Venice: Wah Wah

Venice has never been part of my Italy bucket list but I needed to be there to catch a boat to Croatia. So I went. I have heard so many conflicting thoughts and opinions on Venice I had no idea what to expect. When I arrived around 9pm (or 21:00 as I should get used to saying) there were people walking around and eating but it was manageable. I found my hotel right by the train station and went out to grab some dinner. I found a little place in a back alley serving pizza, insalata mista and vino. The food was great. The loud, obnoxious, very very drunk group of Americans yelling sexual comments at each other, was not. There was an older couple sitting by me and the woman kept looking back at the group and shaking her head in complete disbelief. I felt like I needed to apologize on behalf of America.

The next morning I left my bag at the hotel and "tried" to walk around the city. It's the middle of September which I thought was kind of the beginning of off season and the streets were so packed I could barely move. There were people struggling with their bags and baby strollers up and down all the stairs. Huge tour groups blocking areas. Everyone and their mother taking a selfie. It was kind of horrible. And it was hot and humid. I got to as many of the architectural places I wanted to see and then headed back to the hotel to get my bag and head down to the San Basilio Cruise Terminal where I needed to go through security to get onto my boat transport to Croatia. But before I grabbed my bag I had enough time to have an Aperol Spritzer and it was refreshing and delicious. 

My waiter that I had been chatting with had told me that the two types of water taxis I was looking at were private vs. public. Public is much cheaper and only takes a bit longer. The private water taxis are much more expensive but take you directly to where you want to go. He suggested doing the public taxi. I agreed. Right before I left he told me I should do the private taxi now because the Italian transportation strike just started. Apparently planned, but I didn't know and neither did the 200 other people wanting to get a water taxi. So I get in the private line and I can feel hoards of people pushing up behind me. Two people from Australia were next to me and we were trying to get the driver's attention to ask about cost and timing. When we finally did his price was 75 euros cash and only when he didn't have a reservation to pick up (you can apparently call by phone to reserve a pick up or drop off). Tons of people started going to the front and getting on the boats and leaving and the Australians and I were like, "What is happening???" The guy in front of us yells, "ANARCHY!" It was chaos!

 

After 20 minutes I made the decision to walk because I couldn't miss my boat and the private water taxi guys were providing no info. I carried/rolled that backpack for 1.6 miles from the taxi stations near the Santa Lucia Train Station to the San Basilio Terminal through the hoards of people and the water seeping up onto the walkways from the rains. I. Was. Exhausted. But I made my boat and although we had some incredible views leaving Venice, I was happy to be on my way to Croatia.