InterRailing In Italy and Greece

Alloggi Agli Artisti Hotel

There is a shared bathroom on each floor containing a toilet and shower. There was actually a bath in the bathroom but it was clearly not for use as it was filled to the top with soil and a cheese plant was growing out of it. There was a small lounge area on each floor with a sofa and a TV but we didn't have time for TV.

A small buffet breakfast was included. It was good as we could get juice, cornflakes and bread as we pleased. They recommend booking a time for breakfast as the breakfast room is very small compared to the size of the hotel.

Wednesday 12th April 2006

We then began a very leisurly walk through the streets of Venice. The end goal was St Mark's Square but we were in no hurry. We were roughly following the Grand Canal. As well as seeing the main streets we were also heading off into tiny little streets to see the quieter side of Venice. The whole city is very pretty. Even the crumbling paint and stone on the building adds to the charm. The streets are tiny. What classifies as a main street in Venice could be a tiny side street in any other city. But then Venice is like no other city. There are no cars, the only ways to get around are by foot or boat. All the main streets are full of tourists. The streets bend and turn all the time so it is very easy to get lost. This is one place where a good map and a compass can help. There are however signs to the main sites if you just want to follow them.

After checking the prices of a number of gonola's we stopped near the Ponte Di Rialto for lunch. The gondaliers usually start by quoting prices of €100 for 45 minutes. This is clearly a lot! You don't need 45 minutes to experience a gondola and you are expected to bargain with them. After lunch we secured a 30 minute ride for €60. Still very pricy but at least we'd have money left to eat. Despite the price you can't get away with going to Venice without going on a gondola ride. The gondolas themselves are lavish and reasonably confortable. Our gondolier pointed out a few of the sites as we passed slowly down some of the canals.

There are very few points at which you can cross the Grand Canal so plan your crossing wisely. We crossed the Grand Canal at the Ponte Di Rialto and headed towards St Marks Square.

The square itself is impressive consisting of the large square itself, a covered area surrounding the square and St Mark's Basilica.Think carefully before heading out into the square. The whole place swarms with a plague of pigeons. If you don't want your clothes to get ruined by the pigeons you may prefer to stay in the sheltered area surrounding the square.

After seeing the square we headed slowly back to the hotel passing the Accademia Art Gallery.

Venice had some reasonable food and ice cream however it also gave us our worst eating experience. We'd stopped outside a restaurant near the hotel. One of the waiters managed to pursuade us to eat there. As soon as he had brought the menus he tried to push wine on us which we didn't want. The food we'd ordered consisted of the smallest portions we'd ever seen which forced us to order extra chips just to fill up. We heard another table complaining about the small portions. The pinicle of this eating disaster occured when the waiter brought the bill and pointed to the price and said to us "tip not included". This being a lie as the service charge was there on the bill. I'm sure this line has worked on many tourists who leave a tip on top of the one which is already on the bill but not on us. We left and the waiter blanked us as we walked past. We should have known it was a tourist trap. Not one of the staff was Italian, they were too pushy about getting us in and trying to get us to have the wine. Plus the whole restaurant was full of tourists.

If you want good food in Italy you should look for small family run restaurants which are off the main streets. Ones which are run by genuine Italians are going to give you the best and most authentic food.

As well as seeing the sites we needed to find an internet cafe in Venice to email home. These are not easy to find and quite pricy. Due to a new anti-terrorist law you will need to show your passport before you are allowed to use the computers in Italy. We managed to find one which gave us 30 minutes use for €1.50.

Venezia S.Lucia to Bologna Centrale to Prato Centrale to Firenze SMN train station

We had 30-40 minutes in each of Bologna and Prato. In Bologna we found some kind of ruined building. In Prato we found a vending machine that would dispense plastic models of the Crazy Frog.