Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th September 2022 Leaving Chioggia, the day was overcast and windy as we crossed the Laguna, passed through the Moranzani Lock and turned up the Riviera del Brenta. Having passed through the lock, you have to ring ahead to the on-call teams to arrange for the swing bridges to be opened. At the first bridge, we met a pleasant Swiss family who had arrived in Malcontenta shortly before us and were waiting to be let through. We both assumed we had arrived during the lunch break. A member of the team arrived at the allotted time to open the first bridge electronically and once both boats had passed through he closed the bridge and drove to open the next one. We continued on up the canal in this way, in tandem with the Swiss family, leapfrogging the workman, who was joined by a colleague at one of the bridges which needed to be manually operated. As we waved goodbye to the workmen, we agreed to meet them the following day at the last bridge so that we could do the journey in reverse and head back to Venice. Robert suggested 09:00 but we were firmly told […]
Italy
Sunday 25th – Tuesday 27th September 2022 Leaving Casier, we headed south, leaving the Parrocchia dei Santi Teonisto e Compagni Martiri towering behind us [see GoPro video below] and motored onwards towards Venice. Rain had been forecast but fortunately this seemed to have all fallen overnight and by the time we set off, both Captain and crew could enjoy the sunshine. At Portegrandi, where the River Sile meets the Laguna, we negotiated our first lock. The term ’we’ is used loosely. This lock, unlike those on the canals of England, was operated by a lock keeper and required comparatively little effort from the crew. The Co-Captain took most of the strain. Once on the Laguna, we passed several casoni with the fishing nets hung out beside them. A casone is a basic fisherman’s hut or peasant’s house in the Veneto, but as we would see shortly not all casone are equal and some are more basic than others. Our route took us past the picturesque island of Burano, which is famous for its brightly coloured houses. The bell tower is no longer vertical and from some angles the lean is quite alarming. le boat has its own dedicated berths on Burano and […]
Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th September 2022 The year 2022 has been very nautical in flavour: having spent almost three months on a narrowboat; returned from America on the Queen Mary and island-hopped in the Isles of Scilly we are now heading to Italy to spend 12 days cruising the rivers, canals and sea around the Venice Laguna with two of our regular TravellingHerd companions, Liz and Martin. We have one night in Florence on our way to meet them and pick up our boat. It seems Robert is back to his old tricks again and has booked a hotel near the station we will be departing from in the morning. Sometimes this has resulted in us staying in some rather disreputable areas. However in Florence we find we are just in the suburbs enjoying a balmy evening with the locals. After checking in to our hotel, a short walk took us to the Pin Up Beerstrò bar next to the Cinema Flora. The charming waiter [seen in the background between us in the photo above] clearly had the measure of Robert. Having scanned the QR code so that we could peruse the menu, Robert found that the beer we […]
Saturday 12th to Tuesday 15th February 2022 We caught a train from Firenze, travelling first class, and our daughters flew in from the UK both arriving at the Rome Termini Station around midday. From there we travelled two stops on the metro then walked to The Savoy Hotel – a fairly large establishment and hard to miss you would think but initially Robert managed to lead us straight past. More of things that were missed later. We last came here on a family holiday about ten years ago and stepped out to refresh our memories of some of the sights including the Spanish Steps . . . the Trevi Fountain . . . . . .and the Pantheon, the most perfectly preserved of all ancient temples. We found we each had different memories of the last visit. Matilda had read about the oldest coffee shop in Rome, the Antico Caffè Greco. Robert humours her when she demands to take refreshment in a traditional tea room or coffee shop but this was a very expensive disappointment. The building is not as decorative or grand as many we have visited and it is certainly the most expensive beer we have ever purchased despite […]
Firenze Thursday 10th and Friday 11th February 2022 After a leisurely start; and a stroll to look at the Palazzo Blu, home of the current Keith Haring exhibition . . . . . . followed by a coffee in the sunshine and a little retail therapy in Pisa we crossed the road from the hotel to the station and we were once again able to catch an earlier train than we had booked. No-one checked our tickets before we boarded or whilst we were on the train. But as there were plenty of available spaces; we had already paid and the seats weren’t reserved we didn’t feel too guilty. We arrived in Firenze and as we stepped out of the station Robert declared this building to be one of the ugliest he has ever seen. And he has seen a few stations over the years. Designed in 1932 it replaced the original station built in 1848, which we were sure must have been more decorative. Matilda felt it was particularly unfortunate given that Firenze is known as a centre of beautiful Renaissance art and architecture. We walked to our hotel right by the Duomo and took the elevator, complete with […]
Tuesday 8th February 2022 We interrupt our narrowboat adventure to travel to Italy to watch a Six Nations rugby match. We have talked about going for a long time and the trip was originally booked pre-Covid. Robert maintains this is a birthday present for Matilda as the Italy vs England match usually takes place around her birthday weekend on alternate years. On this basis she insisted our girls should come too [presence not presents] and they will be joining us when their work commitments permit, at the weekend. Travelling via London City Airport is very civilised. Toiletries do not need to be in a plastic bag and liquids and technology can all be packed in your luggage and left in there. Even though Robert and Matilda each set off security scanners and Robert had to take off both his belt and his shoes we were still through very quickly. Nothing incriminating was found but Matilda has resolved not to wear her button fly Levi’s through airport security in future. Clear skies gave us a good view of the snow-capped Alps as we flew over. We landed in Florence and caught the tram for a very reasonable €1.5 each from right […]
13th July 2019 Genoa is the sixth largest city in Italy and is said to be the birthplace of pesto – that fantastic fusion of basil, pine nuts, garlic and hard Italian cheese which has become both a store cupboard staple and the basis of many delicious, impromptu meals in innumerable households across Europe and beyond. Matilda was therefore determined to eat pasta with fresh pesto alla Genovese in the city which gave it its name [see Dish of the Day]. Having deposited our luggage we strolled into the centre of the city to take in some sights. Genoa has a proud maritime tradition and as well as an historical sailing ship with an outsized figurehead [we assumed fake] . . . . . . there is also a submarine, now part of the Maritime Museum, moored in the harbour area. The town itself has many other attractions including an Art Nouveau public lift which Matilda had identified as a less sweaty means of ascending in extreme heat to see the views, but which we failed to find at ground level. We therefore climbed up a multitude of steps to the top and then took the lift down in an exact […]
Saturday 6th to Sunday 7th July 2019 Although we could hear the Friday night revelling from our hotel room, it was not as loud as we had feared when the receptionist warned us and happily neither of us had recourse to the earplugs which had been provided. As we walked back along the marina to catch the ferry to Sardinia, staff on the more luxurious yachts were polishing the chrome and hosing down the decks whilst chefs were negotiating with local suppliers for fresh produce to be delivered. Unlikely as it is, if we ever have that sort of money we have promised ourselves we will return to Bonifacio on a luxury yacht. Regular ferries run between Bonifacio to Santa Teresa di Gallura on the northern tip of Sardinia and take about an hour. From here we were scheduled to catch a bus to Sassari and then a narrow gauge train to Alghero. Having taken the indirect route up to the bus station, a bus to Sassari was pulling out just as we arrived. The very accommodating driver allowed himself to be flagged down and accosted in pigeon Italian [unspoken ‘O’ level Latin] and agreed to let us put our […]