Marvellous Venice. Part 1. Arriving and Transport.

Venice, oh Venice. A city that I completely fell in love with. Venice is magical, captivating, different and marked with a very distinct character and personality which is hard to discover. But let's start at the beginning.

Getting there

The plane left Barcelona and arrived at Venice Marco Polo airport after quite a questionable flight. Marco Polo is one of the airports just outside of the city. Venice as you probably know (but you might not) is an island located in north-eastern Italy. But it is actually an island made up of 118 islands, joined together by approximately more than 400 bridges, I say approximately because I stopped counting at bridge number 35 but I kept seeing "pecha". Oh, 'pecha' is the same as 'jartá', which means a lot! 'Pecha and Jartá' are typical Andalusian words which mean 'a lot'. For more Andalusian words, I recommend a monologue by Dani Rovira.

I arrived at the airport in the early hours of the morning, tired but extremely excited. The question is... what did I gain from this? In my half-sleep state, we tried to find a bus that would take us to the city centre. Then the confusion started, as we were approaching the bus, the driver who was wearing headphones (and I mean headphones that my neighbour's son would wear when listening to music) signalled us to get on at the door in the middle of the bus as the driver's door was closed. Of course, in Venice, and I guess everywhere in Italy you get on the bus in the middle or at the back. This caused quite a bit of confusion with most of us Spanish. My friends and I were of course very happy that we didn't have to pay for it!

And then came the second surprise which is one of the things that makes this city special and unique. The bus dropped us off at the Piazzale Roma, one of the few places where cars and buses can enter the city. And practically, like I have said before, not many buses and cars can get around in such a city. So the city itself actually has no noise or air pollution. Venice welcomed me with open arms.

So Alex, how did you travel through the city with no transportation? Here in Venice friends, you will find the following transportation:

The 'vaporetto'

With such a pretty name, you will find this boat an excellent way of getting around the city. This urban-water bus has several different lines that go through all the different channels of the city. It is a small boat which carries 60 people perfectly and it really is charming. Waiting on a small dock for a boat and watching the workers secure it and help to get people on and off is great. As I said, it goes through the different channels that cross the city: The Grand Canal that cuts Venice in two parts, Canale della Giudecca which is the south of the city, and Canale di San Marco is southeast. There is also Canale di Fusina which is southwest (and where I stayed), and from the north to the east and west there is the Canale Colambola, the Canale Delle Sacche and the Canale delle Fondamenta Nuove. By crossing them you can visit the different quarters of Venice.

It cost around 7 euros, ridiculous if you only want to get to the next stop because the price stays the same. And although there are certain cards you can buy, they are still alarmingly expensive. If you're lucky you can sneak onto it without paying anything, if you just slyly walk on and don't say anything. We were very lucky the first three days we were there because we did not pay except for the first time, it seems inspectors only check for tickets from time to time. We escaped, and anyway who was going to send us a fine from Italy to Spain and expect us to pay.

The taxi

The so called taxi-boat was a practical size and comfortable. It fits between 6 and 8 people inside but it is extremely expensive. You can't sneak onto it.

The traghetto

The traghetto is a boat much like the gondola. The only difference is that it isn't decorated and it is usually what workers use to cross the Grand Canal. Costs around 1 euro. The journey takes 5 minutes to cross the canal. Useful when there isn't a footbridge. Although there are actually plenty of bridges in Venice.

The gondola

The gondola... who doesn't know the gondola? A beautiful and romantic boat, driven my brave gondoliers that offer different routes... for a reasonable price of 100 euros! As you can imagine, I didn't get a gondola once throughout the trip. There were some really pretty gondolas with singers and musicians performing on them. I asked what was the cheapest option and I was told that price.

There are also lots of private boats so that the Venetians can happily cross the channels on their own.

And with that we have finished the first part. The next part... Accommodation and more about Venice!

There are also funeral boats. Brutal.

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