Given our last Aperol spritz in Iceland cost 2100ISK (just shy of $24 AUD), we were very pleasantly surprised to pay just 3.60eur ($6 AUD) for these ones. After dinner we take a few sugar packets and label them “Left”, “Right” and “Straight”, and set out to explore Venice by random selection. Miraculously after 6 more spritzes, dozens of bridges, and a few dead ends, we end up back at our hostel by pure chance and decide to call it a night.
Our full day in Venice starts with a walk through the main tourist path from Ponte de Rialto to San Marco square.
After climbing the bell tower for the best view over Venice, we come back to find the city is once again slowly sinking (the truth is we don’t know why water was coming up the stormwater drains, but sinking seemed more pleasant a thought than overflowing… anything else).
In our attempt to take the road less travelled, we leave San Marco and walk out to the tip of Dorsoduro for a great view back across the grand canal.
Then we take the water bus to the far end of Venice near the football stadium and snake our way back to the hostel through the parks and most tree-lined sections of this beautiful island on the water.
Little did we know, but there is actually a year long art festival on in this part of the island, so we constantly pass random sculptures and installations not unlike Sydney’s famous Sculptures by the Sea.
Once back in our local area, we have some happy hour Spritzes (which are only 4.50 euro and include a small bruschetta) and pick a restaurant for dinner, right next to a cute little wine bar on a bridge aptly named Osteria del Ponte.
Here we enjoy the serenity (and dare I say romance) of a dimly lit Venetian bridge outside a small bar with at most a dozen people on it (practically intimate compared to the 1200 people we shared San Marco’s square with earlier in the day). And then we see an official looking boat labelled “Vilgiant del fucococococo”, which we quickly translate as “the fighters of fire”.
Lets just say this, Dory was the one who noticed the firefighters while I noticed the scuba gear being set up on deck. I guess in a city floating on the water, it makes sense for the fire search and rescue crew to have scuba gear rather than ladders, but what were they searching for and rescuing?
Once the operation was underway, we couldn’t help but stay and find out what they were searching for and how they meticulously searched the extremely murky water to find it. After 3 passes through the search area, checking at most 1 square foot at a time, the lone diver was successful. To much fanfare and cries of joy, the poor onlooker did get back his wedding ring, and the well practised team of firies went home happy.
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