Thursday 20 November 2008

The Origination of ARIA: Pilgrimage Day 4 (Final Day)

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April 04, 2008

Before I knew it, time had passed so slowly yet so quickly at the same time and it was already my final day in Venice.

Due to the packing, we missed the first boat out and caught the second one at 9am. As we entered the Venice city limits against the rising sun, an outline of a gigantic ship threatened to run us over. It was the huge Norwegian Jade cruise ship coming in under tow. For the record, our little motoscafi was producing more waves!

We started exploring the last bit of Venice which was the Dorsoduro area. This is the day's route.
RED -> BLUE -> BROWN

The weather was very sunny and the haze of the first 3 days had cleared up which gave us a nice blue sky but also a blazing sun, the day being borderline hot in our winter clothes!

We took a peek at a Wine store where we had a sample taste of the local fragolino - strawberry wine. I'm actually a zero alcohol person so I do not know how to wine taste but it tasted fine to me. Glad to get the experience!

Near the wine store was a gondola shipyard, the Squero di San Trovaso which is apparently the oldest in the city and one of only three.
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We headed westwards, heading deeper into the alleys and encountering less and less people, sitting inside a random beautiful church for 5 minutes to relax. With Venice's sights becoming more familiar and my memory card being almost full, pictures were sparse. The Lonely Planet map of Venice had proved rather reliable in previous days but it was totally lacking in accuracy for Dorsoduro, which with improvisation was not a problem.

We eventually looped back towards the east and encountered a nice wooden bridge. I was also surprised to find that despite the logistical nightmare of Venice, the city actually sorted it garbage with multiple rubbish bins for cans etc.
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As we continued walking, we found ourselves at a Campo with a decapitated church tower!
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It was at this very moment that I let my guard down, possibly due to fatigue. I folded the map and tried to navigate through the alleys by memory - and got lost unintentionally for the first time. There goes my theory that "It is possible to not get lost in Venice". Not all was a waste however, as we ended up at the Universita degli Studi Ca Foscari where Neko, a fellow ARIA pilgrim will study the next coming year! It had a nice courtyard with seats at the entrance where we munched down some sandwiches!

Another hour gone and I was hungry again. According to a friend's guidebook, Spaghetti ala Vongole (clamshell) is the recommended dish to have in Venice and I had been on the lookout for a place with a decent price (under €10) since Day 1. We finally found one and risking getting ripped off with tourist food, went in. The food was very good, if a little rich in oil and definately not tourist garbage. Unknown to me at that time, this tavern was recommended by that same guidebook.
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One last place left to go in Dorsoduro which was the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute. The whole area was under restoration which also closed a traghetto route. Photography was constrained to wide-angle which I did not have and I already had pictures of that Church. I was a little dissapointed.

We took a traghetto to save 10 minutes...and who doesn't like gondola rides? Unfortunately, they didn't let me stand due to the low load factor of 3 passengers.

A final trip to Piazza San Marco, as we had "forgotten" to visit the Basilica 2 days earlier due to the long queue! The Norwegian Jade had emptied over 1000 lemmings and Piazza San Marco was like a rat race. I miss the quiet of the Piazza at 9am.
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While there was a long queue for the Campanile due to the crowds, the line for the Basilica was almost empty despite the odds. No backpacks allowed - thanks Mr Terry Wrist. On top of it, no picture taking allowed. You will have to take my word for it that ARIA the Origination ep5.5 was an accurate depiction of the interior. The ceiling is lined with little bits of gold.
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However unlike Neo-Venezia, the floor was uneven (long-term exposure to Aqua Alta?) and the main hall was full of seats and we could not freely roam about as sections were fenced off. While access to the main areas are free, a fee is charged if you want to see the chapels inside or more importantly, Akari's secret spot!

The time was approaching 3pm and it was time to take the boat back to our accomodation to collect our luggage, and go to the airport.

