Milan

Statue in the cathedral.

 Travel Dates 24th-25th May 2011.
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I spent a very brief afternoon and evening in Milan. Effectively it was just a convenient overnight stop between Switzerland, Venice and places beyond. I apologise to the Milanese who would be horrified at such casual treatment of their great city, but I'm afraid that to me it was just that – another big city.

Possibly, at some future time, I will return. However, in that brief time I managed to see a little of the centre of town.

This imposing building is the main railway station, built back in the days when steam power ruled and temples to steam were built all over the world, with each city trying to build bigger and better. It was only a short walk to the Hilton, and not far by cab or Metro into the centre of the city.

I took the metro, which was a little confusing in station layout, but fast and efficient once I learned the system. Down-town was the main square and another imposing Italian cathedral. Those princely cardinals of the past certainly knew how to make the workplace pleasant and suitably impressive for the townsfolk and peasantry.

On one side of the square beside the Cathedral was another imposing building, which I initially thought must be city hall. It turned out to be a very up-market shopping mall displaying the latest fashions, mostly female, which Milan is famous for, and prices to make husbands or fathers below the income level of Bill Gates quake in fear.

These, presumably, are the Fashion Police. UK Bobby helmets are back in style for law enforcement.

I was surprised to see this pro-Berlusconi group in the square; I was in Milan prior to Berlusconi's departure from power. My surprise was caused by the lack of demonstrators and the presence of supporters.

Some of the trams were nostalgically similar to Melbourne's old W-class. 

I departed before lunch the following morning for Venice.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

Venice Revisited, 2011

Travel Date 24th May 2011.
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I unashamedly love Venice.

Yes, it's tourist central, and it can be kitsch and it is over-the-top and it is slowly sinking into the Adriatic. But it is also one of the most fascinating cities in the world to visit; a living museum if you can see past the hordes of tourists and locals trying to earn a living off them.

I won't say much this time, because this was my third visit to Venice. I wrote about previous visits here: Venice, Aquileia and Trieste

The train from Milan deposited me at the watery gate to the old town around lunch-time. It was less than 100m from the gates of the station to the ferry terminal. I bought a 16 euro all-day ticket for the ferries and used those and my progressively sorer feet to wander around the town and across to the Lido.

I'm not sure whether the workmen were having fun with the tourists, or this was just serendipitous, but the crowd of people snapping shots of this statue was very large and very cheerful. A group of Italian schoolgirls on a convent bus trip, complete with supervisory nuns, thought it was marvellous. The nuns were less amused. Like strip-tease, the crowd seemed more fascinated with a half-clothed statue than the many stark naked ones in other parts of town.

This time I deliberately chose to wander around the back blocks, as far from tourists as I could get for the most part, although I still had to see St Mark's again for its extraordinary decorations.

I made it simple and easy, with no particular sight to see or place to go I just wandered, soaking in the atmosphere and the magical wonder of this unlikely living remnant from an earlier era.

If you were wondering how the cruise line got your bags to the hotel...

As I was walking beside one of the minor internal canals six gondolas quietly passed. Then the strains of a piano accordian slowly rose in volume from a player on one of them and, after a few minutes, a singer began. Please excuse the shaky cameraman.

I followed them for several minutes, but left them to glide along the canals after I discovered a pleasant cafe for lunch.

I walked all day, resting on ferries between walks. After a tiring but very pleasant sojourn in Venice I went back to the station after a light dinner in a Lido restaurant, and a final cruise on the ferry in the sunset from the Lido to St Lucia station, to depart on the night train to Zagreb. A lovely day of fascinating sights and encounters.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

Venice, Aquileia and Trieste

We arrived in Venice in different ways on the two trips.

In 2003 we cruised slowly up the Adriatic on the car-ferry from Patras in Greece. The sea was as smooth as glass and the trip was peaceful and uneventful; I enjoyed the quiet interlude. The sea entry into Venice is wonderful. I have to recommend it as the best possible way to arrive in that town; to slowly see the distant shapes appear and grow to be recognisable and then to glide quietly by the lagoon entrance and the outer islands as those marvellous buildings come into view.

In 2006 we drove from Florence via the back roads, deliberately avoiding major roads wherever possible. That led to a very interesting day, first in the hills North-East of Florence, wandering through the small villages and towns, and then through the flat-lands of the Po estuary, with quite different villages and farms to those in the Tuscan hills.

Venice has been described a million times before by better-informed authors than I. I won’t pretend to be erudite about the Doge’s Palace, or the other Palaces and Cathedral’s – let the pictures suffice.



We just wandered around as wide-eyed tourists through this fabulous, flawed city with it’s wonderful history of mediaeval power, trade, discovery and culture. My earlier wanders in Greece had reminded me of the importance of Venetian traders – and conquerors – in those times.

The wealth of Europe was funnelled through Venice for centuries, and high culture followed the wealth.

In 2003 we stayed in Le Mestre, mainly because we needed to park the car, at the 4* Hotel Sirio booked via http://www.venere.com/. It would equate to about 2.5* in US or Australian terms – but that’s true of most European hotels and it turned out to be a very pleasant stay;

we also enjoyed the trip in and out on the nearby bus to the islands. To me, those suburban bus trips can be part of the enjoyment of the visit, seeing a city from a side it doesn’t always show to tourists.

In 2006 we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Le Marghera, booked via Priceline. It was closer to a US 4* - but I would never stay there again or recommend it. Too many little problems – the traffic nearby, problems in the restaurant, poor customer advice; enough said. The bus was a long walk through a dark suburb at night to that hotel, and the shuttle ran at limited times. Sirio was far better.

While staying in Venice we spent some time driving in the hinterland, up North to the small villages and towns. We got lost without worrying, stopped in little village squares, browsed through small shops and had a lovely lunch in a village which was holding a "red wine tasting" fete with lots of small food stalls outside the wine marquee. I have no idea where we were - just somewhere 50-80km north-ish of Venice. It was a magical day, one of my favourites on the trip

The receptionist in the hotel asked where we were headed and then recommended that we drop in on Aquileia on the way to Trieste. I'm so glad we did, one of those unexpected things you find when you don't really have an itinerary.

Aquileia is now just a tiny town with some remnants of it's once great past. Founded in the 2nd century BC it became one of the major centres of the Roman Empire in the 2nd-4th century AD and was also the seat for bishops then and later in early mediaeval times in the Holy Roman Empire.

But nearly all that is gone now, and it is a sleepy town where the locals are probably outnumbered by tourists; although when we arrived it was quiet with only the occasional school group.

Very little is left of the early Roman days, after centuries of battles at the crossroads of Europe. What the Huns, Venetians and others didn't destroy was finished off by an earthquake in 1348; and later variations in the level of the Adriatic submerged everything in mud.

The Cathedral stands on a site consecrated in the 4th century, but the present one was built around the 11th and 12th.

The wonderful mosaic floors were preserved by a mud cover for centuries; the diversion to Aquileia was worth it just to see them.

We drove on to Trieste for dinner. This ancient Adriatic port seemed a little unexciting after the magnificence of Venice and Aquileia.

Next, we cross the old iron curtain and wander off to Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Czech.

Cheers, Alan