Van Life Adventure In Venice - Can It Really Be Done?
[Music] good morning it is early and it is chilly and we camped at a Not So Glamorous campsite but this is another one that is all about the location and a safe place that we will be able to leave our van for the day because today we're taking you to the city of Venice now we're across the way and our morning will start with a boat taxi ride from about two football field that way where our campsite is now there are no Cars once you cross that bridge and Venice is right over there under the Sun but I got to tell y'all this been a lifelong well maybe not lifelong but I know for sure this is a city I've wanted to visit since high school times so it seems like a lifetime but uh let's [Music] go so we'll take a boat taxi instead of taking a train or a bus because the campsite we're at is just about the only campsite there is for Van lifee type people to be close to Venice and it's super close to this boat taxi so this will be a roundtrip ticket we've bought for the day they run every hour cost us € 10 a piece so €20 to get us from the campsite to the city of Venice oh I don't think I could tell y'all how excited I am all right it was a little bouncy ride in the cab we were kind of down in the cab of the boat so we really didn't have any visibility to film probably about a 10-minute little boat ride and we have arrived out here on the island and from what I am understanding is there are multiple Islands out here I just kind of thought you came out to Venice and it was one so we're going to kind of figure this out as we go see you guys later it's nice to meet you right right here yes our first little turn off off of the boat dock there is down a little narrow road the structures here all seem to be made of brick and from what I understand is this entire city is built on wood pilings and so we are kind of on one huge boat boat dock so to speak but we have several adventures in mind today snow does a much much much better job of kind of investigating the things to do and where to go I kind of wing it and so anyway we'll leave it up to her to tell us where we're going to go today guys all right and we have popped out to our first sort of canal amongst the islands you can see the bridges and all the boats along the canal here this is kind of what I pictured look at this no we came down that first little uh walkway and there was nobody there it was narrow and it looked like the houses were all abandoned not what I had pictured but as you get towards the canals and you can see the water just splashes right up to the doors and almost into the doors of some of these houses houses and as we walk down the streets after you walk for a while like a city block or whatever we come to our second canal and they have these Bridges and stairs and it looks like today is cleaning day in the city and so whenever the trash collectors or the delivery people or even if you're bringing suitcases out here to stay for the weekend you've got to cross all these Bridges and these stairs but it's pretty fascinating with all the canals and we have arrived on the more proper street instead of like a Nar narrow walking Alle Alleyway and look at all the delicious pastries and pizzas here looks pretty tasty but this looks like a district where they do lots of shopping here one thing we've decided to do today is byy a one-day pass for the boat taxis now you can walk all over this island but we want to see as much as we can in the one day that we have here so we're almost to the boat taxi stand where we hope we can uh buy a ticket we don't know all right two tickets to paradise so this is what's called the Grand Canal and it kind of splits Venice like an S comes right through and you can see it's a fairly wide and definitely a very active canal and there are all sorts of boats not just gondolas but all sorts of boats carrying packages uh supplies for the restaurants all that type of stuff I think I saw one that looked like it was a postal delivery van or boat but in any event all kinds of boat traffic on this Grand Canal all right we made it on the first water taxi and we really got to crack the Cod to the little taxi map here we haven't gotten it figured out but as busy as this canal is the gondolas are cruising across oh I think these are the little gondolas where you can take a couple bucks and just just they go right across there but the gondolas are rocking and rolling in all this boat traffic but in this particular instance we're only going one stop so a little short stop but this is actually a pretty big island so it'll take us a while to see a lot of it so the journey is just beginning one thing you're going to see all over Venice at the tourist shops and then there's some real where they make handcrafted one-of aind ones but you're going to see these masks and of course that comes from Carnival but there is also other stories to The Masks here uh back during shadier times if you were going out to do something some illicit activity that you shouldn't do you would wear a mask and that would be uh maybe for the prostitutes or drugs or going to a bar if you're married or whatever and then also when the Black Plague would come through here the doctors had a very