From Austria to Italy
 |
| Villach Austria campsite |
 |
| Villach Austria campsite |
We left Villach, Austria (which is on the Slovinia/Italy
boarder) on Wednesday morning for a 3.5 hour drive to
www.marinadivenezia.it in Punta
Sabbioni, Italy, which is 2 km from the port where you catch the public ferry
to Venice, a mere 25 minute boat ride away.
Not many campsites in these parts take dogs, fortunately this one does.
Brian certainly did his home work on the camp site location and facilities, it
is really good.
When we arrived here, we were taken aback by the size and
how busy the site is. They have stewards
who attend every vehicle arriving and sort out all your paperwork, you don’t
even leave your car. Then they send you
on your way, we were told to pitch in section Marina 8000 which is just for
campers with dogs, this section alone must have at least 200 – 300 pitches.
There must be around 2000 pitches in all, a massive camp site, saying that they
do have all the facilities you could ever need, restaurants, take away,
supermarket and a fantastic swimming pool complex and the beach is to die for,
miles and miles of golden sand. The only
drawback is that it is school holiday for Germany and the site is packed with
them all holidaying. Not a problem, it’s just not like our usual choice of
campsite. This one was chosen for its location.
A few pictures of the campsite, swimming pool complex and
beach.
 |
| large dog walking park on campsite |
 |
| Pool complex |
 |
| Outside restaurants |
 |
| The beach |
Venice
On Thursday with the weather being absolutely fantastic,
beautiful sunshine and clear skies we decided to brave a trip to Venice, which
turned out to be a lovely experience.
First we arrived at the Ferry port and purchased our
tickets, 14 Euros each return for the public ferry, Bailey went free, he just
had to wear a muzzle which he is not keen on.
After a pleasant 25 minute boat trip we disembarked in Venice. This city must be one of the most beautiful
cities we have ever visited, it was teaming with people, totally crowded but
the architecture and ambience of Venice just sinks into you and obviously no
cars makes it even better.
We started off from the port and headed to Piazza S. Marco,
the main square, as usual the Basilica di San Marco is partly under
scaffolding it’s now a standing joke
between Brian and myself as every time we visit a cathedral or major building
it is always under scaffolding of some sort), however the scaffolding did not
detract from the building, this church like every other building , waterway and
Piazza in Venice is awe inspiring and on such a perfect day a dream to behold.
We had no set plan and just decided to wander around the
city, I think Bailey had more photos taken of him than I took of Venice, and I
took a lot. He was quite the star attraction.
We had a very pleasant lunch in one of the hundreds of
restaurants and obviously it had to be Pizza.
Here are a few pictures of Venice, in no particular order.
 |
| Val's first attempt at nude modelling. |