Day 8 –Venice - Friday, January 10th 2014: Tania Vial

I’m sitting here in a corner of the hostel we are staying in, on the island of ‘Giudecca’, trying to decide what I can possibly write that will provide an accurate snapshot of what we have seen today.

It’s 9.30pm and there is music playing in the background and a few people (mainly young) sitting about. The Italian accent and dialect, used in this part of Italy can be distinctively heard.

At present, the bar directly in front of me has no one standing in line and the queue of foreigners, wanting to ask questions, or register their arrival, is tonight non-existent. The hostel has undergone an incredible transformation since our stay 2 years ago and now has a very swish and impressive interior of tessellated tiles, combining beams of wood above, and floating floorboards, iron wrought chandeliers and upholstered armchairs covered in velvet fabric, all of which make this large area look like it belongs back in the Middle Ages – ( minus the electric lights!) It really is an eclectic combination of styles. Most importantly of all, an elevator has been installed, which means we don’t need to lug suitcases up several flights of stairs. No more communal bathrooms and open dorms!

Venice is a labyrinth. You move in and out of ‘calle’ (tiny alleyways) and discover secluded treasures at every turn. Colourful and impressive masks are commonly seen in shop windows, recalling the pagan and marrying opera, theatre and Carnevale.

On my return to our island and hostel ( which by the way faces St Mark’s Square)  on the ‘vaporetto’ I stuck up a conversation with someone who informed me that 2 weeks ago Venice was covered with ice, hence the salt bags which can still be seen about the city. It can get to minus 4 here and the wind can cut through you and be terribly biting, as we discovered on our last trip.

Our guide for the Doges Palace and the Basilica was the most impressive we have had in Venice and we all came away a little better informed, having formulated some colourful impressions of what life in the Venetian Republic during the Medieval Ages would have been like.

Tania Vial