Venice, Day 1

Monday 28th September

Barcelona - Venice

Barcelona let us go to sleep eventually for an hour or two before coming to life again. All the transfers out of this full-on city worked smoothly – two trains to airport and bus to enormous brand spanking new airport terminal with white wavy ceiling as big as a couple of footy fields 30metres up, all for 1.35euro – best value ticket ever (but if the Spaniards can build this (just one of three terminals) why can’t they finish La Sagreda?). One observation about Barcelona we agreed on is that it has the greatest number of really good looking people we have ever seen and the greatest number of misshapen squalid people, richness and poverty, imagination and dross. I was glad to be going.

And nothing could prepare us for Venice – another totally beyond expectations & different to all the other experiences. Did we arrive at a time when the light was perfect - a tinge of yellow and pink mist under a hot blue sky – everything felt soft, the buildings were floating, the water gently lapped and there was no balancing opposite as in Barcelona – it was all perfectly beautifully as it should be, quiet sensuous peaceful and mysterious. We booked in for a Vivaldi concert at a church near the L’Accadema for Tuesday night, bought our train tickets for Florence on Thursday and started to explore. I thought the French had got their tourism right but it has nothing on Venice which has been catering for tourists since 1400.

We headed off for St Mark’s Square and before we knew it we were surrounded by endless small boutiques all perfectly lovely. Bells ring at every hour. But only to remind us that time is not important, gondoliers, vaporettis and water buses are all full of people, but it is not crowded, there is no noise. No-one is in a hurry even the language barrier has evaporated. And we arrive after a couple of hours at the square in twilight – the perfect soft pink/yellow haze and the gloaming made for a dreamy experience. We headed off and the shops just got better (23,000euro coats) but the food was inexpensive and good. The art galleries were amazing with works by big names up for sale. Then we got on a water bus for free and headed home. Venice is much bigger in every aspect than existed in my imagination.