If you have not been to Venice, then you really should.  If you like the idea, but are put off by the expense, then how about seeing Venice by hiring your very own floating self-catering appartment?

Although a floating self-catering appartment might sound an expensive way to see this magical Italian city, it’s not as expensive as you might think, especially if you travel as a group.  Plus you get to see Venice from the best place imaginable – the water.

In case you have not guessed, a floating self-catering appartment is a boat.  Those nice people from FiveTravel who put together a video on touring the glorious Amalfi coastline by Alfa Romeo have also put together another video on how a boat can double as a self-catering appartment for those wanting to see Venice.

Cash strapped backpackers might be interested to hear that presenter Julia Bradbury mentions, and demonstrates, a novel way of making a little money while you are lapping up the delights of Venice.  All you have to do is stay still for a few hours. Fidgety types need not apply!  Those who are not bashful, on the other hand, might be able to make a little extra!

For those who fancy the idea of seeing Venice by Gondola, but are put off by the price, Julia has another neat little tip: Gondola lessons.

On to the video.

Boating Around Venice, and More – by FiveTravel

Note that although Venice is unlikely to have changed much, the prices mentioned in the video may well have.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As pointed out by Julia in the video, there are a couple of downsides.  One is parking your boat, which sounds rather problematic, and the other is mooring costs, which at 2008 prices were as much as €60 a night, although moorings which are free can be found.  The boat hire company should be able to provide details – as long as you remember to ask them.

The best time to go boating around Venice is probably May/June or September, when the weather is good, but not too hot.  It becomes very hot, and very crowded in Venice in August.

Moorings in Venice

One site I looked at give the impression that moorings around central Venice can be a little on the crowded side, however off the beaten canal, so to speak, finding a place to moor for the night might not be so difficult.  Places to try are, apparently:

• Burano, Murano and Torcello – although these are popular tourist spots, whereas

• San Servolo, Santo Spirito, San Clemente and Poveglia sound as though they may well be good places for a night or two, and are, by all accounts, well worth exploring too.

You also have to be careful to respect the speed limits, or else you will be fined.  The water police are quite sharp in Venice, and do not like people creating huge wakes, especially along the Grand Canal.  Speaking of the Grand Canal, as mentioned in the video, generally hire boats are not allowed down the Venice’s main canal.  In any case, this is one busy waterway, so avoiding it is probably not such a bad idea, especially if you are not an old sea dog.

Gondola Lessons

For more about the Gondola lesson experience, and where to book a few lessons, read this over on the Independent Traveller: Gondola Lessons in Venice

I’ve been to Venice twice, and liked it a lot, and, believe it or not, it is quite easy to find very quiet corners of this amazing Italian city.  Once you’ve been to Venice, you will probably want to return.  Be warned!

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Tuscany is a hot, swinging place. If you were to be poking around the medieval piazze of Massa Marittima, you might come across a frescoed fountain. The fresco, made reasonably brilliant from restoration in recent times, is a harmonious composition featuring a huge tree and women below, reaching for the fruit of said tree.

How quaint, I hear you whisper, ever so softly.

Look at the tree closely though, and your puritan hackles are in danger of being raised up. The tree bears phalluses. Lots of them. Big, too.

I like the medieval, especially around the 12th and 13th centuries, when pilgrimage was rampant and sexual carvings were being hammered out in droves inside Romanesque churches along the routes. It’s so not the stuff of the 21st century.

In any case, folks close to the mural want the tree of phalluses to represent a pagan wish for fecundity, a desire that isn’t passing through the modern population of Italy like wildfire for sure. It is likely to have politics attached to it, as explained in Negative Campaigning, Medieval Style, which also has a great picture of the fresco.

And if you want to sit back and hear about Massa Marittima’s phallus tree, here’s an NPR report

Unusual fruit indeed.

One of the things I like about Italians is their public recognition of hypocritical conduct by religious figures, especially around the issues of overindulgence. It’s food all over again.

The picture to the left is a Presepe figure of a monk. It’s my favorite. Tickling him with your mouse and clicking will make him much, much bigger.

