Batum's Travels: Florence to Venice (Lido Island)

Another good trip from Firenze to Venezia and luggage was a problem again, but that’s the way it goes with so many tourists.

We left the train for the tourist office and were given by a kind hearted English speaking tourist a map and things to see in Venice guide book. We purchased a 72 hour transport pass for 33 euro each, which in hindsight was very good value as each Vaporetto (water bus) trip was 6.50 Euro. Saved heaps.

Getting to Lido Island was a sight seeing trip in its own right even with our heavy luggage in tow.

On the Lido we didn’t have far to walk until we found our accommodation, the Villa Berghinz which is located right next to one of Lido’s canals.

Villa Berghinz

If you’re visiting Venice this is a great location as Venice is packed and finding your way back through narrow dark alleyways late at night is a worry. The Lido is much, much quieter and safer.

As we arrived we met Mara a lovely lady who spoke no English at all. We were struggling trying to explain to her that we were from Australia not Austria. At the crucial moment another couple arrived who were from Austria, which explained the confusion. The Austrians introduced themselves during this confusing time and we were too embarrassed to ask their names later on. The bonus was that they could speak Italian as well as English. Life became much easier although there was a huge amount of confusion as to which couple was to go to which room.

We had heavy luggage with us and the Austrians had only two light weekend bags as they were only staying for two nights. Both couples were shown the various option of rooms with one room at ground level and the other way up high. The last flight of stairs to the third floor was very steep and extremely narrow. This lovely couple from Austria thankfully decided that us taking the bottom room made more sense. A little time after we sorted things out Giorgio our host who spoke some English arrived.

We met the Austrian couple at breakfast on the next 2 mornings. They had two kids, a 17 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. We made many comparisons between life in Austria versus Australia. On the last day somehow the subject of cricket came up in the conversation. We started to explain the game and how there was a thing called a test match that lasted five days. They kept looking at us in disbelief. They thought that we were pulling their legs. Then I explained that an Australian test match cricketer on average would earn more than a million euro and that this was much, much more than an Australian based soccer player could earn. This made things worse.

It was only after we explained that the British had come up with the game and explained some of the details that some form of trust returned. I guarantee that they will be googling test match cricket when they get back home to see whether they have been had.

The following photos were all taken on Lido Island.

A Venice sunset.