Lisbon, Portugal to Venice, Italy
I flew from Lisbon, Portugal to Venice, Italy where I was going to spend a few days before heading into Slovenia and north to Germany. Getting out of the Lisbon airport was chaotic with it under extensive construction and signs pointing in all directions. I’m sure it’ll be better in a couple years but for now I recommend being there a solid two hours before and international flight. Originally I was trying to fly to Sicily but the cost was outrageous, 500 euro and Venice was cheap, 200 euro.
I got out of the airport and since I had booked a hotel for two nights I figured it would be easy to get to the hotel. I had a feeling I was going to be straight into the canals but the airport isn’t really close to anything. You can get there by canal boat but that would be another issue that I hadn’t sorted yet so I just hopped a cab. I was staying at Hotel Airvenice and had I emailed them or called them I could have arranged a shuttle but I didn’t so a cab was my best choice. Now just to be totally clear, the prices can vary from driver to driver and how stressed out you seem to be. The more stressed the higher the price. I was told at reception that I got lucky paying 35 euro and that others have paid as much as 90 euro. I actually had to do it twice and the second time was 50 euro. I’ll get to that.
Airvenice is in a suburb with a quick link by train to Venice proper. The staff was wonderful and I got into my room and put my things down and went to a nearby grocery store for fruit, cheeses, breads, wine, and water. It was already turning to dusk and so I chose to have a down night in the area and just do a little wandering around. The next day I would sort out Venice.
The front desk sold me my train tickets that you have to activate at the train station or possibly catch a fine. The train took about twenty minutes to get to Venice, which is the last stop. Between the front desk and a man traveling with two sons and a daughter. Both said that walking in is more interesting than taking a canal boat, take one back if you so chose. There are price arrangements such as 10 euro an hour for a canal boat or you can pay a flat 24 Euro for 12 hours of boat and that is too much boat considering you are getting on and off like a bus. These are not the gondola boats with a man standing on the back oaring you around, these are more like houseboats with standing room only at peak season.
It was a very hot and sweat poured down everyone’s faces and backs. The lines for the museums and some of the other attractions were long and I steered clear. The architecture is obviously an attraction along with lunch at an outdoor café and people watching.
The walk in from the train station is a fairly interesting walk crossing canal bridges and following along with the masses. I’m not a shopper so it took me maybe 20 minutes to get to the main river versus others that may take all day plus lunch and a glass of chilled sangria in the shade of an umbrella.
I spent the day walking up and down the river and wandering in the narrow streets often coming to dead ends at the river’s edge and having to retrace steps or just heading off and getting lost. It was fun since I had no one to meet or any agenda. I ate lunch in a small sandwich shop filled with locals.
Beware that lots of places are shut on Sunday. Not so much in the town center but in the suburbs. When I returned I saw the grocery store closed and the coffee shop/bar around the corner was also closed until later or the next day.
I had arranged to meet a friend at the airport the next day and she and her boy friend were going to drive me into Slovenia so I checked out and headed for the airport. The power went out at the airport while I waited and to my disappointment we missed each other and I called up the Airvenice for a one night booking. With that sorted I went back into the airport and bought a ticket to Paris where I knew I could set up to buy a train ticket either to Germany or to London.
I have friends in Germany and on the border of Switzerland but some of them have busy work schedules and I really didn’t want to impose, it’s not my way. My mind was already heading to London, England. For good reasons I wanted to get my 3 month Nepal tourist visa sorted and arrange my flights back to Nepal and Thailand.
I paid 50 euro to get back to the hotel where I had another long walk in the neighborhood and enjoyed a down day in the end. I was looking forward to going back to Paris even if only for a day or two.
