Venice & Padua, Italy

I went to Venice on Hallowe'en, and it was hell. OK that's an exaggeration, but it was at least purgatory. (Il Purgatorio is a theme to which - spoiler alert - I'll return in an upcoming blog). On a Thursday afternoon in October, Venice was a teeming throng of annoying cretins; what it's like on a June weekend, I don't even want to imagine. What can you do? How can you avoid overcrowding in small places that everyone in the whole world wants to visit? They've already imposed a daily 'tourist tax' of €5 during peak periods in summer. If I were in charge, it'd be €100 a head year-round, and €200 for kids.

Obviously I'm not being serious here. I'm complaining about a crowd that I'm part of, and I'm a stinking hypocrite. But it's a shame that there's nowhere you can go to escape from the crowd. Even in modern-day New York, there are places and moments in which you feel like you could be in a movie by Scorsese or Woody Allen; even in modern-day London, there are places and moments where you can let yourself be transported into a Dickens novel, or at least an episode of 'The Crown'. In Venice I could never shake the sensation of being in a theme park, or an airport terminal. I didn't stay too long.

Shakespeare set 'Othello' in Venice, as well as (obviously) 'The Merchant of Venice'. 'The Taming Of The Shrew' was set in nearby Padua, which I found more pleasant and peaceful. I hadn't realised that what we call Padua and Mantua, the Italians themselves call Padova and Mantova. (It would be funny if there was a place called Legova, but there isn't.)

Both Venice and Padua are rather pricey places to stay. Which is why I've parked myself down the road in Vicenza. The trains are nice and easy, and Vicenza itself is perfectly nice. I'm continuing along the path of discovering that Italy is really rather tremendous all round, and I know that most of you are already ahead of me on this topic, which is why I'm refraining from going into too much detail, for now at least. 

The Rialto bridge, Venice
"Signor Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my money and my usances..."
'The Merchant of Venice', act 1, scene 3

Another bit of Venice

Vicenza

Chasing rainbows in Padua

This makes me sad.

Prato della Valle, in Padua

Edd vs Food #138
French tacos (apparently they're a thing) containing chicken & spicy Merguez sausage
At a random place in Vicenza

Milan, Italy

This is trip number 14. In fact Italy was meant to be trip number 15. But my original plan for trip 14 went down the khazi when I managed to lose both my passport and my phone - separately - in one weekend. It happens to us all, doesn't it? (Just smile & nod please.) In the end I got my phone back, and replacing my passport was due soon anyway, and I re-arranged my flights without too much expense. So in January you'll all find out what my original plan was; and in the meantime, Italy.

Whenever you look for accommodation in a rich-world city, especially at short notice, you're always faced with a 'trilemma': your digs can be nice, and they can be cheap, and they can be central, but they can only ever be two of those three things. Personally I always prefer to compromise on location. I've got a fairly posh studio flat, for not much money, in a decent suburb called Rho. The train to & from central Milan costs €2.60 and takes 20 minutes, both of which I can afford to spare.

First impressions of the Italians? Here at Edd's Travels there is no squeamishness about affirming stereotypes. They talk loudly, they drive aggressively, they smoke far too much, they're good-looking, and sometimes they make that pained cupped-hand gesture like you've asked them to putta da pineapple on da pizza. But I have to say that the friendliness has been above average by big-city standards. Also the main train station and the main shopping mall are both the most impressive of their kind that I've ever seen, anywhere in the world. I didn't manage to get a ticket for the opera at La Scala, so on this occasion I can't bore you by flaunting my pretentious side, but I did manage to get tickets for the San Siro and so I can bore you with football instead. AC Milan 0 Napoli 2. See pic below. 

And overall I like this city more than I was expecting to. I'm surprised by how manageable and civilised it all is. I've done my usual thing of fitting in inconspicuously by wandering round in shorts and a T-shirt while all the locals are togged up to the nines in hats & jackets - it's a steady 20°C or so right now. Italy is off to a good start.

Il Duomo cathedral (right)
and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II shopping mall (left).

Milano Centrale train station

Canals in the university neighbourhood of Navigli

I don't care if it saves the planet. I'm not going to drive one of these. Ever.

The musical of 'Saturday Night Fever' is in town (left)
and the safety notices on the underground Metro are joining in (right)

AC Milan 0 Napoli 2 at the San Siro

Edd vs Food #137
My first ever Italian pizza in actual Italy. Life achievement unlocked.
This one was tomato, mozzarella, spicy salami, peppers, and Tropea onions.
From Il Regno della Pizza in Rho
('Regno' means 'Kingdom' - when Eurovision comes round we are 'il Regno Unito')

Madrid, Spain

Those of you who are paying attention will have noticed that my last blog from Havana was a wee bit grumpy. Those of you who are really paying attention will remember that in the first blog of this trip, I named Madrid as my 'happy place'. Here I have fresh food, I have craft beer, the queues and rolling black-outs of Cuba are now far behind me, and God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.

Very soon things will get better yet when I land back in the UK to spend the festive season with family and friends. (I spent Christmas 2020 in Spain, but only because Covid exile left me with no choice.) 

And so Edd's Travels are at an end for 2023. It's the first time I've done two trips in one year and it won't be happening again any time soon. There'll be just one trip in 2024. I haven't decided where yet, but I can say for certain that it won't be anywhere in the English-speaking world, or for that matter the Spanish-speaking world. Watch this space some time in autumn I think. In the meantime, as the song goes, I wanna wish you a merry Christmas...¡feliz Navidad!

I only stayed in Madrid one night and there wasn't time to take any interesting photos.
So here's a pointless view from the flight home afterwards.