Venice: Is that a Canal I see Before Me?

Venice is so much more than I expected.

Firstly, Venice is beautiful.  There is no question that Venice is one of the most wonderful cities in the world. The architecture, the canals, the narrow walkways that form a maze through the city lend it an air of mystery and bustle.  A feeling of wonder and a sense of a thriving, industrious  mecca.  The lack of cars on the island of Venice is a great blessing and lends to its uniqueness.

The light in Venice is absolutely exquisite and perfect for taking photographs of great beauty.  The play of the light on the water in the canals, the reflected light on the walls buildings and the variety of the building styles makes for wonderful photography. Photographs are naturally framed by the buildings and canals and the variety of subject matter is virtually infinite.  The crafts people of Venice have a very keen understanding of colour.  The use of colour in their decorative arts is wonderful and produces product of great beauty.

Rialto Bridge: Venice

We stayed in a small apartment near the Rialto area.  This is one of the oldest parts of the city.  We were worried whether or not we would find food to eat or drinks, but this was never a problem.  Throughout Venice the ground Floor “Piano Terresse” of almost every building is given over to shops of one sort or another.  Cafés, gelatereia, bead shops, glass shops, jewelry stores, leather bag shops, grocery stores, pasticerecie or mask shops.  (I would challenge any one to leave Venice without a mask or a piece of jewelry with Murano glass.)  The food was very reasonably priced and we took great advantage of the many cafes and Gelateria, over and over again.

Rialto Market in Venice

Rialto district is famous for its markets. While staying in Venice a visit to the markets is a must. Best go early for fresh produce including fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, olives and prosciutto.  Using simple ingredients, we were able to make up very tasty dinners with Pasta or lentils.  The wine that is available in Venice is also a must try.  There are many places to buy local Italian wines.  These lack the full body of Australian wines, and some of the subtlety of French wines, but they are very drinkable and make a great accompaniment to the wonderfully fresh produce that is available.  We were able to put together a very simple but delicious dinner of cherry tomatoes, quartered and olives, heated for about 10 minutes in olive oil flavoured with garlic, and throwing this in with a bowl of freshly cooked bow tie pasta and topped with freshly grated Reggiano Cheese.

St Marks Square, early morning.

St Marks Square early in the morning, before the crowds come in for the day, is beautiful.  St Marks Square, later in the day when St Marks Cathedral is open at 9:30 am is less so.  Venice in summer can be very hot.   Do yourself a favour.  Arrange your visit to Venice by staying a few days in the city.  Venice is a maze of walking streets, ranging from narrow to very narrow, waterways and bridges that cross them.  There are no straight paths from one point to another, anywhere in Venice.  Although, the most important spots, St Marks Square, the Train Station, the bus terminal and the Rialto Bridge have very clear signage to get to them.  But you never get to walk in a straight line for more than 100 m and you travel through very narrow  lane ways and across small squares and over bridges all the time, and you can never see where you are going.  It takes a little while to work out the system.  Once it becomes clear, then you can concentrate on the really fun part of being in Venice.  Getting lost.  When you are lost you come across the most amazing secrete places.

Venice, is built on a series of Islands in the Lagoon at the mouth of the Brenta River which runs from the Euganean Hills down to the Adriatic Coast.  The Grand Canal that runs like a snake through the centre of the Archipelago is actually the channel trough which the water from the Brentna river flows through the lagoon.  I was always of the impression that Venice is sinking, and it may well be.  But it is also growing.  As recently as the late 19^th and early 20^th century the spaces between the islands has been filled in, as they have since the city was founded in about 576 AD, to give it the form that we see it in today, a series of land masses separated by Canals of various widths and connected by countless bridges.  Many of the areas which contain buildings today were formerly areas of reclaimed marshes and today seem very solid.



Recycled Bass Relief on house wall in Siestra San Polo

The buildings of Venice are very interesting.  Because the cost of building materials has always been expensive, the inhabitants of Venice have always been very big into recycling materials.  So in the buildings that exist today, one can see architectural elements and adonrments that have clearly been taken from older buildings.  This adds to the sense of discovery that one gets when roaming around the city.

We had such a wonderful time and we discovered so much while we were there, it was too much to digest in one sitting...

Away By Air to Venice

We’re off!

Three weeks of summer holiday.  Visiting Venice, Limnos and Cipieres.  We were joined on our holiday by Claire’s mother Sandra and Claire's niece Bridget.  A happy party of 6.

