Part Four
Eventually we arrive at the Rialto Bridge to cross over to the other side and it's noticeably busier now than last night - Venice certainly does not appear to be much of a late night party town. In fact, according to the guide, there's only one minor disco here and not much else to grab your attention other than the excellent cafes and bars (although a lot of these appear to close early this time of the year). One of the bigger attractions here is the canal-side casino standing near the entrance to Venice with its own dedicated boat taking well dressed hopefuls to depart with their cash. It's allegedly very popular, no doubt due in main to it being one of only six casinos in the whole of Italy.
After browsing around for a while, the shop-lined small alleyways finally open out into the Piazza San Marco. Considering it's a Saturday and the good weather, the area is surprisingly and gratifyingly quiet. Hardly any of the numerous cafes and restaurants stretch their reaches out into the squares, and there can hardly be more than a few dozen people wandering around, making it easy to stand and soak up the atmosphere, with the high pillars enclosing the square, and the Basilica di San Marco standing majestically at the end. The same can't be said, however, for the thousands of pigeons darting around in desperate search of food. If a single person is foolish enough to buy some of the corn for sale from various vendors, they literally smother the hapless tourist - up to twenty or so pigeons clambering over them while others stand two deep in a ten-foot radius. Nice. I even have a couple deciding to land on my shoulders for no apparent reason other than to piss me off.
Leaving the Alfred Hitchcock remake we walk for while along the sea front admiring the gondolas lined up against the dock, shifting in unison with the sea. We buy a couple of exceptional small subtle paintings from one of the many artists lining the pavement before heading up the Campanile. Once a lighthouse and bell tower built in the tenth century, this apparently was only available relatively recently to tourists to go up for fear of exposing the city's defences. Standing some 99 meters high in one corner of the Piazza San Marco, this is the highest structure in Venice and costs a reasonably 5000L to ascend (thankfully in a modern lift). Up at the summit, it commands excellent views of the entirety of Venice, and yet most bizarrely it is absolutely impossible to make out a single canal - not even the Grand Canal, some 50 feet wide. Although tempting to manhandle one of the gargantuan bells hanging from the roof, we decide it best not to incur any Venetian wrath and head down to look around the Basilica di San Marco, the regal cathedral standing on the east side of the Piazza.
I'm not really one for cathedrals and the associated religious aspects, but one can't help but be impressed by the inside of the Basilica - gothic pointed arches, high domed ceilings lined in golden mosaics and the feeling of a revered sacred place. It is impressive and a real feeling of an older renaissance time is felt. The Basilica is free to enter and quietly walk around the main areas, but for the various attractions, like the original four horses adorning the apex of the main entrance (now replaced with replicas), and the treasury. We decide to pay the 3000L each to see the horses, but more importantly for us so that we can exit it out onto the roof of the entrance and continue to scrutinise the Piazza.
Deciding to call it a day so we can have a snooze to recuperate for the evening, we wander back to the hotel (taking the usual random routes in order to find our accommodation) via an extremely cool coffee house. Before heading out, and since we have to be up at around 5am in the morning, I ask at the reception about a taxi. He suggests instead to use a bus which start running at 5:30am. Although wary of relying on a bus at that time, we go to the bus station only to be told by a helpful ticket seller there that they do indeed go at 5:40am, taking only 20 minutes for the absolute pittance of 1500L each (that's under 50p). Since there's no way a taxi can take us door-to-door and we'd have to go to the bus station we buy tickets. It makes me feel somewhat stupid for having spent £20 on the original taxi here - but you live and learn… We choose to take the water bus from here back down to the Rialto Bridge, and it's a lovely way to travel - chugging down the central canal and seeing all the inlets and water-side buildings. Not to be missed, especially if you can't quite bring yourself to pay the hefty fees levied on the gondolas.
After stopping for a quick drink - finding somewhere to eat is not as easy as it should be. It's not something that to be proud of in any way, but I 'm ridiculously finicky about my food, and I most confess that Italian food is probably my least favourite style of cuisine. Undoubtedly this has everything to do with the fact that I do not eat cheese, tomatoes or fish! Causes a bit of a problem that, as pizzas and most pasta's right out. But generally I find Italian food to be pretty bland - a bowl of pasta is only interesting for the first couple of mouthfuls then it all gets a bit deja vue. Unfortunately, all of the recommended restaurants have little appeal to me, so we eventually decide upon one that looks quite reasonable. However, it also turns out to be a positive money pit. The food is really quite average and passable, but for one main course each and one beer each, the bill astoundingly comes to over £60! It's a quite hideous sum and I even query two charges of £2.50 on the bill only to find out that they've had the audacity to charge us for the bread on our table! I'm disgusted with the price (although we knew it was always going to be a bit expensive in Venice) and there's certainly no tip - and why the hell should there be after paying a 12% tax too! Anyway, so that you don't make the same mistake as us, the restaurant was: Ristorante Al Colombo, San Marco 4619. Be warned!
There's only one thing for it and that's to go and get drunk. So after taking our last real walk along the side streets we had back to the bar just down the road from the hotel where we drank last night to while away our last couple of waking hours. The Brasserie Vecchia Bruxelles (81 S. Croce) is a great bar and as it's name would suggest, sells an impressive selection of draught wheat beers (as well as a tantalising selection of deli-style sandwiches in keeping with most bars here). Settling again for Hoegaardens, we enjoy a couple of drink, reminiscing happily over the day and rueing the fact we have to leave so ridiculously early in the morning. Eventually saying what the hell we go to town on the Jack Daniels - which isn't perhaps the best idea in the world since they're at least trebles. So after a couple of them we're feeling extremely worse for wear. It's a great bar here, and in keeping in style with the northern area of Venice is pretty cheap - the large JD's cost about £2 each, about a third of the prices you'd pay near the Piazza.
It's gone 2am and we're the last people in the bar and we retire drunk to the hotel for a grand total of 2 and a half hour beer sleep before being rudely awoken by the alarm (set correctly this time!). God I'm going to have the hangover from hell.