Venice is one of the most beautiful places in the world - Fact! It is brimming with romance and old world charm and most of China's population. There were so many Asian tourists that you would have been forgiven for thinking that you were indeed in Asia! However, once you worked your way around the massive tour groups the city enveloped us as we wandered up and down the tiny lanes and streets in search of more visual beauty and
Venice did not disappoint!
I mean, it's like you're on the set of a movie!
Gondoliers everywhere you turn.
After a few days of early starts, we decided that the first day in Venice was going to be slow and relaxing, allowing our swollen feet and ankles to return to normal size.
I mean, have you seen such ankles?
This was a daily position in our hotel each afternoon.
It was also still super hot and as pretty as the little streets are, not much breeze gets down there.
Lu and I were asking each other questions about the origins of Venice and how it came to be and when neither of us were able to answer them, we thought it best to get some information.
Across from our hotel was a little theatre, Il Teatro that tells the story of how Venice started and what has happened to it through the years. Perfect. Two tickets thanks. It was a great show, sort of panto style without the audience participation required to help the actors find each other. We came out full of much sort after information, however because you were allowed to take drinks into the theatre, we didn’t retain too much of it! It was our first introduction to Bellini - a Sparkling wine and crushed peaches cocktail served in a champas bottle. And it’s pink! We finished this in the first 30 minutes because it tastes a little like cordial, so for the second half, we got ourselves a grown up bottle of Prosecco.....
This is where we had dinner
Our hotel, The Best Western in Piazza San Marco was in a terrific location and you could sit and watch the gondolas coming and going from the lobby and bar window..... however, that is all the positive things I have to say about the hotel. Tripadvisor have been notified!
As we sat and watched the gondolas and the very talented Gondoliers steering them, we decided that Venice indeed had talent and so coined out new show “The Next Top Gondolier”
We had a map, but decided we would just wander. It was easy to get lost, but just as easy to find your way out. Exploring like this led us to some gorgeous little piazzas, restaurants and waterways.
Every time we came across a gondola point where you could get on and off there was a massive line of people waiting to have a turn. It was like a Disneyland for grown ups! So instead we decided to hire a water taxi to ferry us around for half an hour which was brilliant. He slowly weaved up and down the canals which gave us a completely different perspective of the city.
We purchased Murano glass items and tried on every Venetian mask in the place.
On our last day, our mission was to get onto a gondola and right outside our hotel there were 4-5 just waiting for people. I’m not sure where the tour groups were, but we made a dash and hopped straight on board with a lovely gondolier named Maurtizio. He was happy to chat and point out a few important or interesting buildings. It was as wonderful as I always thought it would be. Just magical!
Here's my new hat.....
More Venice to come........
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