We were planning on going to Venice over a long holiday weekend to visit this year’s Biennale exhibitions but we also wanted a spa day first to relax a little. So we decided very strangely to go to Lake Bled in Slovenia on the Way.
It may not have been a first choice for a spa day but after surprisingly finding out that Leela had never been there, we came up with a few days travel plan. So late on a Wednesday afternoon we made our way to Bled which on any normal day should have taken just over an hour. But after an unplanned stop at the tollbooths of the Karawanken Tunnel, took us just over two.
There is only one camper park near Lake Bled and as is with everywhere now they have really tried to capitalise on the camper van boom. So an off season rainy 24 hours at the end of October costs €20. And a warning if you want to go there in high season they rip you off for 40€. And for this incredible sum you get an open and unsupervised parking lot with no camper service as it was all broken and an option of paying even more if your wagon requires electric. But fortunately the night was peaceful enough with only the heavy rain for company.
The following morning we started with a big cooked breakfast and headed out for a 6km walk around the lake. The weather was very Autumnal but with patches of sunlight and blue sky we enjoyed the views and the walk before returning to the van for some food and to pick up our towels.
We then headed off by foot to Hotel Rikli which offered a day spa to visitors from 12-9pm. The ticket was €30 each which is not too bad as there were 3 steam rooms and 3 Saunas available as well as an outdoor hot pool with stunning views. And also included in the price was a sauna towel and shower towel which is always a nice bonus as drying your own in the van in a wet Autumn week is somewhat difficult!
We spent a lovely few hours there and left around 5pm when it began to get too full and a little too dirty for us as in these 5 hours not one person had been in to clean anything. I guess the hotel couldn’t stretch to paying a cleaner.
Getting back to the van it was already dark and nearly 7pm so we filled up with gas and headed to our planned stop just across the border in Italy only to have a surprise full van and personal identity inspection by 6 police officers at the border crossing. We asked why all the fuss and stringent control but they just mumbled something about Palestine. You would think that a rainy border crossing in northern Italy would not really be on the list for any fleeing Palestinians.
Stopping in Fusine we had a quiet night apart from the heavy rain again and after waking early to a dreadful morning we decided to skip the planned visit to the lakes and just have a coffee and hit the road. Thats if we could actually find it as it was just heavy standing water and torrential rain virtually the whole way until we reached Venice. A really tough drive.
Getting to the Venice camper park we already knew what to expect but it’s still a shock when you get there. A car park like a swamp with a disgusting toilet and shower facilities, no hot water in the mens block, a camper service that you should not use for health reasons and litter everywhere.
If it was not the only available camper parking for the city you would never go there. But we managed to find a dry spot backing on to the wonderful municipal park and as we would not be using any facilities just locked the door for the weekend.
We finally had some breakfast and got ourselves together for the sensory onslaught that is this amazing city and made our way to the tram stop and over the bridge to begin our first day there. We both love Venice and Leela even more so. We have written lots before about this incredible city (diary entry) but it still never ceases to amaze us how it is able to function on a daily basis and now late in October it was still absolutely full with no space to move about freely.
We were really going to make the most of these two days as who knows how long we will be able to access the city with new rules and sanctions proposed and with the ever growing number of tourists causing so much damage it may not be the same for too much longer.
We firstly spent a couple of hours just wondering the streets and people watching before buying our tickets for the Biennale and heading to the Arsenal for the first part of the exhibition. This year was architecture so I was hoping for lots of buildings and bridges and amazing feats of engineering, but we we were both left a little baffled and confused with the general themes of the countries exhibitions.
The interpretation of architecture was stretched quite thin and even though you can obviously see the incredible amount of thought and work that had gone into the individual pieces, it left a lot to the imagination as to read up on everything that was going on would have taken you weeks.
But we are always impressed by such things and after another couple of hours we decided that our brains had had enough and it was time to buy a couple of beers and sit on the dock side and watch the ocean traffic and the sun go down. One of our favourite things to do whilst in Venice. As the sun set we made our way through the masses and back to central station for the short tram ride back to the mainland and the safety and comfort of the van for the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning we were up way before the dawn and ready to roll as a beautiful sunrise lit up the city from across the water. Getting into Venice very early should have given us a chance to explore in relative peace but to our surprise it was already packed. So we enjoyed a coffee and croissant and then headed for the market for an attack on the nasal senses. It is a feast of fresh caught fish that day and so fresh that some of it was still alive on the tables as well as there being so much local produce.
Then over the Rialto bridge to the incredible old post office which is now a very upmarket shopping mall to try and get on to the free viewing platform. But after asking several very unhappy security personnel we found that every single 15 minute entry spot was pre-booked online months in advance and we were told to come back in December. So back into the chaos and off to find the narrowest street in Venice which I could barely get my shoulders through and then to the most chaotic bookshop in the world where unless you were extremely lucky to find what you wanted by chance, you had no hope!
Getting hungry we made our way to the Gardens to have our packed lunch before touring the exhibitions. As the day before, this left us more confused than inspired with only the Romanian entry giving us cause for pause and be informed. After a couple of hours of shuffling around the exhibits we decided to go to the lovely little park at the end of the island and found a bench and just sat in the warm sun for a very long time before heading back to the dock for a supermarket beer and another lovely sunset on maybe the last trip to this incredible but bizarre city for a while.
Sunday morning we were up early once more and surprisingly full of energy considering we had covered over 50 km by foot the last two days. So I went for a 10 km run around the park at sunrise and Leela done some Yoga at the van before trying to make our way out of the cesspit of a parking lot. I say trying as the final issue was to actually open the barrier.
The owners had a new ticket system that couldn’t cope with the clock time change overnight and was trying to charge everyone an extra days payment so the queue was building with a long row of vans, but fortunately we were at the front. If only they would concentrate on cleaning the place then maybe people would not be so annoyed whilst paying for it!
Finally on the road a little later than planned we still made it to the huge shopping mall just outside the city for Leela to pick-up some new shoes and then the long drive home. A wonderful weekend, some new things for us, and a very lucky weather window for touring Venice and its magical and unique experience.
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