Day 5

Thursday, February 9th, 2017

Yeah, very sad to be leaving. The flight was at 10:35 so we figured catching the 7:32 boat to the airport was the best. The alarm went off at 6:00 and we struggled to get out of bed, have a shower, change and pack our bags. Have given up complaining about getting up early as what other choice is there? Checking out of the hotel 30 minutes later we settled our room charges (€68 for drinks last night and the tourist room tax).

The boat - “Linea Blu” - to the airport is one you have to buy special tickets for. Yesterday we had purchased these from the vaporetti station near the train station so we were prepared. The nearest stop for us is “Guglie”, only a short distance from the grocery store we found by accident on the first day on the opposite side of the Grand Canal from the hotel. The cobbled streets were dark and quiet as we dragged our luggage along. Over a few bridges and we walked the final stretch to the boat stop passing by fishmongers setting up their stall for the morning as they unloaded their fish from a barge.

Of course, we were about 45 minutes early so as Mel had a sit I went for a wander picking up some pastries from a local bakery - Several cream donuts, some of this flaky pastry that we have seen around the city, and a chocolate chip bun. We sat and waited in the vaporetti stop for the boat to arrive, taking in the quiet of the city and admiring the beautiful sunrise of what looks to be another nice day in Venice.

Mel amused herself in feeding a few of the local pigeons including one she nicknamed “stumpy” as it only had one foot (the other leg ending in a stump).

At 7:30 the boat arrived and was quite crowded with the seats around the end of the front and back cabins lined with people. The middle of the boat was piled up with luggage which we added ours too then wedged ourselves into a seat.

There were only a few stops in Venice before the captain opened up the throttle on the open stretch of water between us and the airport on the mainland. It was a quiet trip with no talking as people looked, much like ourselves, a bit depressed to be leaving never mind the early start. There was nothing to see out the small windows now covered with water so not much to do other than sit back and wait to arrive.

The airport vaporetti terminal is at the end of a small channel leading off of the ocean and is quite a modern affair with a number of concrete berths for boats to dock at. We waited for the rest to disembark before leisurely gathering up our bags to make our way to the terminal.

We were not really in a hurry with more than 2 1/2 hours before our plane was scheduled to leave. I stopped in the wonderfully heated toilet facility here for a few minutes before heading up the escalator for the trip to the airport terminal itself which was a ten minute walk away.

Having our boarding passes that I printed before leaving home we were ready to go through security straightaway. There is some construction here so we got a bit lost but eventually managed to find security and proceeded through without any issues into the shopping area surrounding the gates. A lot of the shops were not of interest to us particularly given that we were worried about our luggage allowance though we did have a look around. There were some nice looking chocolates and things but nothing here we could not get back home. We had something to eat from a small cafe before having a seat for a few minutes to relax. It was not too long before we made our way to the gate where there was already a queue for the flight which we joined with a number of people complaining particularly when a short 15 minute delay was announced. In many ways our short time here we have been outside of the tourist groups and it is nice we have been able to do so. If I wanted to be around people from where I lived or eat the food I get every day I would stay at home. I am glad we have been able to get out and see a bit of what I feel is the “real” city. The hotel was disappointing not in the service but rather that it catered to an American or British crowd with our breakfasts certainly aimed at them. It would have been nice to have stayed somewhere where they only spoke Italian and served Italian food and drink but I am not sure we would find that in Venice.

Soon enough the bus arrived to take us to the plane where the normal mad scramble of everyone finding their seats and shoving their bags in any available hole ensued.

I sat in my seat and looked out onto the tarmac of the airport. I had already left Venice behind though hopefully not for very long.

⇒ Thoughts