Our last day in Rovinj and I got to see the inside the church of Saint Euphemia, we had drinks and conversation with a couple of teachers from Geelong, Michael and Louise, who were great company and had wonderful travel stories to share and John got to have lunch at Puntalina. Another perfect travel day. 

The following day the trip from Rovinj to Venice was dull. Firstly, we had to be up at 4:30 to catch the 5:30 ferry which I understood to be travelling to Venice via Porec which was to take four hours. Nah…wrong!!! It went via Pula and took six and a half hours!! It was mainly for day trippers. Seriously I don’t think people investigate things carefully. The trip left Pula at 7:30 arrived in Venice, San Basilio, at 11:30 and then they had to do a brisk 45min walk to get to San Marco. I think they had to pay extra for some sort of guide. Then they had to be back 45 minutes before departure at 5. Really??…Three hours in the middle of the day in excruciating heat and crowds that are just unbelievable… why would anyone bother?

Anyhow…when we arrived at San Basilio, the ferry terminal in Venice, I was outraged because there was no ticket machine or kiosk or any way to buy tickets for the vaporetto. This is the closest stop where hundreds of people arrive off cruise lines and day trip boats. Could it be deliberate I wonder? Punish the tourists for coming to Venice! Fortunately, I knew that there was a kiosk and ticket station at another stop about three hundred metres away. Down the promenade, two old and weary travellers trundle their heavy bags over the cobblestones their white surfaces gleaming mercilessly, retrieved the tickets and you wouldn’t believe it the vaporetto left just as arrived at the pontoon. Oh well we were not in any hurry. I was just cantankerous. Eventually we caught the vaporetto to the railway station, paid the €3.80 pp and jumped on a beautiful new train for the thirty-minute ride to Treviso. We walked out of the station and the hotel was just metres away. We were very pleased. 

A city of 80 000, Treviso stands out for its lack of franchises. Instead, the emphasis is on local businesses, giving the city an authentic and distinctive character. The fabulous colonnades, and delightful squares add to its architectural beauty and create a congenial pedestrian experience. While Italy is renowned for fashion, food and fabulous wine, Treviso punches above its weight being the home of Benetton, Tiramisu and Prosecco and of course we partook of the latter two.

Our flight to Marseille was with Ryanair. I hoped I had ticked all the boxes. They are so tricky!!! I bought extra baggage, paid for seats and priority and fortunately all did go well. The Treviso airport was insanely crowded because it is a Ryanair port, and they seem to want people there hours in advance …why… to buy stuff??? Everything is so minimalist. Absolutely no niceties …including seats…they are at a premium. I was sitting on the floor for a while and John eventually found a chair…AND…A TABLE…bonus!!! And, as the flight was delayed, we did not relinquish the table and chairs for about three hours.

Despite all that, we arrived in Marseille, found the bus stop, the ticket machine and paid the €10 each for the forty-minute ride to the train station – Gare Saint Charles. There we caught a metro to the closest stop to the apartment, which was on the Rue Venture which connects two of the busiest streets in the city – Rue Paradis and Rue Saint-Ferréol. It was a bit intimidating at first as the foyer is dark, dingy, and foreboding, with a digital code to access the building through a massively heavy door then the climb up what seemed to be a hundred stairs (not fun in the dark with luggage – we did work out the push button light switch eventually) and then another code to enter the apartment. It had been recently renovated and although the layout was strange and the outlook into the centre courtyard where all the air-conditioning units and extractors hang and detritus covering the walls and floor was not salubrious, we found the apartment was clean, comfortable and the location was exceptional.