specific mask that they wore and it was the one I'll describe it we're also going to show it of course that had the creepy looking face and the long bird looking nose and what that did is that protected them from the plague and it also kept them a little bit of distance away from getting too close to a patient their masks nose would bump into them now I don't remember the exact year but so many people started wearing masks around the city uh to do these illicit activities that count ccil of 10 that governed the area at the time made it illegal to wear masks in Venice except during Carnival but we'll see these throughout the day I'm sure so I wanted to make sure I told you the story so we are headed to the Rialto market now we came here first because the past few cities we've waited too late and missed the market because it closed hopefully that doesn't happen today what is incredibly special about about this Market is that for hundreds of years it was one of the most important markets in all of Europe and Asia it was a main part of the Silk Road trade route and it connected Asia to Europe through here now that made Venice be one of the most powerful and Wealthy cities in the world at the time and it used to be a city under Venetian rule it was its own kingdom or whatever you want to call it for more than a thousand years until the 1800s when Napoleon finally conquered it one of my favorite things to do whenever we get into a country or a city or a region is to go straight to the markets I feel like they just tell you so much about the area of the region and of course you're always looking for some kind of unique Foods or fruits or vegetables or meats and there are several here but they have man so many colorful fruits and vegetables and I can tell you in the morning it's very active at least right now and you can tell the locals here coming down to pick up all their groceries I don't know if this one's open every day but they do have a variety of fresh greens potatoes fruits and vegetables and berries and I don't know what these purple things are almost like some kind of rub Barb eggplant I don't know C they have purple cauliflower so as I said colorful different vegetables I've seen that here's kind of a strange looking cabbage it's shaped like a cone head instead of a round onea so I found the seafood section and uh Kurt loves fish I like shrimp Krab Lobster not a big fish fan but another reason we don't cook fish and seafood in the van is the smell it will hello it will take over a small space like that but I have a feeling there's a good chance Kurt might eat him some seafood [Music] today he's here he found it and of course we're out on an island out in the sea and so you'd expect start to be seafood and fresh seafood and there is definitely some of that here now a lot of this is already filleted and clean and so I don't know all these I haven't seen all these different kinds of fish but they also have some shrimps looks like kind of some [Music] trout all kinds of stuff and look at the scallops and Squid oh look at over here look at that little clams big octopus Little Octopus kind of Inky squid ah these are some kind of conch or something like that I believe little dried shrimps all sorts of muscles and clams so the Fe Seafood section here definitely does not disappoint and of course they have a section with fresh cut flowers oh and there's definitely more Seafood over here so there's about three tables or four tables with seafood so it's definitely not look at the seagull coming in the seagulls are coming in trying to feast and they're even fighting for it so again some muscle some cherry clams some white fish that red fish there is likely a tuna and here is probably another tuna or Swordfish the pink stuff there is salmon H some kind of I don't know big shrimp scallop shrimp other like kind of chubby fish more octopus calamari shrimp or Cameroon and look at these little I call them smelt maybe they're anchovies not sure exactly what the name of them is but three boo with really fresh nice looking Seafood plenty of abundance I don't know what those kind of fish are real white almost like a mud fish I'm hungry look at these big crabs in eels what a fun little market it wasn't huge but it was fun and now it is chilly out here guys it was 37° when we left this morning which for those of you who want to know Celsius that's about 2° C and so it's chilly and also we're on the water so it's windy and cold as well so we're going to try to sneak off find the coffee and maybe a little sweet treat and warm up a little bit it's just really a stunning Place really absolutely captivating and as you come you just see things and you know in my mind I'm like what is this and it's looks like it's made with some form of granite but again it's just worn with a lid and I would think that's some sort of well or something like that um where they could just drop a bucket in there with a little pulley I don't know what it is maybe we'll Google search it maybe you guys can tell us just a couple blocks from the market the city's opened up a little bit there are so many narrow streets it seems kind of it seems kind of unusual when all of a sudden you pop open into a bigger open area but up in front of