Interrail Day 3, 4, 5 & 6 - Castelfranco Veneto & Venice

Our stay in Castelfranco Veneto started on day 3 in the evening. Our good friends Arianna and Jessica came to pick us up from the train station at 17.34, right on the platform!

They brought us directly to the town center of Castelfranco Veneto, where we sat down for a Spritz, before heading to the Airbnb Arianna’s mum found for us 😊

After taking showers to clean off from the sweating of the very hot day (again), we headed to Sagra di Altivole, a traditional summer event in a town close by.

It was very nice to attend a local event, with music, food, fun fair rides and games, and a lot of people!

Venezia

The next day, Arno and I went to Venezia while our local guides got busy with their lives.

Venice is a very nice city to explore, and particularly easy to explore differently. Just like when we visited Milan, we tried take smaller streets and stay out of crowded areas, except here we didn’t even prepare a rough itinerary, we were really just exploring and finding out as we went!

We ended up doing a big circle over the day, then back through the city again in the evening.

By exploring through small streets and just navigating the city at random, we found many very nice spots, and most of them without any tourists!

The city of Venice is really just a massive maze of tiny streets!

We also found a very nice spot to stop for an afternoon break, next to the water, under an arch for shade and in a tourist-deserted area!

At the end of the day, we ended up in an area which we guessed is probably more of a residential area.

And we even met a cat napping along the way!

After a full day of exploring the city, we met up with Arianna and Jessica.

And as good local tour guides, they took us to the one place we missed during the day, the famous Piazza San Marco, “the most popular square in Venice, if not the world” apparently (I didn’t know it 🫢).

They then took us on a Bacaro Tour, which is essentially a bar crawl with a Venetian flavour to it. We only go to Bacaro, a specific kind of bar. (Please don’t be offended, I don’t want to insult your culture 😅)

After a few drinks (mostly Spritz) we sat down to have dinner, before heading back home.

Lago di Caldonazzo

The following day, we spent essentially the whole day at Lake Caldonazzo, a very nice lake close to Trento surrounded by mountains. It was so nice to spend the very hot day (again) in the fresh water of the lake.

For dinner, we had “the best pizza” according to Arianna’s Dad, but “one of the best” according to Arianna at the end of dinner.

After dinner, we headed to the old town of Asolo. It’s a nice small town full of old buildings, on a mountain. There’s also a castle, but we didn’t have the energy to go all the way up :)

We even went into a bookshop open until at least 11pm!

That evening we were lucky enough to stay in Arianna’s fantastic house! (or rather her parents’). Absolutely wonderful hosts.

Castelfranco Veneto

On our last day in Castelfranco and Arno’s last day on the trip, we visited the city of Castelfranco Veneto properly.

We cycled there, walked through the market and went to see the library and church (have I mentioned Arno loves visiting churches?).

Once we got home, we had lunch with Arianna’s mum and brother. She didn’t speak English, but we still managed to hold a conversation with our slim comprehension of Italian and our locals’ translation skills!

Quickly after, we had to head to the train station and say goodbye to our hosts. ‘Till next time!

Arno and I got off at Venezia Mestre train station, but I said goodbye to him at the airport shuttle stop, before getting on a train for Trieste!