Monastery Stay in Venezia

 Choosing a hotel in Venice requires some consideration, especially when you arrive there at night. That was the case when I decided Venice as a gateway to the Dolomite in the northern Italy from Tokyo, Japan. I landed on the Marco Polo Airport on June 28, 2019 and took the line No.5 ATVO shuttle bus to reach the Piazzale Roma, a square for the entry into Venice from the mainland. It was around 21 pm, but the square was still lively and busy with tourists. I had choose the hotel within around 5 minutes walking from this last bus stop, so I started to walk seemingly in the direction for the hotel with a printout of the Google map. But it was not so easy for a senior solo traveler carrying heavy travelling suitcase with a mountain rucksack on the back to locate the right path. Every 5 minutes, I asked people on the street if I was on the right track. Finally I met the two young girls who were visiting Venice from Mestre, the nearest mainland city to Venice. They were so charming and kind and guided me to just the front of the hotel. I really realized how important it was to make sure the access route in detail in Venice before departure. The town was like a maze and you wouldn't rely on taxis, because they can't enter into the narrow street.

 　　



 
 The hotel I choose was run by the Religious Family of the St. Joseph's Daughters of Caburlotto. This was my first experience in staying at the so called Monastery inn. It was comparatively cheap, but clean and quite with no TV nor fridge in the room and the restrict curfew did not allow guests to enter the inn between 0:00am 6:00am. I liked this kind of atmosphere that made a senior solo traveler like me feel relaxed. The only thing that had annoyed me during the 3 days' stay here was its labyrinthine corridors in the ancient medieval building. Every time when I was trying to move into the dining room for breakfast or go out for sightseeing, I got lost on the way.

 Venice is an amazingly popular destination for tourists with its awesome landscape built on islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea and the vaporetto, a water bus carrying people to and from along the Grand Canal. Water transportation is straightforward and convenient. The problem is there is no roads. 

    

I was looking for a toy shop in Venice, as my grandson of 6 years old wanted cool Italian sport car toys such as Lamborghini and Ferrari as souvenirs. I got off the vaporetto at Rialto along the Grand Canal after visiting the Basilica di S. Marco and the Lido Island, and started to stroll toward my hotel near Piazzale Roma, wondering if I might be able to find a toy shop. 

     




But after only 30 minutes walk, I got lost. Although there were some signposts found occasionally at the corner of houses, which seemingly showed the direction toward Piazzale Roma, but they were not dependable. I had always tried to follow the paths indicated by these signposts, but eventually they all disappeared. I realized that the old Venetian had the great talent and enthusiasm to build their houses on a lagoon capitalizing on water transportation, but with no consideration for inner roads.