A Venetian Venture; Venice in Two Days.

'We'll give it a shot' .....

Not the greatest thing to hear your pilot say as you circle above a large bank of fog in a Ryanair plane doing more shakes than a 19 year old student on the dancefloor of Copperface Jacks. But this was what we faced as we flew into a Venetian airport, anxious for our Italian adventure. Two weeks previously we were sitting in our sitting rooms moaning about our niggling travel bug, and there we were, thinking of pizza and pasta, praying the 'shot' would be accurate. You can assume from my presence from behind the keyboard that it was accurate enough.

Two hours later and a bit of directional help from some friendly locals, we found ourselves booked into our hotel and sitting on a local bus into Venice.

Tip #1 for Venice; Stay on the mainland rather than the island. Much cheaper, it has some lovely places for a coffee and pastry breakfast, and its easy to access the island on local buses (buy your ticket in local newsagents BEFORE getting on the bus. It only costs about €1.20 one way).

Venice was more his city than mine, and I wasn't really bothered seeing it as I had heard some stinky stories in regards to the city, but I was captivated from the moment I stepped over the bridge. Its full of clean, old, leaning architecture towering over little cobbled streets. Everywhere you turn it leads you more into the mazes of hidden piazzas filled with little cafes, gelataries and little churches filled with the most amazing paintings. The quiet is so peaceful as there is no traffic, only quit gondolas accompanied by the odd singer with his love songs. The place is full of Italian character, and wine, lets not forget the wine!

We started off our two days with a gorgeous pizza for €6.50 (average enough price for Italy), followed by an exploratory stroll where we came across the Chiesa di San Rocco, the Basilica di San Marco and numerous antique shops full of old first edition books and maps. Also wherever you turn you find little local shops run by local artists who make the traditional venetian masks worn through the annual 'Carnival of Venice'. Very 'Phantom of the Opera'. Bloody Ryanair hand luggage allowance! I would have brought the lot home!

We moved on to a dinner at a restaurant on the main canal ...

Tip #2; the restaurants on the canal are nice and romantic, but the service doesn't seem to be as good as the other little pizzerias on the side streets. Oh and ...

Tip #3. If you say 'grazie' when you hand over money and you expect change, you wont get it. Saying thank you means 'keep the change'. Nightmare when you hand a 50 for a dinner worth 16 euro. Just say nothing and tip after. Much easier.

The next morning, after a coffee and pastry breakfast for no more than €2 in the local café, we headed back into the city to explore the lesser touristy area of the Jewish ghetto. This area is made most famous, as many nerdy English lovers would know, from Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'. This area was where the Jewish population were forced to live from the mid 1500's, and its still very community based, with quiet squares which see local jewish men discussing the daily goings on and old women sweeping out their houses and hanging out their clothes. The perfect escape from the bustle of the tourist squares, and great for lovers of photography.

We spent the day strolling around the city, eating and people watching, exploring the various little churches, and we ended up on the opposite side of the city looking out across the sea to the Palazza Ducale. Around here we found lovely artists selling their paintings, and it is the perfect place to find nice little pieces to put on the walls at home when you returned to the bleak. We finished off the trip with a gondola ride (a bit pricey at €80 a gondola, but worth it. Can't go to Venice without a gondola ride) where we had a nice tour through the little canals with a singing gondola man, stripy top, hat and all. We found a nice piazza to have gorgeous pasta in while the sun set (a little place called Taverna Dally. Lovely service and food) and then had some incredibly cheap drinks at our hotel.

Tip #4; stick to the hotel for alcohol. €1.80 for a glass of wine!

And finally,

Tip #5. Promise yourself a trip back to Venice. Magic isn't the word.

Slán.