An interesting use of materials for this sign.
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One last Gelato was consumed as we arrived at Zattere with 15 minutes to spare. I knew I had memory to burn so I finally started snapping away!

Our motoscafi-style boat, the San Giorgio in Alga which we took every morning. An appropriate name as it is named after an abandoned island which the boat passes a zillion times a day on the Fusina - Zattere route.
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Looking back at Zattere
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A motoscafi with old factories in the background.
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The Norwegian Jade.
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The causeway from Mestre, with the day clear enough to see the Alps.
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We arrived at Fusina with plenty of time to kill until the next bus to Mestre, so I went snapping pictures. Two views of Venice and the surrounding lagoon from Fusina, at approx 35mm and 300mm zoom.
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Last picture but not the least, our accomodation! We got half of the trailerhome.
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We then got our luggage and took the local ACTV bus to the airport, changing busses at Mestre station. This was a long, slow and crowded journey and I was totally knackered at the airport. Our flight was at 8pm and we arrived very early, taking into account Murphy's Law.

I am a bit of an aviation nut as well and was observing which runways were in use for departure. Winds negligible, planes taking off in both directions depending on destination. Gambling on a southwesterly runway departure for London, I grabbed the emergency exit row seat (legroom) on the left side of the aircraft and was victorious! I saw Venice and the navigation channels lit up by night in its full glory during climbout! I managed to get some sleep in the plane, despite the lack or recline, light dimming and the in-flight food marketing on Easyjet.

I finally arrived at my dormitory at 12am, feeling a little depressed that my trip to Venice had come to an end.

Sunday 2 November 2008

The Origination of ARIA: Pilgrimage Day 3

For people looking for reference material, please use the archives navigation bar on the right hand side.

Edit 13/11/2008: I have just finished looking through the comments on every single old post and have replied accordingly. Thank you all for the very useful pieces of information! I've also changed my settings so I will get notification e-mails from now on.


April 03, 2008

A very long day with plenty of distance covered. The map of the day is pretty insane!
RED -> PINK -> GREEN -> BLUE
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Another very early start to the day, with a 7:20am start to catch the first boat into Venice at 8am. It had been a very chilly night and it was freezing in the morning - which resulted in a rather magical sight as we made our way to the ferry dock.
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Thick fog looking as if it was steam coming up from a hot spring. An absolutely unreal sight and I was awestruck. My worry of the sailing being cancelled proved wrong as the boat came, 3 minutes late. The fog quickly lifted and we munched down our sandwiches on our trip. A private vessel doing twice the speed limit cut across navigation channels and our captain duly slowed down to let the idiot through.

After landing at Zattere, we proceeded to the Accademia vaporetto stop where we bought ourselves a 24 hour pass for an amazing €16. We'll definately make full use of that! The nice guy at the ticket counter asked us where we were off to and upon hearing my answer, gave us the quickest route to Murano...but to his bewilderment, I thanked him and ran off to hop on the #1 Vaporetto heading the opposite direction to his instructions! I had it all planned already, that we take a cruise up the Canale Grand first!

It was 8:40am and we saw Venice slowly coming to life with the canal filled with commuters and delivery boats. Venice is still a city with 50,000 inhabitants, not a real-life Museum (although it gets pretty close)! Luck has it that it was an old-style Vaporetto with front seats.

The traghetto packed with commuters.
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A long row of parked Gondolas, the day still early for our Undines Gondeliers.
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Traghetto Santa Sofia, with the Pescaria market in full swing.
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Approaching the Scalzi Bridge.
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We hopped off the #1 Vaporetto here (Ferrovia) and then changed to the #52 for Murano. It was a 15 minute wait as we had just missed one but this allowed me to make a carefully synchronised pitstop at Isola San Michele lasting exactly 15 minutes!

