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| Four good friends - Venice |
It was Joel and Paula’s idea. Let’s meet up in Italy for a short
break. Sounds great, I said. We can fly direct from Newark to Milan,
they said. Milan: are you
sure? Well, while we are there we
can visit the lakes; and Verona; and the coast… and how about Venice while
we’re at it?
So Ian and I hopped on a plane to Milan
late in the evening. J and P had
arrived a day earlier and had already ‘done’ Milan and Lake Como. We only had time for a late night
drink. We had rented a car for the
next day. The rental office was
somewhere in the vast stone pile that is Milan’s Central Station and it took a
while to find it. But pretty soon
we were off and heading for Verona, straight down the autostrada, the Alps
unrolling on the left as we sped past the endless lorries. Verona markets itself as the city of
Juliet; ‘If you love someone bring them to Verona.’ But peel away the tourist stuff and a very respectable and
attractive city emerges. Layer
upon layer: a Roman core with its huge arena, being prepared for the summer
opera season; and a large number of prosperous medieval and renaissance
villas. The winged lion of St
Mark, on a pillar in the main square, marks it out as a city state under the
thumb of Venice at the height of its power. We route marched J + P for miles around the centre, so much
so that their footwear gave way!
Next day Ian and I took it easy in Milan,
while J + P were up for a 6:30 start – a roundtrip to the hidden coves along
Italy’s north-west coast. Milan
has a very prosperous feeling to it, especially within the old medieval
town. Dolce e Gabbana and Versace
shops on every corner. The
cathedral, royal palace and its huge square – all, it seems, recently
magnificently restored – show the self confidence of this city. The northern Gothic style of the duomo
sets it apart from Florence, Rome and the south. There is a sense that now and always, Milan has looked for
its inspiration across the Alps rather than to the peninsula; just as there is
something almost oriental and eastward looking about Venice’s San Marco. We spent a pleasant, sunny day
wandering the streets, and later at the Castello Sforzesco built on a huge
scale and with an extensive park, attractive in early summer sunshine. Joel and Paula, not content with a 12
hour coach tour, were looking for some evening action. We found a very traditional restaurant
with a garden, where we had a relaxing meal; then tried to get into the main
square where there was a free concert – but it was completely packed out, so we
retreated to the hotel for a nightcap after a circuitous metro ride.
So – Sunday, and time for Venice! We went by train, a comfortable two
hour journey. The arrival at
Venice is one of the best. Over
the causeway, the vast lagoon stretching out, dotted with islands, and with the
leaning spires of the city coming into focus ahead. Then straight out of the station onto the start of the Grand
Canal and into a water taxi, which whisks through the back canals between ochre
stuccoed palaces, then out onto the wide, glittering stretch of water that
separates off the island of Giudecca.
Ahead, the hotel that Joel has kindly booked us – the Stucky, a very
tasteful conversion of a brick factory building. This is probably the best city hotel I have ever stayed
in. The rooms are huge and with
views across to the whole sweep of the main island, including the bell tower of
San Marco, and beyond, on this exceptionally sunny and clear day, the wall of
the Alps far off on the horizon.
An afternoon, an evening and a morning only: but we make the most of it,
visiting not just the major tourist haunts around San Marco, but also the
quieter streets around the Arsenale and the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, which still
has local shops and a real feel. We took the public water bus all the way up
the Grand Canal then looping through the docks back to the hotel. We are again lucky to find a hidden
garden restaurant, in the little piazza by La Fenice, and tuck into some great
Italian food, which is somehow always better in Italy!
We achieved a lot in a few days, and thanks
so much to the indefatigable Paula and Joel for suggesting it and providing
such good company and plenty of New Jersey humour!
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