Day 27 – Lake Garda/Venice

I woke up to a debate going on in the other room. The girls were all arguing over something they had heard from back home – all the gossip, you know yourself – and I was struggling to think myself. We had planned to go to the swimming pool nice and early this morning anyway, so I went straight down and had breakfast by the pool, had a few swims and rested on the sun lounger. I thought that the girls would have followed me down later but they didn’t, I went back up to see what they were doing and they were still packing! (I had packed the night before because I’m organised like that).

When the girls had finished packing and we had all tidied the apartment, disposing of any bottles or bin bags, we all went to the pool because we didn’t know what time our bus was, and we had to check out by 11am. Simone, the apartment owner, greeted us at the pool and asked us about our plans. He really liked me and enjoyed listening to what we had done and what we were going to do on our trip. The girls had actually wondered where I had disappeared to as I was talking to him for so long. I had brought up about us getting to the train station using buses and taxi’s, so he helped me out with the options.

He told me where to go to check the bus times, but if they aren’t going to come soon enough, he will ring a taxi for us. My girlfriend and I left the pool to find this bus stop but when we got there, there were several stops under the same name and we had no idea which one was which. It was also coming soon and the next one would be too late. We went into the nearest petrol station and asked if they knew what stop it was called – they only told us that there was a bus stop there and to go away…charming. 

On the way back, Simone rang me and asked me about the bus times and I told him the unfortunate news. He also decided to share his news that there was only one taxi working today (nobody really uses taxi’s here) and that he was miles away and didn’t want to come here. So Simone had offered to take us all to the train station himself in his car. He just kept getting nicer and nicer. On the way to the train station, I sat in the front seat with him and listened to the history of Lake Garda, how people commute here from Milan and Venice at the weekends and how he hates it here during winter.

We couldn’t thank Simone enough and we said our goodbyes before entering the station. Because I had lost my interrail pass, I had to buy the actual tickets for the journey and they weren’t as expensive as I originally thought. There weren’t enough seats for all 5 of us to get the train at this time so my girlfriend and I took this one and the 3 girls waited an hour for the next. Because of the limited seats, my girlfriend was in a different carriage than me and I had to make sure that she would get off at the right stop – as you know she likes sleeping and because she had no phone I was worried incase she stayed on and couldn’t get back.

Thankfully we both got off at the same stop and went across the road to have lunch. There were two restaurants with two completely different appearances – I wanted to go to the expensive looking one but my girlfriend had a big huff about it. The prices were actually really good and the food was amazing. Of course I wouldn’t let go of the fact that I was right again but we had to be serious again when the girls arrived an hour later. We went back into the station to meet them but they had used a different door and we couldn’t find each other for a good 10 minutes.

The local bus to our accommodation was right outside and we bought our tickets, sat in our seats and waited 20 minutes for the bus to leave. The place we were staying in Venice was actually a campsite, or a ‘glamping’ site if your down with that lingo. For those who don’t know, it means glamorous camping and we had a 5-bed ‘tent’ that actually had wooden floors and posts with our own toilet, 4 beds and a couch (that didn’t actually fold out into a bed), so I was struggling to understand why it was for 5 people when it should have been for 4.

Before seeing our tent, the reception at the front of the campsite had given me the details of our bill that we would pay at the end of our stay. I noticed that the price was half of what I thought it should be but I said nothing and just let on. It would mean that we would only be paying €5 each a night, in Venice. What a bargain. 

The tent was so warm because there weren’t actually any windows and it was locked all day. The sun was shining and was easily 30 degrees or more today, so obviously the tent was an oven. Because it was so warm in the tent, the 3 girls didn’t want to do anything and they said they would stay in the tent instead of going into actual Venice. Yes, they decided to stay in the oven because they were too warm…

Anyway, my girlfriend and I left straight away to see the Queen of the Adriatic and had cooled down instantly with the cool breeze at the bus stop, as well as the air conditioning on the bus when it came. The bus stop was right outside our campsite and was only €3 for a bus ticket – such a cheap way to stay in Venice.

We walked around one of the islands of Venice so that we could do the rest tomorrow and started following the main roads that were packed with people. Although not as warm as the tent, we were still warm and my girlfriend spotted some actual cider in a nearby bar. We went here to have a drink and cool down before sightseeing. We watched a dog with a lead in its mouth basically walking itself and so many tourists dragging their suitcases behind them. We were also engrossed in the street sellers that all stand 2 metres away from each other and sell the exact same things.

After a drink, we followed the busy paths, took a detour through the back streets and managed to see quite a lot in a short amount of time. One of the things I wanted to see was the Ponte Rialto bridge, which, as was customary on this trip, was being renovated and covered with scaffolding and covers! We would have to come back and do this whole trip again next year if this was to continue!

Just before going back to the campsite, we had dinner by a canal and listened to a man play his accordion. Even I admitted that it was very romantic. It got even better when a storm came and we were sheltered by the umbrellas, with the rain falling all around us and the lightning visible in the sky. Obviously it wasn’t that fun when we had to run and catch the last bus and were soaked in the process.

The girls had dinner in the ‘restaurant’ in the campsite and we joined them for a drink or two when we arrived back. It was still raining and in the tent we could hear the drops above our head clearly. It kind of reminded me of camping on Duke of Edinburgh but thankfully we wouldn’t have to pack up the tent and carry it around Venice tomorrow!