There’s one place everyone should have on their travel bucket list and that’s Venice. Love it or hate it, it’s certainly a place of romance and uniqueness. I visited the island just last Easter and was wowed by its buildings, bridges and best of all, boats.
Family Zuma the Dog have been barking about Venice for some time now. We’ve all visited different parts of Italy over the years and Venice is one we’ve wanted to visit for a long time. As soon as we set off in the car, I really embraced the touristy doggie thingy and while I usually run around off leash on my mountain retreat, this trip was spent close to my hoomans on a very tight leash. I didn’t mind this, of course, for a small dog like me, it would be easy to get lost amongst all the other tourists and many, many, many, other doggies, enjoying Venice’s delights. I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a dog friendly place and never felt so welcome anywhere. There was never a moment I couldn’t be with my hoomans, from shopping to restaurants and I could even take part in almost all of the tourist activities. I was petted so often, I thought I was going to end up with a bald patch on my head.
The adventure began as soon as we arrived in the Piazzale Roma, where the main bus and train stations feed tourists in and out of the ancient city. Completely disorientated and with suitcases galore my hoomans had no idea what they were doing or where to go, but forever the adventurers, they quickly spotted our first activity, which they hoped would take us to where we needed to go. A speed boat taxi ride through the Rio Nuovo to our hoomans boarding kennel for the next few nights was just the ticket. It was late evening, warm, but overcast, ladened with ruck sacks, suitcases, and me, I could see Mummy was soon getting a little hot under the collar. Peeling her jacket off in an effort to cool down we headed to the first taxi boat we could find. In the beginning I was a little scared about how I would get onto the boat. But as always, I took a brave stance and a big leap of faith towards the big wobbly thing and landed perfectly on deck with Mummy holding me tight on a short leash almost falling into the river close behind me. She’s so clumsy! *eyes roll* The rest of my hoomans followed quickly and collapsed in a heap, suitcases, bags and all on the comfy seats towards the back of the boat in the open top area so they could get some cool air and peer out at the sights. In no time we were jolted backward as the boat accelerated and we whizzed off full speed down the river. I sat up on the back seat and took in the sights. Sniffing the unusual smells in the air as we sped across the rough water, bouncing up and down, keeping one eye straight ahead, breathing deeply, and slowly, as I could feel myself start to turn green. It seemed only minutes before we pulled up at speed, bumping into the wall at our stop to disemwoof………..oh, hang on, disembark and wave goodbye to our friendly, but crazy taxi driver. I did enjoy the ride, though I really was glad to get off. I don’t think my lunch would have stayed in my belly for long if we had to remain on that boat for much longer.
I say it felt like only a few minutes on the boat, but it must have been longer. By the time we reached our hoomans boarding kennel, it was dark, time for dinner (a nice Venetian fish supper) and a snuggle. The treat for me, was that my bed got left at home, so I got sleep all night in bed with my hoomans. It had been a long day of driving and me stopping everyone for regular poop and wee stops had made the drive much longer than it needed to be, so with a long day ahead an early night was needed, and I dreamed of my first full day of exploring this city of Venice.
To be continued……………
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