us I can see some big bigger towers and some stairs we're headed to one of the major landmarks right in front of us is one of the four bridges that crosses the Grand Canal this is the Rialto Bridge the most famous so we're working our way there so this is our first Bridge Crossing Over across the Grand Canal and you can see all the little gondolas there now I think you can I think for $2 you can actually just cross in one of those gondolas or you can rent them and they'll take you for a ride around through the little canals I think it's about 80 for 30 minutes on one of those but you can see all the buildings along the Grand Canal and it is starting to get active we were here early and it wasn't so busy but it's definitely picking up now you can see people pouring off the taxis and people starting to hop on these gondolas and uh yeah what a beautiful place now the Rialto Bridge is definitely a landmark and you see a lot of Tours and a lot more people here but uh the story the history behind it is that back hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years ago I'm sorry I can't remember all the dates but during the trade boom maybe the 13th 14th century all of the gold and jewelry dealers set up on this bridge and still today they run shops here and a lot of them are jewelry stores so kind of keeping with tradition so it's crowded but it's something you have to come see when you're in Venice look guys the city is sinking you can see the water is just coming up over the sidewalks so Venice is sinking City I think Kurt's already told you a lot of it was built on they drove special Timber down in the ground a special Timber that reacts well with water and lasts forever but it's sinking and when it was built over a thousand years ago it was because people that lived on the mainland were running from uh the Mongols and the German people who ever lived in the Germany area at the time were attacking so they moved on into the Wetland Marsh areas and built this land but I think if I remember right from what I read it's sinking like 2 mm a year for the past however long they've been monitoring it we were grabbing our table to have our coffee and croissant and we had to scoot in a little bit because the water's splashing up all right snow got her standard coffee K coffee with the milk I got a coffee with Pana which is cream and they put a lot more cream on there and a lot less coffee that I anticipated it also came with a couple biscuits I think these are lemon I'm not sure what that is and then we got a croissant I believe this has got cream and chocolate so we got a lot sugary breakfast sugary creamy breakfast so we're about to hop on the Water Taxi again this time we're getting on taxi number two we're at the Rialto station but we're going to take it all the way to the other end and that's going to be an economical way to see the entire Grand [Music] Canal caught behind Venetian blinds had to reach for the city Lins this Ain Where I Belong hey look at me on what I [Music] become I've been running Le looking for Sunset digging deep since [Music] 99 what I thought was gone sitting in my pocket in play s all along I think it's time for me to go burn all bridges all I know I got lost along the way fell between the four Ines time to let go so come one man so we just had an amazing Ride On The Water TX see down the Grand Canal and here in front of one of the M main plazas or patas here in Venice you can see yet more ed evidence of the sinking Island as the water is just standing here on the sidewalk but look at this gorgeous Basilica here so this is the Basilico San Marco and it is a famous destination a beautiful Church without a doubt but but you have to reserve your spots to go inside and pay a hefty fee we went back and forth on whether or not we were going to do it and we have decided to just appreciate this beautiful Basilica from outside it's got some of the prettiest artwork painted on the domes the half domes on the outside doesn't it Kurt it really does it is stunning and some of the sculptures and the intricate detail around the tops and around just the whole en ire church and you can see it's clearly different kinds of marble and different kinds of stone that we've really seen throughout it Italy I mean clearly they know how to do stone work here but this entire Plaza is amazing and I keep sounding like a stuck record but the fact that this is all built up artificially over water it just stuns me yeah now the castle next door or the palace next door to this Basilica is famous for being made with its pink marble Curt oh really see the pink Checkers I do see the pink Checkers so one thing I read about little hidden spots is one I really don't want to walk over to so we're going to show it to you from here but between those two pillars right there on the corner of the castle the government building is where they used to announce death sentences and the executions took place here all right right behind me is a clock tower and this is not just any Clock Tower this one is one of the most famous in the world because of how intricate it is the first thing that is really cool about it is that it actually tells time three different ways we have the traditional clock and then you