First stop Venice.  We set out on Sunday night at 2:00 am in the morning.  We flew Emirates, travelling directly to Venice with a 4 hour stopover in Dubai.  I think that we shall try to avoid this leg in the future.  The Seats on the Emirates 777-300 were very uncomfortable. The base of the seat was only three quarters the length of the average person’s thigh bone so the edge of the seat was digging into my hamstring muscle fort eh whole trip, which meant that it was almost impossible to sleep on this segment of the journey.  The food was simply appalling.  Stale sandwiches for a late supper, tasteless sausage and omelet for breakfast.  In fairness, Claire argued that she has had equally awful food on other flights and she told me that I was being a terrible snob and was really only complaining about the fact that I was not in Business Class.

A very busy Dubai Airport

When we did get to Dubai International airport at 5:50 am it was absolutely packed and as the morning wore on it became harder and harder and harder to find a place to sit while we waited for our connecting flight.  The major reason for this seemed to be the sheer volume of connections going through Dubai airport nowadays.  Emirates Airline appear to have a very aggressive plan for expansion and are setting up connections between cities all over the world, and channelling a huge number of people through their hub in Dubai.  The Airport is huge and wonderful, but it really cannot cope with the sheer volume of people that travel through it each day. There are not enough seats for people to sit on in the terminal and the bathrooms are heavily over subscribed.   People were forced to sit, sleep and even play cards on the floor throughout the terminal.

Reading the "Thief Lord" or "Our Guide to Venice"

The girls made the best of it they could.  They sat around reading one or their favourite books, “The Thief Lord”.  This book was an inspiration for us to travel to Venice, and now we are using it as a guide for the visit we are anticipating. 

The second leg of our Journey, from Dubai to Venice was much more comfortable than the first leg. The food was better and the journey shorter.  The transfer from Venice Marco Polo airport to Venezia was easy and quick using the Venice public Transport ACTV.  We were at the office of our housing agent within an hour of landing at the airport and ready for our Venetian Holiday Adventure to begin. 

Gabriella and Bridget striding out on the Piazzale Roma the Venetian Bus Terminal on arival in Venice

Our first view of a Venetian Canal.

Away by Sea to Bintan

The weekend of the 26th of May, found us taking a long planned for trip to the Holiday Island of Bintan for the running of the Bintan Triathlon.

Bintan is a 50 minute Ferry ride to the South of Singapore and is a very nice holiday destination for the good folk of Singapore. 

We set out on Friday afternoon at around 2:00 pm as I thought that I would be able to get on my way before a majority of the triathletes started making their way to the island.  I also thought that it would be OK for the girls to get away a couple of hours early from school, or even not go at all, because, well they are so far ahead on their school work, right?  I did book the whole trip back in February, so I was pretty optimistic at that stage, with the whole year ahead of us.

Well, the ferry was absolutely jam packed with competitors travelling to the island, all skipping out of Singapore for a P.O.E.T.S Friday.  As for the girls getting away early, well there were a number of school assessments planned for both Gabriella and Sophie the Friday that we planned to take off.  They had to go to school until lunch time and race like crazy to get to the ferry terminal before the gates closed for the scheduled ferry.  Fortunately I had been able to get there early and check in the bikes before the big press that came as the girls were arriving from school.  As it turns out they made it with but minutes to spare.  Not as relaxed as I'd imagined it, but we soon started to get that long weekend feeling and the anticipation of our exciting adventure began to grow. 

Even back in February, all the reasonably priced rooms at Nirwana Resort Hotel, the host venue for the event, were sold out.  Other accommodation in this complex and those nearby was pretty expensive for the four of us.  So I booked at a remote hotel on the North East Coast of the Island called Bintan Cabana Beach Resort.  This was about 30 km from the Ferry terminal but proved to be very accessible by hotel shuttle bus and taxi.

The resort arranged for us to be picked up at the Ferry terminal in Bintan and there were quite a few fellow travellers with us on route to the East coast of the island.  Among our companions on the bus were a party of Singaporeans who seemed to be intent on letting their hair down.  After a couple of the girls spilt beer all over themselves and the floor of the bus, and one of the young men nearly fell out the door as we drove out of the car park, I felt that I could have been on a bus with a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis in London's  Earl's Court in the1970s. 

The Resort was perfect for us.  The staff were deligthful and very helpful.  The food was delicious and inexpensive and the accommodation was comfortable. As it was a little bit out of the way, most of the other guests were Indonesian residents and not international tourists, though we as english speakers were well catered for. So it was a great base for us during our stay on the island.

