Been away

I’ve just come back from a mini city break. Has anyone ever been to Venice? What an amazing place. I’d always imagined it was a little like Amsterdam, a city on the coast, with roads as well as canals. I imagine the American who we chatted to one evening thought this too, and couldn’t understand why the people at Hertz were pissing themselves laughing at him as he paid for his hire car for Venice. I’d like to think that I would have researched Venice before hiring a car.

Venice, for those of you who don’t know is a collection of 18 islands criss crossed with 150 canals and approximately 400 bridges off the coast of northern Italy, reached by a 4km causeway. The only form of transport is boat and foot. The place is incredible. I highly recommend it as a destination to put on your list of ‘Must Places to See’. Venice is like a huge maze, some of the streets are quite wide but most of them are narrow passageways between huge buildings. The maps are quite useless as they only name the main thoroughfares. There are simply too many small, narrow, short passageways to name them all clearly on a map. The map would have to be the size of a large dining table. Needless to say all the passageways are cluttered with tourists peering at maps and street signs. Just when you think you have found a way across town the passageway stops at a canal with no way around.

If you ever get the chance to go, go.