The rain has stopped-just about.
This morning one of the Italian campers in the Vincenza carpark was having trouble with their alarm, which kept going off (luckily, after 8am). I can sympathise as I have had a few problems with my alarm too. I haven’t been bothering to set the van alarm (by clicking the central locking) in campsites, but I have done when I have spent the night in carparks. The cab has an infrared sensor but when I have the curtain pulled between cab and living area, it is safe. What I have had difficulty remembering is that, when I wake up bleary eyed and open the curtains in the morning ,the alarm goes off! What is worse, is that on clicking the key fob to turn it off, it then reactivates itself after 20 seconds, if a door has not been opened, and goes off again. It took me a bit of time to work out that I had to open a door, after deactivating the alarm: some people next to me have had an early alarm call. Another camper today couldn’t start his van, and was fiddling under the bonnet when I left.
This morning one of the Italian campers in the Vincenza carpark was having trouble with their alarm, which kept going off (luckily, after 8am). I can sympathise as I have had a few problems with my alarm too. I haven’t been bothering to set the van alarm (by clicking the central locking) in campsites, but I have done when I have spent the night in carparks. The cab has an infrared sensor but when I have the curtain pulled between cab and living area, it is safe. What I have had difficulty remembering is that, when I wake up bleary eyed and open the curtains in the morning ,the alarm goes off! What is worse, is that on clicking the key fob to turn it off, it then reactivates itself after 20 seconds, if a door has not been opened, and goes off again. It took me a bit of time to work out that I had to open a door, after deactivating the alarm: some people next to me have had an early alarm call. Another camper today couldn’t start his van, and was fiddling under the bonnet when I left.
Padua ' s botanical garden -the circular wall represents the world My mission for today was to seek out the university botanical garden in neighbouring Padua. It has World Heritage status as it is the earliest in the world, having been founded in 1545.It is enclosed within a circular wall, representing the world, and the plots are surrounded by a ring of water representing the ocean. It has over 6000 species of plants.As you can see from the picture I was unfortunately way too early in the spring to see it at its best. Nonetheless it was a pleasant stroll round. The sun was out ,and as I wandered, the clocks all around Padua started striking 12 one after another.Like the clocks of Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, "they were well on their way to the next hour before the whole business of the old one was wound up".
The ticket also gave entry to the university’s little ethnographical museum, which had a particularly striking series of 3D computerised reconstructions of the facial features of the whole sequence of known hominids up to homo sapiens, based in their skulls—a bit random, but it was interesting. There was more to Padua, but I skipped the rest and moved on.
I headed for Chioggia, which is a small port 20 km south of Venice at the bottom end of the lagoon. Having been to Venice a couple of times, I had hesitated to take the 2 hour ferry down to Chioggia as there was always so much else to experience, but I had always wanted to see it. I was aware of “The battle of Chioggia” in 1380 when the Venetians saved their bacon and inflicted a defeat on the Genoan fleet that was besieging the lagoon and strangling the Venetians’ trade.
The ticket also gave entry to the university’s little ethnographical museum, which had a particularly striking series of 3D computerised reconstructions of the facial features of the whole sequence of known hominids up to homo sapiens, based in their skulls—a bit random, but it was interesting. There was more to Padua, but I skipped the rest and moved on.
I headed for Chioggia, which is a small port 20 km south of Venice at the bottom end of the lagoon. Having been to Venice a couple of times, I had hesitated to take the 2 hour ferry down to Chioggia as there was always so much else to experience, but I had always wanted to see it. I was aware of “The battle of Chioggia” in 1380 when the Venetians saved their bacon and inflicted a defeat on the Genoan fleet that was besieging the lagoon and strangling the Venetians’ trade.
An aerial shot of Chioggia: Sottomarina is the beach area in the top right of the picture
Chioggia is called by some “Little Venice” as so many places seem to be, just because they have a canal. It actually has a wide main street down the middle but also three canals, and a large waterfront area. On the approaches over a causeway across the lagoon there was a busy industrial scene with small ships and boats in various states of repair, renovation and abandonment. It is a no-frills working fishing port, and I walked past the busy fish market. I tried to go in and watch the fish auction-I wasn’t allowed in: presumably I would have interfered with the furious bidding going on round the boxes of fish. Attached to Chioggia is the end of the sand spit linking to the mainland to the south part of the lagoon. This part is called Sottomarina and in the Italian style has a long beachfront made up of concession after concession, each with its own café, children’s play area, swimming pool and beach section. They were all completely shut up.
 Chioggia's one attractive canal....(in the centre of the picture above) |  ...Its less attractive one(on the right in the picture above) |
I had considered spending the night in a camper spot at the end of the beachfront of Sottomarina, but although populated by half a dozen campers, it didn’t seem very exciting, and still less so was the surrounding area, being all shut up out of season.
I therefore moved on in the late afternoon to Fusina ,a little way north ,and a point on the lagoon immediately opposite Venice, where there is a grassy camp site ("Camping Fusina")with camping under the pine trees ,its own bar and restaurant, and views across the lagoon. It is adjacent to a landing stage which has an hourly vaporetto service across to Venice (landing at Fondamente delle Zattere) .
I therefore moved on in the late afternoon to Fusina ,a little way north ,and a point on the lagoon immediately opposite Venice, where there is a grassy camp site ("Camping Fusina")with camping under the pine trees ,its own bar and restaurant, and views across the lagoon. It is adjacent to a landing stage which has an hourly vaporetto service across to Venice (landing at Fondamente delle Zattere) .
 The somewhat uninspiring "Sosta" at Sottomarina,complete with metal palm trees. I spent 2 hours here before deciding to move |  The vaporetto landing stage at Fusina,a couple of hundred yards from my new campsite.(Hourly waterbus to Venice.) |
The view of Venice from the van tonight at Camping Fusina .
The Alps and Dolomites seem very close; the whole range is visible across the horizon (probably 60 km to the north),with snow glimmering in the sun-yes, the sun has finally reappeared! I would guess that the incessant rain on the lowlands which I have experienced over the last 3 days will have meant a fresh coating of snow on the mountains.
The Alps and Dolomites seem very close; the whole range is visible across the horizon (probably 60 km to the north),with snow glimmering in the sun-yes, the sun has finally reappeared! I would guess that the incessant rain on the lowlands which I have experienced over the last 3 days will have meant a fresh coating of snow on the mountains.
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