As we (unfortunately) promised, a second surge of floodwaters hit Venice yesterday, peaking at just over three feet. But with the windy weather now calming down, experts are predicting the flooding will subside and Venetians will soon have a chance to dry off a bit.

It doesn't sound like all the locals have been as upset by the flooding as they should be. One guy thought that a flooded St Mark's Square made a great venue for a bit of wakeboarding.

Of course, we know that the Venetian authorities are on a big campaign to ban anything that's fun, so we weren't surprised that the wakeboarder was quickly arrested by local police. Pity, perhaps Venice could have turned its flood woes into an adventure travel paradise.

Related Stories:
· High Tide Wallop Venice for 2nd Day [AP, via Google]
· Acqua Alta in Venice At Near Record Levels [Jaunted]
· More Rules for Venice Tourists [Jaunted]

[Photo: BBC] ]]> amandak 2008-12-03T09:20:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/12/1/104158/358

Parts of Venice were under more than five feet of water today, as the Adriatic overwhelmed the city's canals in near-record-breaking fashion. While the flood waters quickly receded from the crest, another surge of acqua alta is predicted early Tuesday. The mayor has warned everyone to stay indoors, which shouldn't be a problem, since the city's vaporetti, or water buses, aren't operating normally because of a national transportation strike.

By mid-morning, almost every walkway in Venice was submerged because of the exceptionally high waters, and St. Mark's Square was more than 2.5 feet under. The brave few who did trudge outdoors had boots pulled up above the knee to fend off the sea.

While the flooding looks really awesome in photos, it's horrible for the long-term survival of the city, which is slowly being eaten alive by salt water and sea breezes. Get there now for the best chance of seeing high seas yourself: Floods are most common in the winter.

Related Stories:
· Venice Suffers Worst Flooding in 22 Years [AFP, via Google]
· Have Kayak, Will Travel [Jaunted]
· Water Taxi Travel: Brad on a Boat! [Jaunted]

[Photo of the flooding today: TangOblivion]]]> pbb 2008-12-01T10:50:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/22/215323/49

If you're a jaded tourist who's seen everything in Rome already, then there's an odd game to play that's meant to get you interested again. Put together by a group called Whai Whai, you can get a bunch of clues and a book to direct you on a kind of treasure hunt.

The Ruyi is the name of this unusual activity and it's designed to get you wandering the back streets and seeing the "real Rome" while also learning a bit of history. You buy everything online and need to use a cell phone to get further clues once you've got your first few answers.

The UK Times tried it out recently but their description didn't really convince us it's that much fun. But perhaps for competitive types, it's the right way to see Rome. Other cities are coming soon, but we're not hopping on one of these tours until they promise a great prize at the end of the hunt!

Related Stories:
· Whai Whai [Official Site]
· A Mystery Tour of Rome [UK Times]
· Rome Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Giara]]]> amandak 2008-10-24T11:39:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/8/91458/3347

The latest in our string of culturally enriching "learning holiday" vacation ideas: A course in making mosaics in Venice.

This sounds like the ultimate geeky-but-cool week in Italy. Studios like Orsoni will give you hammers and bits of glass and some instructions on what to do with them, and let you take your grand creations home with you after your week-long learning experience.

Since wandering around Venice now seems to have so many rules, we reckon holing up in a mosaic workshop is a good way to escape tourist-ville. Being creative is still allowed (so far).

Related Stories:
· Taking a Mosaic Course in Venice [UK Times]
· Bologna's Make-Your-Own-Dinner Vacation [Jaunted]
· More Rules for Venice Tourists [Jaunted]

[Photo: ParaScubaSailor]]]> amandak 2008-10-09T09:00:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/8/8120/10002

We wish we lived in the Italian town of Marino, south of Rome. Or at least that we'd been staying there over the weekend when wine began pouring out of taps and showers across the village.

The white wine was meant to be flowing out of the town's fountain to celebrate the annual wine harvest. But as perhaps only Italian engineers could do, they hooked up the wrong pipes and housewives found the wine pouring out into their kettles and mop buckets instead.

For wine lovers, the drop was a kind of Frascati, a slightly bubbly white wine that's famous in the region. Of course officials say the mistake won't happen again, but we still think a stop by Marino's a good bet for a free drink.

Related Stories:
· Bungling Italian Authorities Turn Water into Wine [UK Times]
· Wine Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Peter Darch]]]> amandak 2008-10-08T11:00:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/15/122510/014

The second best thing about a trip to Naples is that you can spend all day gorging on sweets like sfogliatelle and zeppole. (The best thing, of course, is eating pizza.) But it turns out choking down pastries might be even worse for us than we previously thought!

Now that the mob is into the racket, your baked goods aren't so good says The Guardian:

Open 24 hours a day, the street sellers are drawing shoppers with cheap, crusty bread fresh from wood-burning ovens, the way Neapolitans like it. But police say Naples' new breed of bakers are slowly poisoning their customers by burning old varnished wood, nut shells covered in pesticides and even planks pulled from exhumed coffins.

"Whoever buys this bread is eating dioxins and carcinogenic substances and putting their health at serious risk," said Francesco Borrelli, assessor for agriculture for the province of Naples.

Sounds even worse for your health than walking through garbage-filled streets!

Related Stories:
· Mafia's Car-Boot Bread is "Poisoning" Naples [Guardian, via]
· Naples Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kliņ]]]> pbb 2008-09-15T12:30:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/8/83833/58618

This week in the town of Marostica in Italy, a chess game will take place that is so much more civilized than the sport of chess boxing that we recently discovered.

Marostica, northwest of Venice, is home to the biannual Living Chess Game, when live people and animals adorned in medieval costumes play a game of chess on a giant board in front of the local castle. It's based on a tale of a love triangle from the 1400s when two men had to play chess to decide who would win the fair damsel.

These days there are no women at stake and it's more a matter of pure entertainment for the four thousand-plus spectators who crowd around the board. If you've seen it before, that doesn't matter--the script (and game play) changes every year. First pawn moves on September 12 with replays on September 13 and 14. If they don't get to checkmate too fast then it's bound to be a good night's entertainment.

Related Stories:
· Marostica Living Chess Game [WEG]
· Berlin Crowns the Chess Boxing Champ [Jaunted]

[Photo: liznorderg]]]> amandak 2008-09-08T09:30:24-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/