Anna left school early on Friday and we set off for Venice. I was super excited as I stupidly didn't go last time I was in Europe and Anna was equally excited as she couldn't remember being there last time!
As the train comes into Venice and you have to cross the water, you realise what a special place you are arriving at.
As soon as we walked out of the station, we were greeted with the wonderful world of Venice; water, gondola's, water taxi's, vaporetto's, people, pigeons and jumbo sized seagulls - just a few of the things that make Venice what it is.
Our hostel was in a great position, right next to the Rialto fish market and a few hundred metres from the Rialto Bridge. We unpacked and headed straight out to "get lost" in this great place.
We were still peckish after the food at the bar, so we tried to find a restaurant mentioned in our Lonely Planet book. This proved to be hard work as the gps on our phones weren't working properly, so we had to resort to an actual map!
Dinner was ok, but nothing special, especially for the price, so we didn't stick around for along and instead went out for some further exploring.
That night was one of the worst night sleeps I have ever ever ever ever ever had. For some reason the hostel admin stuffed up our booking and Anna and I were put into separate dorm rooms for one night. I was kind enough to let Anna sleep in the room worth 3 other American girls, whilst I was stuck in a room full of weirdo's and had to sleep next to a fat, hairy Polish guy who we were told may have masturbation problems, GREAT!!!
To make things worse, I was on the top room and it was stinking hot. I tried so hard to get to sleep, but the room was so sweaty and the mozzies biting me on the feet and buzzing around my face were driving me crazy. When the fat Polish guy started farting in his sleep, I was out of there!! I ended up sleeping on the couch in the downstairs common room!
The next morning we were up and out the door by around 10am. As soon as we walked out the door, we were greeted by the smell of fish from the nearby "Mercato Pesce". This amazing open air market has been in operation since 1097!
Once you got used to the smell, it was a great sight, full of the freshest seafood imaginable.
Around the corner was the fruit and veggie market, which was full of bright colours and provided us with a great breakfast.
We then walked down to St. Marks Square to visit the Palazzo Ducale, which was the official residence of the "Doges" from the 9th century and the seat of the Republics government and also housed Venice's prisons.
The Doge was the chief magistrate and was elected for life and was commonly the shrewdest elder in the city.
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| looking out from the Doge's Palace at the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore |
The Ponte dei Sospiri connects the palace to an additional wing of the city dungeons. It is named after the sighs that prisoners (including Giacomo Casanova) emitted en route from court to cell.
After the Doge's Palace, we walked around Piazza San Marco, such an awesome spot. For most of the day it is filled with tourists, policemen, pigeons and plenty of illegal immigrants trying to flog you something, but it is all part of the spectacle.
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| even the pigeons get in the way of a photo
We then hopped on a vaporetto (basically a small ferry) and were lucky enough to get a front seat, so we sat there for a good 1hr while we were taken all the way up the Grand Canal (which runs through the middle of Venice) and out around the docks and got dropped off at a small Island called San Giorgio Maggiore.
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| travelling past the Rialto fish market and fruit market |
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| one of the many cruisers docked |
We hopped off the Vaporetto at San Giorgio Maggiore as we wanted to climb the bell tower for views across Venice.
Once we got back onto the mainland (if there is such a thing), we walked around a bit more and did a bit of shopping. Anna bought a new dress, which at first she was a little worried was too short, but I managed to convince her that it was fine!
After a brief rest, we got changed and headed out for drinks with the locals at Rialto's nearby Campo Battisti. It was here that we were introduced to two things: bernese mountain dogs and Venice's favourite drink, the spritzer.
The spritzer is now the only cocktail Anna drinks - white wine or prosecco, mixed with aperol or campari and soda water, she loves it. It's not my favourite, nothing will ever beat a mojito.
The Bernese mountain dog, although massive, is so playful and well behaved, we both now love them and with our constant battles over which dog is better out of a golden retriever and a black labrador, could be the perfect mix!
We then went to another bar for more drinks and "chicheti" before having a late pasta meal at a nearby restaurant and then home for a much better sleep than the first night!
Unfortunately the nest day was not the greatest weather, however we would not let it dampen our spirits, as we were off to visit the islands of Murano and Burano.
Before we left, we called Bud and Julie to wish them a happy mothers day, went to the market for another fruity breakfast and then hopped on the vaporetto for the ferry ride to our first stop, Murano.
Murano is the home of Venetian glass and is littered with small shops, large shops and factories where many different glass objects are made. It was a pretty interesting place, but unfortunately we were unable to see a behind-the-scenes look at the glass blowing in progress.
I couldn't leave without buying something, so a 15 euro pair of cufflinks it was. Anna had bought stuff last time she was here, so her wallet remained closed.
The next stop was Burano, the place I was aching to see as I had heard so much about this colourful place....and colourful it was. With its cheery pastel-coloured houses, Burano is renowned for its lace, however I didn't care about that, I was in colour heaven. It was such a magical place and it was hard to put my camera down.
We were smart enough to book lunch the day before at Al Gatto Nero, which we had read about on the internet and is supposedly well known and frequented by Jamie Oliver. We weren't let down by the food, which was lucky because it was pretty expensive!
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| they even had their own plates! |
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| pappardelle con scampi - yummmmm |
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| John Dory with salad - yummmmmmm |
After a big meal, we walked around a bit more and then headed back to the Vaporetto for the 1hr trip back to our stop at Rialto Market.
That night we weren't planning on eating much, but ended up at a Chinese restaurant of all places - we were both craving soy sauce!
It felt a bit weird eating Chinese restaurant in Venice, so we ate quickly and got out of there.
We went down to Piazza San Marco to enjoy to see it at night time and how awesome it was! The 3 big cafe's there were taking it in turns for their band to play two songs. We heard all the typical songs you would hear, and for the next few days we couldn't get 'funniculi funicular' and 'thats amore' out of our heads!
We were also lucky enough to see the bronze "mori" strike the bell of the 15th century Torre dell'Orologio.
The next morning we were back at the market for fresh fruit and just sat on the edge of the canal watching all the goings on.
We then headed down to Piazza San Marco to line up for the Basilica di San Marco - Sporting spires, domes, mosaics, and lavish marble work, it was originally built to house the remains of St. Mark. The original chapel was destroyed by fire in 932 and a new basilica was then built in 1094. For the next 500 years, it was a work in progress as successive Doges added mosaics and other embellishments.
It was then sadly time to leave. We went back to our hostel, packed our bags, had one last vaportetto ride and went to the train station.
We missed our train and had to wait another 2hrs for there next one. Luckily the sun came out and we were able to soak it up on the steps whilst we waited.
Hopefully we will be back sometime in the future as this place was amazing, a certain highlight of the trip.
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