Hungary: The Castro

Ciao Again!

On our third day in Venice we asked our hotel proprietors what they would recommend us seeing---a part of Venice you simply must see. They recommended the Castro, which is the oldest neighborhood in Venice, and it's at the tip of the island that Venice proper occupies. My cousin Sarah had told me that the best way to see Venice is to walk through all the little neighborhoods, and that's what Jimmy and I had wanted to do, so it was nice to have the same recommendation from our hosts. Normally I enjoy art museums, but when I have a limited amount of time to spend in a place, I prefer to soak up the scenery and visit churches. Art museums are great when you have more time on your hands, but if I only have a few days to spend somewhere I don't want to spend it in line in an art museum, waiting for someone else to get out of the way of a painting I want to view.

After our morning ritual of latte macchiato at the local cafe, we struck out for the Castro. This required us to cross the Academia Bridge and the Grand Canal, go through San Marco square, and venture down into the area known as the Castro.

Here are some shots I took of us getting there.

The Domes of San Marco

Palace of the Doge

Bell Tower and Cathedral Domes

Here is a shot looking back towards San Marco.

Looking Back Towards San Marco and the Bell Tower

And here you can see what it looked like as we made our way alongside the lagoon edge and on towards the Castro proper.

Motorboat on the Lagoon

On the Way to the Castro

And now you can see shots of what it looked like as we really got deeper into the neighborhood.

Brick Bridge in the Castro

Building in the Castro Neighborhood

Row of Pink Buildings in the Castro

A Sunny Alley in the Castro

Just a note about the Castro. The buildings tend to be simpler and less ornate than many of the buildings in the rest of Venice, and there are not nearly as many tourists here. You see many more people working and going about their daily lives, including holding markets from little boats docked on the canal side. It's very quaint and quite fascinating. It feels like "real Venice" without the tourists and the crowds. Just a city of no cars where the streets are water and bridges are as much of a necessity as sidewalks.

Shrine in the Castro

Red Building in the Castro

Brick Bridge in the Castro

Peaceful Neighborhood

Busy Street in the Castro

Clothesline

Grocery

Easter Cakes in Castro Bakery

At this point I must relate a funny story. I had been drinking a lot of water and Jimmy a lot of Coke, and I needed to use the bathroom (of course). I swear, in all travels there is the dreaded moment when you have to find the WC. We had no trouble in the main part of Venice but in the Castro there was no public WC evident, so I suggested we step into a little bar and have a beverage and use the facilities.

Jimmy ordered a beer and I ordered a "spritzer" simply because everybody else was ordering them all over Venice and I wanted to know what they were and how they tasted. Jimmy went to the back of the restaurant first. When he came back up front, he said, "You're not going back there. It's a squatter!" I told him we women could squat better than he could. The toilet was hilarious, and it was, in fact, a squatter. It was a giant bowl sitting on the floor.

A few days later in Padova we went out to eat. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner because I was in horrible pain with my broken arm and was quite miserable. I accidentally walked into the men's room, and it was nothing but a hole in the floor. Italy is not by far the most underdeveloped place I've been. I've travelled all over Central America and Romania, and these places are far poorer and less developed than Italy, but I must say, Italy takes the cake thus far for having the most primitive bathroom facilities.

Here is our bar.