Floating city and random catch ups

So there has been a slight change of plans from our three days in Venice. Our friends Sarah and Alberto are staying in Cividale del Fruili with some of their friends to celebrate Festa Medievale, an annual medieval festival where the neighbourhoods dress in traditional medieval costume, decorate the town and compete against each other in several events across the weekend such as archery, crossbow shooting and a relay running race through a 4km

loop around the old cobbled streets of the town.

We got into Venice early doors to have a look around before catching the train to Udine to meet our friends. First up was a tour of the Grand Canal on a vaporetto. It was great to be on the water to get a view of the city and hear about the history of some of its buildings. Also sad to hear how it is slowly becoming very expensive and difficult to live here so the population is falling along with the maintenance of the buildings. Some people are saying that it will one day become a museum town if nothing is done.

The last stop of the tour took us past the bridge of sighs and into St Mark’s Square, wow! A stunning square and cathedral with a palace next door. Complete with a coffee at the bar and some live music we felt like we had been whisked away, until the rain started. We

huddled under the balcony of the shops with hundreds of other people and watched the ponchos and umbrellas scurrying across the square. Boy were we glad we weren’t lining up for any attractions today! As the rain eased we let ourselves get a bit lost wandering back through the little streets and across bridges to the train station, grab some lunch and catch our train.

What a great surprise to see some friends! It was wonderful to share some travel stories from our summer holidays and catch up on news from London. Jada grew up in Udine so gave us a tour before Crom and I stopped for a drink to wait for a ride back to Cividale del Friuli where we were staying for the evening. We got chatting to the girl behind the bar and it turns out she is moving to London soon so we had a chance to share some advice and talk to her about big city life. We have been so lucky to meet so many friendly people here.

The rain met us again in Cividale but we did manage to see the running race and the whole town decorated in medieval style, even all of the locals were in costume right from the town mayor to a couple of jesters walking around. Jadas family neighbourhood were triumphant in the race so it was an exciting end to the day! As the rain chased us again we found a little pop up bar to shelter in, have a well needed beer and something to eat. All the details were there, even down to the plastic terracotta mugs we were drinking the beer out of!

We moved into the 2nd bar and Javi gave us a bit of a run down of the history of the town, which was founded by Julius Ceaser of all people, on our way there. As the rain stopped we were presented with a drumming display which turned into an all out drumming battle as four drumming groups took their turn to show off their best skills. What a stunning way to end the day out!