Europe 2007                                           
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Ponte del Diavolo
(Devil's Bridge)

In the small town of Borgo a Mozzano you'll find an odd looking bridge which crosses over the River Serchio. It's proper name is Ponte Della Maddalena, but like a lot of bridges throughout Europe that carry a bit of mysticism it has been dubbed "Devils Bridge" or to give it it's Italian name "Ponte del Diavolo".  How these bridges got their name revolves mostly around  the same story of the Devil barring the way over the bridge and only allowing the traveller to cross by paying a toll - of their soul.  Many variations have emerged over the years.

This particular Devil's Bridge was built around the year 1100 and was renovated in the early 1300s. During it's life it's been damaged by floods and in the  early 1900s it had another arch built into it to accommodate the rail line. It's an awkward bugger to photograph, because you can't get far enough away from it to get it all in the shot.......Well you can if you want to stand in the middle of the main road and get mowed down by a manic Italian truck driver, but we didn't really fancy that!

Mantova
(Mantua)

It's now almost time for us to leave Tuscany, we're going to be quite sad to leave here but Slovenia awaits and we're really looking forward to that.

We do have a bit of a problem though, when I booked our accommodation I cocked up the dates, so although we leave Tuscany today we're not actually due in Venice until tomorrow night. Never mind - out with the map and we'll choose somewhere to stay for tonight.  We look at staying in Verona but it's a huge place and I don't fancy driving around there looking for an hotel. In the end we decide on the small town of Mantova (Mantua) in Lombardy, the idea being that tomorrow we can take a run up to Lake Garda on the way to Venice. So that's decided then, I consult the sat nav for a hotel in Mantova and we set it to take us there.

On the way to Mantova we found this little guy sitting in the sun and getting himself a bronzy

Mantova - or Mantua as the Italians call it - turns out to be a rather nice little town. surrounded on 3 sides by a huge man made lake. (we don't get any photos of the lake though - it's far too hot and sticky so we can't really be arsed!)  The centre of the town is very old, an absolute maze of little streets - it's like a rabbit warren here.

First thing we have to do though is find an hotel, the one I got the sat nav to take us to was in the main square but we couldn't actually see it anywhere. Another was selected, and 5 mins later we were on the doorstep of the 4 star Rechigi Hotel demanding to be let in........"We're NOT tramps, we have money" we yelled! Eventually they relent and let us cross their highly polished threshold.  Nice hotel too, there's an MV Augusta in the foyer! 

Once we were booked in, showered and changed we set off to explore the town. We get lost a few times, the streets here are kind of strange - all sense of direction is lost. We eventually find a McDonalds though so we went and had a milk shake and a sit down. Now't like a McD's Milkshake to cool off.

Choggia

So off we go to to Lake Garda - well, we get as far as the Autostrada and a HUGE traffic jam. In the space of about an hour we cover a mile and a half.  It turns out to be an Italian bank holiday so every bugger and his mother are heading for the lakes - sound familiar?  A group discussion takes place and I decide we're not sitting in this crap. Instead of Garda I set the sat nav to take us to Chioggia, we get off the autostrada at the next junction and head for quieter roads.  Travelling in this way is fabulous - no restrictions, no timetables to keep to. Just make a decision on the spot and take off to wherever you fancy. Wee Jim and me chat about the next trip being purely spontaneous, no pre-booking just sail over here and head for where we want - or where the sun is..........It's a plan!  

Why Chioggia?  Well, Venice is part of a lagoon - about 25 miles long. Venice is at the top (north) and Chioggia is at the bottom with a few islands and stuff chucked in between.  Given that it's part of the same lagoon we anticipate that Chioggia will be like Venice but smaller - and probably nicer.  If we're to be perfectly honest neither Wee Jim or me know why we booked to go to Venice, we both hate crowed places and despise the usual tourist spots. I suppose it was a case of well - we're in the area so why not? 

Chioggia is indeed a nice little town, laid out in 2 parts - the old town and the more modern area with it's quite brash holiday maker attractions.......We head for the old town!  It's quite a busy little port but there are the little hidden passageways etc leading down to the canals that make it kind of interesting & different. 

