once before in 2006.

For those of you wondering why I've take a photo of tree trunks submerged in water, it's not the trunks which are of interest, but rather the oysters attached to them which caught my attention. Clearly the water entering the lagoon from the Adriatic must be pretty clean to allow for a oysters to grow.

The second full day was just wondering around Venice and remembering some of the best things about spending time with Sarah including the little squares that characterise so much of Venice not to mention ice creams, coffee shops and pastry shops (which were sampled frequently😆).

The day concluded with a visit to Betty and Carlo's home in the Arsenale district of Venice and a meal with Betty's gracious and very hospitable family back on the Lido Di Venezia

Day three was a trip out to Burano which was one of our favourite spots in the lagoon. It was a quiet spot away from the hub-bub of the lace sellers and restaurant touts with lovely views looking back towards the main island of Venice about six or seven miles distant. That lovely spot has now been overtaken by a sprawl of tour boats used to ferry the vast numbers of tourists to and from Burano; This is one thing I'm actually glad Sarah never saw as it would have upset her. It was also one of the places I had been planning to scatter Sarah's ashes and that's not happened after I saw what has become of it...

Jonathan (Sarah's Brother) gave Sarah a walking tour through Venice as a present and with Lockdown in full swing there was no way for us to travel to Venice in person so we knew we'd be doing a video tour. Sarah had always wanted to spend more time on Guidecca which is one of the bigger islands in Venice.

Working between Sarah, Jonathan and Louisella the tour guide, we booked a video tour for Sarah in mid September 2021, sadly Sarah passed away the week before the tour. I promised Sarah that I would do a proper walking tour with Louisella when I next returned to Venice (I spoke to Sarah about returning to Venice in the days prior to Sarah's passing, so she knew what I was thinking).

Giudecca has historically been the working class island of Venice with it's own distinct identity and remains a residential island inhabited by locals in contrast to the main islands which have seen a steady increase in the number of homes being sold to foreigners or converted to tourist accommodation. When I started speaking to Louisella about a walking tour of the late last year, Giudecca was the only place I considered.

It turns out that Louisella is a native of Giudecca and unsurprisingly has unrivalled knowledge and passion for her home island. I spent three and a half enthralling hours walking around about 1/2 of Giudecca on Monday with Louisella and her love of Venice and Giudecca shine through.

Louisella was able to take me well off the beaten track and show me a places which few tourists will see such as the little workshop producing handmade paper from cotton. It was beautiful and the old man who produces the paper has such creativity, It take artwork in a new direction for me.

We also visited the boatyard where Venetians take their small boats for storage and repair; as you'll see from one of the pictures in the stack above, it's like a vending machine for boats with boat being delivered to and from storage by forklift on demand.

The final stop of the tour of Giudecca was the Villa Hériot which (if my very fallible and alcohol addled brain remembers correctly) was owned by the widow of a man who build a major shopping gallery in Paris from the 1920's. It's now owned by the city council of Venice and bits are leased to the University of Venice and a part is used for public art and book displays. Villa Hériot also houses IVESER and organisation which researches the contemporary history of Venice including the resistance during World War II and the holocaust's impact on Venice.

If you're contemplating visit to Venice and would like a guided tour of Venice, I'd highly recommend contacting Louisella (luisella.romeo@gmail.com), as not only is Louisella a wonderful story teller, she's also a lovely lady to spend time walking around Venice with.

My next post will be on Montecatini Terme and Northern Tuscany.

Alan