have the Roman numerals underneath now they go in increments of five so that changes every 5 minutes and it also has an astronomical clock that includes the phases of the moon so it's pretty phenomenal that all of this was built back in the 1490s by a fatherson clock Duo and uh it's specifically lined up with the opening here to the port where all of the silk trade ships used to come in and out which is behind us here because they could come in they'd know what time it was they'd know the moon phases it was designed to tell time for the city people and for the ships pretty cool also the men on top they're made out of bronze they're hinged at the waist and when the bell rings they actually Spin and have hammers that hit the Bell that's the timer of the clock it's also set to go off 2 minutes before the actual hour so it does not interfere and run over the church bell which is sitting right next to as well pretty cool clock so we are leaving the San Marco Square area headed to our next destination and look what we spotted now it may not be the legendary light blue and white of Argentina but it sure enough says messy number 10 doesn't it Kirk yeah it's cool a little bu bu Argentina bubl messy so one of the things you're supposed to do in Venice Kurt is eat July it's too cold it's too cold I even change hats and put my gloves on it's too cold the angel of St George you wanted to take a picture the exhibition wasn't over no it was much wrong a fixture I never wanted it to end I never want it to [Music] end we saw the city from the water at the dying of the day when you learned you were a daughter and you didn't have to pay I never want to end I never wanted to end I see the love [Music] return to your R in the city that rides upon the [Music] Water I had a vision of St Mark with the tourists in a l the benediction that he spoke may you live in interesting times I never wanted to end I never wanted to [Music] end when we lost ourselves in Badness I think you found yourself so don't you ever let me catch you putting yourself back on the Shelf I never wanted to end I never wanted to [Music] end we have made it to a very unique bookstore so not only are there books everywhere somewhere throughout here cats live throughout the bookstore so we'll be looking for them but one little trick when you come to Venice if you decide not to pay $100 to take a ride in a gondola which to be honest we're starting to think that's what we're going to do just seems a little overpriced but you can come to this bookstore look for the kitty cats and step out onto the back porch and get a picture in a real Gondola have you spotted a kitty cat yet I haven't either but they have a lot of places to hide we might not spot one a staircase made out of books it's a little Weeble wobbly so the bookstore used to be known as a hidden spot to go here in uh Venice but the secret is obviously out that place was crowded all right we had to sit down and do a little logistical planning we got off of our water taxi we've got a 99-minute walk to an air area where we've heard we can have a budget friendly meal of the Venetian style of Tapas try many different kinds of uh local treats so we'll see if we can find it I can't remember what they call it they're not called toas here I will find out when we get there but let's go see what we can find all right they have sort of a menu Delo and they I'm getting the menu dep PESA yeah so I get a four course dinner and I get to choose from several things so I'm getting spaghetti with seafood or I can get the cuddlefish ink spaghetti but it's a little scary for me I'm getting roasted octopus we saw that in the market and then I think of baked potatoes and Tiramisu all right snow what'd you go with so my first course I went with the vegetarian menu which means I only had three choices but I started with a salad with parach choke and avocado and it's going to be so good and look at the seafood spaghetti so Snow's is a three course meal mine's a four course meal seafood pasta looks like there's some squids some shrimp and uh some muscles they told me in clam so we'll see when we get into this thing let's go so our second course is here I ordered a four cheese pocker the waiter had to tell me that's how you say it with zucchini and it looks delicious and I'm sorry about the bad lighting but we wanted to sit by the window cuz it's so warm with the sunshine coming in and you guys look at Kurt's roasted octopus and roasted potatoes wow you excited I am excited look that tender m this will be uh my first dip into some Venetian food let's [Music] see so creamy and cheesy and it's like lasagna noodles that have been rolled into a little ball and uh they're good they're a little chewy but I think that's by Design almost like d yeah almost like a dumpling in fact smack this tastes like Italian chicken and dumpling with the creamy oh it's so good we have finished lunch and now it is time to take a water taxi back over to where we will catch the fairy back to the van it's time to go this has been a stunning Place really fascinating unique different than any of the Cities we've ever been to one of my new faves but time to go if you like 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2024-02-17 00:37
