Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:17 Last Updated on Monday, 07 June 2010 10:23 Written by Claudine du Plessis

Venice, as one of the most touristic cities in Europe, was also very expensive. We could only afford to camp on the mainland. At the (also expensive) campsite we were the only people actually camping with a tent, the rest stayed in bungalows or motorhomes.  

Our first day in the city of bridges, canals, masks, glass art and ice cream we spent walking around and drinking in the atmosphere (drinking anything else there was too expensive). We got lost in the narrow alleys between the high and old buildings and sampled the delicious ice cream. In the Piazzo San Marco, is the famous Basilica di San Marco - a 400 year old cathedral. Inside and outside it is covered by sculptures and inside the mosaics, glittering gold, marble and amazing detail is too much to take in. We ended the day with an authentic Italian food at a restaurant.  





On the second day we started off with the Palazzo Ducale or Doge's Palace, which has so many works of art, including huge frescoes and painting after painting that after 3 hours, we still hadn't absorbed everything. Next, we saw the Ca'Rezzonico, a mansion that used to belong to the Rezzonico family. Once again we were bombarded by artwork after artwork. After an hour or two in there, we had become all "arted out" and just had to leave eventhough we only covered the first two stories of the four.  In between all the art-gazing, we also gourged ourselves on pizza slices and ice creams. I could easily have spent another week just visiting all the museums, but over the course of our trip, Billy had developed museum phobia and he declared that he doesn't want to see another museum for a very, verly long time.

The next morning we set of for Milan in clear, sunny weather. By midday, however, the day became dark and cloudy and the last hour or so on the road we spent in the pouring rain. At first we decided to camp, but by then we changed our minds and settled for a hostel where we could dry out.




Tags
Biking  Cape 2 Cape  Italy