Exploring Dublin's Fair City

In my previous blog post I talked about how I had hastily made the decision to take off on a trip to Italy to attempt to quench both the monotony of daily life and my ever nagging travel bug. I teamed up with a fellow traveller and together we excitedly planned our week trip of three of Italy's main cities; Venice, Florence and Rome. The next number of blogs (the exact number will be determined by my 'at that very moment' level of nattering) will be relating to the above mentioned trip which I returned from last night and am now fighting severe depression as a result of (lack of Italian pastries and good carbonara will do that to you). They are mainly meant to be tips for travelling in these parts, but may be taken over by my massive love of describing Italian food. Beware, do not read on an empty stomach.

Firstly, before jetting off to explore Venetian canals, my travel buddy arrived from his home in Birmingham to meet me for a few days of exploring Dublin city. When we decided he would come over, I instantly felt the pressure to show him the tourist attractions and defend my home city against those of Europe. I originally thought this was practically impossible, as Dublin, in my local opinion, is as boring as it gets. Turns out, after my Mother raided a tourist leaflet stand, that Dublin has a lot more to offer than I thought.

We began our two day trip with a visit to one of Dublin's newest museums; The Little Museum of Dublin opposite St Stephens Green park. This place is fantastic! It has two main rooms filled with memorabilia of the city from the 1900's onwards, and the guide points out a few interesting ones before letting you off to explore the walls. There is everything here, from old newspaper cuttings from the rising, to James Joyce's death mask, to models of Wanderly Wagon. A perfect starting point to get a feel of the city and its little people throughout time.

From here we went down Grafton Street and headed into Trinity College where we got a tour of the grounds and the history of the college, and then moved on to see the book of Kells in one of the buildings. The book is impressive I have to say, but for myself and my friend, nothing beats the long library upstairs. This arched roof library holds thousands of old books and manuscripts, and smells of time and ink. It's got the serious wow factor and any book lover would find it hard to stop themselves from diving over the cordons to root and touch and marvel.

I then took a stroll down to the main street of the North inner city; O'Connell Street, where the famous 1916 uprising took place against the British forces who controlled Ireland at the time. Now just a normal working post office, the General Post Office building in the centre of the street was practically burned to the ground at Easter 1916, and the bullet holes left from fighting with British forces can still be seen in the outside walls and pillars. There is no tour or proper explanation for what went on, but any Irish person around can tell you the general gist.

For dinner, I took the two of us back up Grafton Street to Captain America's cookhouse and grill which does the most amazing food at student prices. The walls are filled with music memorabilia and the atmosphere is always light and easy. The cocktails there are also great! Always a good thing.  From here, we headed to the famous tourist party area, Temple Bar, where any American in Dublin to learn about his 'great great grandaddy' can find traditional Irish music and dancers. For those who are a bit less optimistic about the existence of leprechauns, I suggest CopperFace Jacks (if you are quite hammered, left some personal dignity at the last bar, and want a serious student club night out), D2 on Harcourt Street for a little more club class, or The Porterhouse bar near Trinity for more types of beer than your head can handle.

Day two involved a trip up town a little to Christ Church Cathedral to see the Dublinia exhibition. This shows the settlements and social life in Ireland from the early Viking and medieval times. It basically involves a lot of life like dummies, which scare the bejaysus out of me, so I spent my time trying to breath while letting him wander and wonder. The things we do the entertain the visitors. Onwards and upwards, we went down the road to the Guinness storehouse, which to me is one of the best attractions of the city. Yes I know, typical Irish person to love the drink, but it shows a lot about the actual work that goes on and the social benefits of the factory in its early days and how they work the business today. You could easily spend two hours exploring the 7 floors, and the view from the sky bar at the top alone is worth the visit.

We left the city early enough to head back to my house to ready ourselves for our ridiculously early flight to Venice the next morning, and enjoyed an evening of home cooked food and a meet the parents show. I felt at the time that it was a good start to the holiday, and the amount of walking was a sign of what was to come over the next week, but nothing could have prepared us for what Italy had in store for us, but that is for tomorrow ....

Slán.