Definately not a place you'd want to be at night - unless you're an airhead like someone!
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We then landed at Murano which was a totally tourist-orientated place along the main canal. It was completely full of shops selling glasswares.
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After initial bad luck, we finally found a fornace where we could see the glass Maestros at work.

Upon crossing the one main bridge at the middle of Murano, we discovered a nice coffee shop where we bought freshly heated sandwiches and coffee for lunch. The Americano is only €1 - a good price for a trip to the toilet, where next to none are free in Venice and the locals aren't very helpful about it either!
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After our lunch, we went exploring around Murano where we saw the "other side" - a quiet and low-density residential area! I would love to live somewhere like this!
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Then we returned to the touristy area, dropping by the coffee shop for gelato! We then proceeded to the Vaporetto stop to catch the LN to Burano.
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Adios, Murano!
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On our way up a water taxi overtook us, doing at least twice the speed limit. Some people really want Venice to disintegrate, despite the fact they earn the ca$h off the historic city.

The vaporetto slowed down to a crawl as we navigated up a narrow channel alongside Mazzorbo. Seeing how nice it looked, I decided to hop off since we could walk across a bridge to Burano later.

Mazzorbo, the island beside Burano was really peaceful and devoid of people. It was a great stroll and very relaxing - and an unlikely ARIA reference to boot.
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We then turned back and headed over to Burano, the lace island.

Burano, seen from Mazzorbo.
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The bright, pastel coloured houses and lace shops.
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We also explored Burano, and a really nice old lady standing at the door of her house thought we were lost and gave us instructions back to the main throughfare. Seeing how kind she was, I cut off the exploration and followed her instructions to emerge from a tiny alley - picture below!
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We then headed back to the Vaporetto stop where a double deck Motonavi doing the route LN picked us up on the way to Piazza San Marco (S.Zaccaria). Good timing as a storm was bearing down on us and the Motonavi provided us shelter.

It took ages, with exceptionally long dwell times at our intermediate stops. After 75 minutes, we were almost there, except our berth was occupied by another Motonavi for over 5 minutes. Our speed reduced to a crawl to wait for it to vacate - but not after I got pictures! The passing storm gave a superb backdrop and contrast.
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Himeya The Danielli Hotel

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Upon our arrival at S.Zaccaria, we made a quick change to the #41 Vaporetto to the island of Giudecca. This was formerly the industrial district of Venice and contains landmarks such as the Redentore. We did our usual detouring through the alleys, purchasing bread for snack at a bakery in the process. We eventually arrived at the former Molino Stucky factory which is now the Hilton Hotel where we took the liberty of entering from the rear and exiting at the front - as well as using the extremely posh toilets for free!

As we walked through it, my mum made the comment of how she remembers seeing a similar building in a manga/anime many years ago (she has not seen ARIA, obviously). This gave me the realisation that the Molino Stucky had a very unique architectural design and the only building I've seen in Venice which had the tiniest resemblance to Orange Planet.
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A glorious sunset over a petrochemical plant built in possibly the worst location ever - right beside an exceptionally important heritage site (Venice).
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We then took the #2 Vaporetto back to San Zaccaria (yay for old type Vaporettos and front seats!). After some hesitation, I took the plunge and entered the Danielli Hotel to sneak some photos.
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Then, it was time to enjoy the nightscape around Piazza San Marco. A great shame that I did not have a tripod.
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This was my desktop wallpaper for 6 months.
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At around 9:00pm, we took the #1 Vaporetto again to Piazzale Roma to take the bus back to our accomodation, our last boat long being gone. The night cruise up the Grand Canal (yay again for old-style Vaporettos with front seats!) was an interesting experience, with the combination of silence and darkness giving a very eerie feel. This was the most memorable moment of the whole trip for my mum, the spookiness reminding her of the Phantom of the Opera. Nor wonder Alice-chan can come up with all sorts of haunted stories!

We finally arrived back to our acocmodation past 11pm - the land route is horrid and we slept at around 12am totally exhausted.