Looks like it's gonna rain again!

We come across this old guy on the canalside, he must be about 70 odd and obviously doing a fair bit of touring in his old Fiat. He's sat on his little fold up chair at a little old fold up table eating a bowl of pasta and sauce he's just cooked on his wee primus stove, happy as a pig in shit.  I envy his freedom......a motorised tramp - brilliant. He's  doing no harm to anyone, even the cops come and have a friendly word but they don't chase him off, for which they have my utmost respect. I must be getting soft in my old age because I don't like to photograph him while he's eating so the shots of his old car will have to do.  God only knows how he sees out of those windows though!

Nope, still can't for the life of me think why we came here, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's perambulations around Venice like having my pubic hair pulled out with a pair of rusty pliers! Probably booked the hotel here after a night in the pub - it's the only explanation.

Anyway here we are at the hotel Cris in Mestre........well, to be accurate we're outside it trying to get in, the place is like Fort Knox and the car is parked in a disabled bay - there's a story about disabled bays I'll tell you later!  We've rung the bell several times and the place is dead - not a sign of life.  Eventually a little bloke comes to the door and lets us in. Oops! Sorry it's a little woman, and she looks like a lesbian, which brings back bad memories of Luxembourg a few years ago!  Speaks no English of course, so we're back to signs and gestures. By some miracle we get our room key and go get showered and changed.

The hotel Cris isn't bad, I had to book an hotel in Mestre - which is on the mainland and connected to Venice by a bridge - because hotels in Venice itself are horrendously expensive. Most people visiting for the odd day stay here in Mestre.  The rooms are nice and clean - even the lesbian person is quite nice but she keeps looking at Wee Jimmy's bum and breaking into a sweat.  We can't understand why all the security though, the car park has a huge iron gate with security cameras - the works.

After a good wash & brush up we head off to find some place to eat, but there's not too many around. First thing we encounter on joining the main road is some kind of fight going on, not really what we expected!  We walk a good way before finding a Pizza parlour so we go in and sit down....doesn't seem to be anywhere else around.  Walking  the half mile or so to get here we noticed quite a lot of Asian youths in the area, but think nothing of it.  By the time we've eaten and head home there are gangs of them everywhere, and some of them look a bit ......well you wouldn't want to go chat to them in a pally kinda way that's for sure.  All bit intimidating to say the least!  We now know the reason for the security at the hotel, I'd bolt everything I owned down if I lived around here - not nice.

Anyway - lets go look around Venice eh? First off we have to catch a bus, no problem there but it's hot and packed to the gunnels, full of sweaty people -  two of which we're about to become. It takes about six years to get to Venice - well it feels like it, but it's actually about 15 mins. We arrive at the  Piazza di Roma and heave a sigh of relief at getting off the stinking bus -  I hate it here already! But at least taking photos will keep me happy I suppose...................Next up is the waterbus - yippee doo !

The waterbus does a circular tour and takes us around the grand Canal

We're actually doing ok on the Waterbus, we have a decent seat and it's quite pleasant watching Venice unfold before us as we float by. The plan is to take the complete circular run for starters, then end up back at Piazza di Roma and decide where we want to go after that.............That's the plan, but the problem with plans is that some swine will always scupper them for you. The boat lands at St Marks Square and we sit there along with several other people while the masses & the faithful get off, but the boat stays put. It's only the piggin' drivers lunchtime, so we get lobbed off here. Here - at St. Marks square fer Christ's sake! Probably the most crowed place of sweaty gawping humanity on the planet and they kick us off the boat HERE!  Bollox!  We get off and join the throngs heading towards the square, we don't have a choice - we get swept along with the flow.  Eventually we make it out of there and go seek sanctuary in a sneaky McDonalds we find lurking in an alleyway. A milkshake will make us feel better - always does. 

The Bridge of Sighs

Just one Cornetto - give it to meeeeeeee!

Tell ya what - let's have a day out and allow flying vermin to climb all over us and shit on our shoulders, 
while a mate photographs it for posterity - lovely!

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