Haunted Islands of the Venetian Lagoon

We recently took advantage of another of the Army's ODR trips and got to visit a couple more of the islands in Venice. The excursion was advertised as a Haunted Islands tour in honor of Halloween, and we visited Poveglia, Malamocco, and Lazzaretto Vecchio, which I'm pretty sure translates to "old hospital." All in all, it was about an eleven-hour day, nearly half of which was spent on the water.

Cristina's bragosso

The day started on post at 0800, and we left in a 20-passenger van. I think there were 16 of of us, including our tour guide Lisa and the van driver Todd. Unfortunately for us, the Venice Marathon was also being held that day, and we encountered significant traffic on our way into the city. What would normally be an hour drive was doubled, and even after we stopped to get the ZTL parking permit, we had to double back on the route and added even more time. There was some confusion on parking and our departure point, so that added another delay. Finally we loaded our bragossos - traditional fishing boats - and were on our way. We opted to ride with Paolo in a boat that rode lower in the water but had benches with seat backs. The other boat, skippered by Cristina, had higher seating for better views, but the benches were backless. Both of us have on- and off-again back pains, and Tony recently sustained another back injury, so that's the main reason we went with Paolo. It was nice being a little lower though, because it meant we were out of the wind on a very cold day. I brought a hat, gloves, and scarf, and was very glad to have all of those accessories as the day wore on.

I'd say the outing should have been called a Venetian Lagoon Excursion or Tour instead of a Haunted Islands tour, to properly manage expectations, but we still had a fun and interesting day. We did a drive-by of several islands and got some brief history lessons. We saw monasteries and convents, hotels, armories, and retaining walls. We got a great view of some fishing nets in the water catching gambretti (shrimp) and small fish, as well as nets drying on land. We also saw some traditional Venetian rowing boats - they're not all called gondolas! - and a sailboat with two very proprietary dogs on board. 

Poveglia Bell Tower

Our first real stop was at Poveglia, which is abandoned and condemned. We started on one side of the island and got a nice view of the bell tower, which is one of the few remaining structures on that part of the island, as the church burned down some time ago. Then we ventured to the more exposed, ocean side of the island, and drifted by a canal entrance while our boat captains provided us with snacks and spritzes. We could see several other boats nearby, some drifting and some anchored, and a few people (apparently) illegally sneaking onto the island. And down the canal, we could see a film crew! It turns out they were filming for an organization called Poveglia Per Tutti, which means Poveglia for Everyone, and their mission is to keep Poveglia from becoming privately owned. When they learned we were American, we got quite the lecture from them. You see, the island had been used as a quarantine stop for plague victims, and it has the rumor of being haunted. The organization claims this haunting rumor is a vicious lie spawned by the American television show Ghost Adventures, unsupported by scientific evidence and completely lacking in credibility. Duly chastened, we took a drive through the canal for a closer look at some of the other buildings, and then proceeded to the next stop.

Poveglia Buildings, Bell Tower, and Canal

We disembarked on Malamocco, which is a fishing town/island. It's pretty tiny, and our lunch options were fairly limited. We took a short stroll through the waterfront and town center areas, and settled on a little trattoria/pizzeria for lunch. Despite an extensive pizza menu, they only had three types available, none of which suited my fancy, so I got an assortment of little appetizers which mostly consisted of fried stuff. I had some sort of beer battered fried cheese, which was delicious and would have been even better piping hot, but since it was the size of a Pop Tart I couldn't finish it. I also got grilled polenta with prosciutto on it, which was too salty for my taste and reminded me of Play-Doh. (Yes, I've tasted Play-Doh. No, I'm not proud of it.) My favorite was the battered meatball, which I'm guessing was veal. Tony got an angus burger and beer; the burger was okay and he went back and got another beer to go because it was so good. It wasn't an Italian beer, but German or Belgian. His rule of thumb: if it has a monk or a gnome on it, it's going to be good. 

Enjoying the sun on Malamocco

Lazzaretto Vecchio buildings

Vines on a chimney

After lunch, we got back in the boats and headed to our second-to-last stop, Lazzaretto Vecchio. I think we all agreed this was the highlight of the trip. It was an old hospital consisting of several different buildings, basically, that have also been used as a hotel, but is now empty. An archaeological club is in the process of renovating and restoring some of the buildings, and it was neat to see the progress and compare the buildings. Before we stepped foot on the island though, our guides made sure the "haunted dogs" were out of the way. There are two black lab mixes that live on the island, to discourage unwanted guests, and Lisa is quite afraid of them. Cristina cares for the dogs and drops off food for them every day, and they seemed far more likely to lick us to death than do any damage, but still, they were separated from us for the duration of our exploration. The buildings, like most of Venice, were brick, and there were lots of vines and thorny things growing. Parts of the property reminded me of The Secret Garden, and we even climbed to one spot right over a boundary wall on top of the water for an excellent view. We learned that several thousand bodies have been discovered on the island, and researchers assume there are more, as at one point during the plague people were dying at a rate of 500 per day. There were individual and mass graves, but we didn't see any of that. Still, it was kind of eerie walking around knowing how many people walked before us, and never left the island.

Partially restored interior on Lazzaretto Vecchio

Shipbuilding company in Venice

We got back in the boats and started heading back, to the van we thought, but we got one last surprise stop on Venice proper. This, because Lisa assured us we had been good all day. Bonus time! We got a view of some very old shipyards and a WWI era submarine, as well as one of the oldest ship construction companies in Venice. It's still in business today, and still crafts wooden boats. We also rode under some bridges, and passed a leaning tower. We pulled up to two churches, which I'd taken photos of before, and learned they are from the 1400s and 1500s. At this point my phone battery died, which didn't really surprise me since I'd been using it all day after my camera battery died, and I had to delete a bunch of pictures more than once to keep taking pictures, due to stupid iCloud updates. I think I only took one more picture, which was of a very nice sunset. But anyway, in the plaza was a little market, very typical of Italy. We didn't do a lot of exploring though, just headed right toward one of the tourist-trap cafes and ordered cappuccino and hot chocolate. Nine euros! Highway robbery! Finally, we headed back to the van and rode back to base. I'd encourage others to do this trip, if for nothing else but a great boat ride and guided tour.

Leaning Tower of Venice!