Shivering on the Equator!
And the rain tumbled down.

Saturday we travelled by local taxi back to the Triathlon venue.  The triathlon was lots of fun.  Although, for a while we were not sure if it would ever get underway.  Half an hour before the scheduled race start the skies opened and the island was deluged.  This was OK, but with it came some pretty serious lightning.  So the race start was delayed, initially for 30 minutes.  Some 45 minutes after the scheduled start the rain had moved on.  By this time however, every one was shivering with cold.  Fortunately, the sea temperature was unaffected by the rain.  It was much warmer in the water than out, so I used a quick swim in the ocean to get my body temperature back up.

About an hour after the scheduled start, we were off.  It was a relatively small field, so all the males doing the Olympic distance event started at the same time.  All 410 of us.  For the first 350 m I don't think I swam so much as climbed over the bodies of my fellow competitors and they over mine in turn.  But for all that it was relatively quick swimming because one could gain a very big drag from the surrounding swimmers.

The swim leg was 2 laps, allowing a short rest at the half way mark.  I swam OK until the last 300 m when I started to lose my way a bit, started zigging and zagging across the course and consequently dropped my speed.

My first transition was fast.  I have developed the technique of strapping my bike shoes on while ridding so I don't spend time pulling on my shoes and trying to run in the bike shoes which is a bit awkward.  To do this I bought some new bike shoes.  It is impossible to achieve this feat if you are wearing a pair of shoes with a tongue.  This shoes I have are Shimano TR-32s and they feature a design that is fold over enabling me to slip them on while on the bike without too much risk of ending up, face first, on the road.  Using this technique I was able to take about a minute and a half off my normal transition time with a small drop in my speed for the first 300 m of the bike leg.

The bike leg at Bintan was quite a challenge.  Not for the usual reason in the equatorial region, heat, but for the hills.  Don't get me wrong, the hills were not exceptionally tough, but there are no hills to train on in Singapore, so any small slope is a challenge.  This took the sting out of quite a few competitors' legs, mine included.  For all that it was a fun course.  Particularly nice was the route we took through one of the local villages.  The citizens of Bintan gave us a lot of support when we needed it at around the 30 to 35 km mark.  It was great to see the families lined along the course to cheer us on as we sped past.  And speed we did.  It was a nice flat section of the course, and with the crowd support I got a bit carried away.  I tried a bunny hop over one of the speed humps in the road and had to remind myself to calm it down 'cause it would be tooooo embarrassing to throw the bike down in front of the spectators, no matter how much fun I thought I was having.

My second transition was nearly as quick as the first and took 52 seconds.  This was the 5th fastest transition for my age group and I am very happy with this part of my race.

Competitor 1809 finished and officially medalled

The run was really nice.  Two 5 km laps in cool, overcast conditions.  A few sharp hills but all in all a pretty good course.  This is a very tough part of the triathlon.  I noted a lot of competitors having trouble at this time.  One guy tripping over his own feet, another runner going along quite smoothly and then making a sharp grab for a cramping hamstring.   There were a number of casualties.  I was closed to cramping for the last lap but was able nurse myself over the line.  Great joy and very happy did I feel.

We got back to a beautiful sunset that we witnessed from the privacy of our hotel room balcony.

Sunset, Bintan Cabana Beach Resort



Gabriella powering out of the water after the swim leg



The next morning was the girls' turn to compete.  Sunday we were up early again and back across the island for the Youth Triathlon.   The course was a bit shorter than the Olympic distance and sprint distance events held the day before, and the weather was wetter.  Great for keeping cool, but absolutely treacherous on the bike leg.  Many parents were displaying maximum angst as we watched the youths and kids attack the final corner that led to a steep and very slippery decline to the transition point.  Fortunately, no one dismounted unintentionally, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when the last rider made their way safely onto the run course.

After the race we spent the afternoon having lunch and chilling out at the Nirwana Resort.  The pool at the resort is pretty impressive, so hopefully, next time we travel to Bintan for the annual triathlon, we get to spend more time in the pool then around it.

All in all, we had a great weekend.  The triathlon was very well organised.  The transfer from the ferry to the resort was all taken care of by the ferry company and the bikes stored securely at the resort.  I would definitely recommend this event to anyone who wanted to compete in a triathlon in this wonderfully tropical location.



Sophie powering out the water after her swim leg 





Local Iguanas at the lizard zoo in the Nirwana Resort Hotel