Monks, you see, are supposed to live the simple life. They often take vows of poverty and of silence. But in their Christmas cribs, Italians have a way of reflecting life as it is, not as it was supposed to be. Our monk seems to have gotten used to living the good life.

Food itself can be the vehicle for this “knowing wink” of the faithful. I was reminded of this from Serena, who writes of The Priest Stranglers, a gnocchi dish allegedly given the name gli Strozzapreti because of the fervor with which a parishioner’s gnocchi were consumed by a visiting priest, who might shove enough of the free food down his greedy gullet to choke himself to death. Sure is a more colorful name for a dish than “Spinach Dumplings with Herbs” in any case.

In America, we accept greed as part of a modern “Christianity” which seems to have been built solely around selective misreadings of Leviticus. On television, religious figures sit on golden thrones, dispensing their vindictive advice to all who can stomach it. Whatever happened to the simple life, the turning of the other cheek, the love of neighbors?

In Italy, it’s all in the gnocchi.

I like the idea of doing something different on holiday, and although I’ve never done it, I can think of nothing quite as appealing as the idea of floating silently over Tuscany in a balloon.

Unsurprisingly, I am not the first to have thought of this interesting way to see Italy, and on YouTube there are quite a few videos of balloons over Tuscany.

Here is one such ballooning over Tuscany trip video which I think captures the experience of floating over the glorious Tuscan landscape quite well.

Up, up, and away!

Ballooning Over Tuscany

Click here to view the embedded video.

In case you are curious, the lady in the balloon is Rome based South African artist Cheryl Lowery who was celebrating her birthday.

Fancy Ballooning over Tuscany Yourself?

For those of you who might like to try this out, here are links to the websites of three ballooning companies in Italy who can arrange for you to float over Tuscany:

• Ballooning in Tuscany

• Balloon in Tuscany

• Chianti Ballooning

I’m sure such a trip would make an excellent birthday present for someone.

PS If you take a camera, make sure you tether it to the side of the basket. I would.  Otherwise you might lose all your lovely pictures. Literally.

PPS Send me your ballooning trip photos, and I’ll publish them here, if you like.

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Why just gawk at the Roman sites from the sidewalk, or stand in line waiting for tickets to see them close up? Why not experience the joy of discovery by excavating an archaeological site in Rome?

In June 2010, we’ll be starting our fifth season of excavation at the Villa delle Vignacce, one of the greatest excavation sites in and around Rome. We’re looking for people from all walks of life— structural and computer engineers, architects, artists, poets, students, accountants and tennis players— whatever your background and insights are, we want you— especially if you are happy to spend 8 hours getting sweaty and dirty working to save the cultural heritage of Rome. ~ Wanna Get Dirty This Summer?

Archaeology has to be at the top of the experiential travel list. Not only do you get to live in a place with a long and challenging history, but you get to discover it in real time.

Ok, so I’ve been an archaeologist and I can tell you some of the general pros and cons of these things. First off, archaeologists are pretty fun people. After all, they didn’t choose to work in a cubicle on purpose. They don’t make big bucks so they’re not usually snooty, and don’t have money to put into their Goldman Sachs “gambling with mortgages” accounts and so they spend it—often on alcohol, but still…they’re fun to be with and know a lot about things that don’t matter a bit in the modern world but are fun to think about anyway. A couple weeks with a bunch of archaeology types will make you rethink your career choice.

Until you excavate, that is. Here’s where it gets hot and sticky. Excavation is work. It’s not a treasure hunt, as you have been lead to believe from movies whose main characters are named after states. You move big earth, you move grains of sand with a dental pick, you measure—all in the sun. You uncover things that baffle you that you take to a real archaeologist who tells you it is a rock. You are disappointed if not humiliated.

But then there’s always the possibility that you or your colleagues will rock the world with a find that actually changes people’s minds about life in antiquity.

That’d be worth some sunburn and humiliation, eh?

If you want a real experiential travel experience, well hell, there’s no better. See: Wanna Get Dirty This Summer?

And tell me how it went, will ya?