But it was, in fact, the Campanile that started it all and inspired John Galen Howard back in the 1910's to construct the glorious Sather Tower at UC Berkeley. For your reference, the St. Mark's Campanile in Venice stands a few feet taller than ours, making it the second tallest free standing bell tower in the world (after one in Belgium, I believe).
Regardless, I was very torn on whether or not I ought to include Venice on my trip. The pros of going were it had the Campanile (one of the landmarks I was most excited to see on my whole trip), and the canals would be really magical, and also the fact that it might not literally exist the next time I get the chance to visit. And that same reasoning gives the cons, which are the floods that have been at record highs with heightening tides. I ended up cancelling and then rebooking the Flixbus to Venice because I had a non refundable hostel in place and figured why not make my way over to this crazy little man made island on the Adriatic Sea.
I arrived at about 7:10 AM (regrettably earlier than the Flixbus ETA, because I really wanted that extra hour of sleep) and the first task was to figure out how to store my freakin' luggage. It's the hardest part, especially on an island. Even the luggage storage facility I found was still over a series of canals and steps so I dragged my load along and sucked to pay the 14 euro to store it for 24 hours.
With that taken care of, I had the freedom to roam on this little place. There's really not many sights in Venice after the main San Marco's Square, where I was staying, and where there is a palace and the tower. So I was in no rush as I meandered through the town, stopping at the Mickey D's to freshen up after another night bus, grabbing some coffee, stopping into a FREE music museum with some cool old string instruments. This island actually has an old, old history, which is insane to think someone decided to create an artificial island way back then and it's still standing. You don't grow tired of canal after canal and bridge after bridge, because every one is different and the buildings are colorful and everything just has so much charm. It's not quite like the canals in Amsterdam, because they are much, much narrower and have gondola rides (for EIGHTY euros for a ride! Oof we clearly didn't go on one..)
It's not necessarily stinky in Venice as I heard stories about, but it does feel a little grungy and wrong to have hotels and businesses on these streets. I definitely would not want to live in Venice, I'll tell you that much.
The fog never left for the whole day so it was kind of gloomy. I finally got to drop off my pack at my hostel at 2 PM which gave me some more mobility, and it was sooo hard to find the place at the end of an alley (it was just a residence with a room). In hindsight, I think Venice should be a day trip and you leave and stay in another city for the night, because it's just kind of old and weird to stay in this place.
I headed up to the top of the tower for 8 euros and enjoyed the views. One of the trip highlights was befriending Daniela who worked the elevator and observation deck. I told her I staffed my own campanile and she gave me a big hug and we shared stories and photos. I think it's so cool that these buildings could bring us together!
I finished off my day early, not really wanting to be out and about on my own in the dark. I got dinner at 4:30 PM in my only "fancy" dinner the whole time, which was still 20 euros so I didn't feel too guilty. Got my pasta, bread, breadsticks, and wine, and called that a day in Venice!
The next day I had to get back to the train station around 8 AM because that was 24 hours of luggage storage. I made it with minutes to spare, because note, this was about 2 miles from my hostel and the only transportation is a 7.50 euro vaporetto which was not worth the price to me. One of my dodgiest moments on the trip was when I went back to the self-service luggage room, a lady begging for coins walked inside and I gave her change reluctantly but as soon as I left I realized it could have been a lot worse as it was just me and her locked inside a room with all my possessions.. and later she figured out I spoke Spanish and tried to chase me down for some reason so that was nerve-wracking. All was aight though at the end of the day.
With that, I hopped on the TRAIN not the bus this time, because I got a good deal with a couple transfers in between. This turned out to be a blessing because I got to see the city of Bologna as well...stay tuned for that one!
If or when I ever get the chance to go, apparently St. Mark's Basilica was free! I wouldn't have figured that so obviously missed the boat!
Ciao, Venezia!
