It’s still dark at five in the morning. We were supposed to get breakfast but that didn’t eventuate. Oh well. The taxi driver sent through a text asking us to be out the front by ten to six and then didn’t turn up until ten past and the ferry company insisted in all communications that we be at the port an hour before departure, at six thirty and of course the ferry wasn’t even there until quarter past seven! So we sat…and we waited.
The trip to Venice is three and a half hours, one and a half of which is labouring in the lagoon at less than four knots. It’s excruciating but we were entertained. The vast majority of the passengers were on a day trip to the magical city and the moment we arrived in the lagoon they all rushed to be first off the ship. It took a while for most to realise they would be standing for a long time. Bit by bit they inched back towards their abandoned seats to find the likes of me now ensconced in a prize window seat. Ha…I dared anyone to challenge me. It never came.
I think sometimes the Italians are having a laugh at us tourists. I did some serious investigation in to how to get from San Basilio where the ferries from Croatia and the Northern Adriatic enter, and the railway station, Stazione di Venezia and discovered it would take about 27 minutes to walk or 26 minutes and about 22 euro to take a vaporetto and even then, you would need to walk about ten minutes to get to the vaporetto. We decided it wasn’t too hot- we would walk.
We dragged our luggage over the cobblestones, up and over bridges and along beside the canals. We were joined by a fellow traveller, the delightful Dianne, from Hong Kong who was toting an enormous 23kg of luggage. Presents…she explained! The things we do!!!
Our trip to Bologna went off without a hitch, and then we arrived at Bologna Centrale. Ummm. Eventually we found the taxi queue and messaged our host that we were on our way. He was waiting at the door. Our lodgings were lovely, even if we did have to practise quite a few times with the very tricky door but we figured it was really important to be able to get in again.
Famous for its cuisines we were in a hurry to explore the city. Plaza Maggiore was just metres away. We were tired. Signorvino was right there. We had a table and then we met our waiter- the most amazing woman who was so knowledgeable, generous and so incredibly proud of her city and region we were captivated. It was a perfect end to a very long day.
