Venice, Italy

Tom and I crossed into Italy with high spirits but a thick motorway fog engulfed us all the way to Venice. After a quick bite to eat, we wild-camped for the night before walking for what felt like forever across the long bridge into town. Venice was neither overflowing with too much water nor with too many tourists so in many respects it was the perfect time to visit. The lazy canals, complete lack of cars and the little gondolas, alleyways and footbridges all provide a quirky novelty to start with but it wasn't long before we both grew tired of the grafitti lined pathways, endless tourist tat, sky-high prices and loud visitors. That said, we both enjoyed the Da Vinci exhibition, where Leonardo's sketchbooks have been brought to life in model form.

Later that afternoon, I dropped Tom back at Marco Polo airport, only to pick up my Dad from the same place the very next day and we booked into the excellent Venezia Camping Village between some friendly New Zealanders and a French couple who did little but peer through their curtain for two days. This also meant that I could finally get my hands on my new credit card and update some of my sticker wall on the back of the van.
 

After getting the bus into Venice, we headed (like everyone seems to do) straight to San Marco Piazza. It is a visually stunning central square with a mind-blowing number of marble pillars and archways forming the Procuratie Vecchie and Procuratie Nuove which flank either side down to the massive Campanile Belltower. Right in the centre, the aggressive pidgeons actively storm any passer-by with food until they give in to this blatent mugging. The adjoining Piazzetta only adds to the grandeur of the place as it rolls up to the water's edge with the diamond-patterned Palazzo forming two sides. It is a place where you can't help but strain your jaw with the constant gauping.
 

Right at the end of San Marco is it's crowning glory, the Basillica Di San Marco. It is this building where the grand multi-coloured marble and the sheer intricasy of stonework meet head on and the result is staggeringly beautiful. Inside it is not to shabby either with big marble archs and shimmering gold mosaic domes. The square also comes alive at night when it is all lit up with an amber glow and the majority of the photo-hunters have returned to their tourbus or hotel.

Another part of grand Venice which is bordering on the obsurd is the number of white stone (read marble) churches covered in detailed figures, tall columns, and big green doors. While many of the buildings have been eroded pretty drastically and are now a bit dirty too, it doesn't stop you craning your neck up to get a better view from the narrow pathways.

If Venice is known for one thing though, it's the canals and the king of these is the wide Grande Canal which snakes it's way right through the middle of the city before spreading out into the sea. There are numerous little islands which make up the rest of Venice which can be seen to either the north or south and offer a bit of a breather away from the rest of the city visitors.

Venice was pretty much as I expected, a great city which has been pushed right to the edge of sanity by the stampedes of people and sheer volume of canal traffic - the geographical equivalent of Michael Jackson.