Riviera dell Brenta part 1

Apologies my posts have been few and far between of late, it has been an incredibly busy week working at the Pav and Megan came to visit as well. I got eaten alive by mozzies last time I was at work (Sunday) and the back of my legs have come up in massive red bites, and my calves and ankles are swollen! I am applying incredibly liberal amounts of savlon and taking antihistamines I luckily got before I left exactly for this situation. It helps that Fi used to be a nurse, so she was giving me tips last night about what to do to reduce swelling etc.

Anyway, enough of my woes and onto the great trip I did on my day off last week. I went on a cruise down the Riviera dell Brenta which is where the Venetians would build their elaborate summer villas in the 16th century (or around that time, can't remember exactly!).

It started out rather worrisome, as where we were supposed to meet seemed to just be a normal vap stop and I was worried I would miss the (rather expensive) tour. Then more people appeared to arrive and hang about so I thought I must be in the right spot. I had booked lunch (which is extra) because I wasn't sure what other options there would be and I thought it might be a good way to talk to people. But alas everyone looked like they had bought picnics! More on that later though.
The boat we took was called Il burchiello which is what they used to call the special wooden boats that went down the river. On the way to the river mouth from Venice we passed a few interesting sites. Above is an uninhabited island that is what we think the islands of Venice looked like before they were settled.


There are a number of abandoned islands around the lagoon that have rundown buildings on them - they are all quite gorgeous and I would love to live on one and do it up.

This is what the countryside looked like most of the way along the river, and this is just near the mouth. It was very 'tuscan' and just exciting to see some countryside after being surrounded by canals and narrow streets. There was a lot of agriculture, with round hay bales about and tractors raking fields.