Venice is almost exactly how you picture it in your head. It is all skinny alleyways, bridges, and canals. The whole place looks like it may or may not be falling apart and is packed with people. It is a perfect place to wander around and get truly lost, you are on an island after all.
Dinner for our first night was pasta from a cool little place selling fresh pasta to go. We had actually heard of the place from an English couple in Zagreb and I suspect we sat in the same spot by a canal as they did to eat our pasta. On our way back to the hotel we passed by a pizzeria we couldn’t say no to. We got the most delicious four cheese pizza I have ever eaten, all cheese and grease. Unfortunately I never got the chance to go back.
That night we wandered the streets for a bit before finding a nice looking bar where we stopped for a couple of drinks. I got a very mediocre Old Fashioned which for some reason had sparkling water in it. While at the bar we heard fireworks going off. It turns out we had just happened to come to Venice for Venice Redentore, one of the biggest celebrations of the year. We managed to find a spot at the top of the beautiful Rialto Bridge with a view only slightly cut off by buildings.
We started our first full day in Venice with a tour around St. Mark’s Square, once again thanks to Rick Steve. It is a medium sized (for Europe) square bordered by government buildings, famous cafes, the strange St. Mark’s Cathedral, and a clock tower. The Doge’s Palace, the former home of the elected rulers of Venice, is just around the corner.
After looking around the square we made our way up the clock tower, paying 8 EUR or 12 CAD for the privilege. The view from the top was wonderful, it might have even been worth the money.
Coming down from the tower we lined up to see the Cathedral. Morgan was forced to cover her shoulders and legs with cloth wraps in order to get in. We thought that was pretty unfair as the rule seemed to be unevenly enforced, especially between genders. My shorts were sitting above my knees but I did not have to cover up. It put a damper on the very quick visit. The inside of the cathedral was different from most of those we saw. That night we had a fantastic two course meal (skipped dessert) with a bottle of wine. Unsurprisingly there is a lot of seafood in Venice and our meal was no exception with seafood pastas for the first course and salmon for the second.
On our second full day we went out into the Venice Lagoon to see some of the other islands. Our first stop was Murano, an island famous for glass blowing. We walked around, visited a glass shop, and went to the glass blowing museum. In the museum we saw many impressive examples of Murano glass works and learned about the centuries of ups and downs of glass blowing on the island.
Our next island was Burano, known for lace making and small, colourful houses. We had a good time exploring the small town before hoping back on the ferry for Venice.
Back in Venice we went to the Doge’s Palace and saw the many administrative rooms, armory and dungeon. Some of the administrative rooms were incredible, massive meeting halls adorned with frescoes and paintings. During our tour we got to walk across the “Bridge of Sighs”, the dramatically named bridge where prisoners-to-be walked from the Doge’s court rooms to the prisons one canal over. I made sure to sigh a lot while crossing.
We spent our last day in Venice at a beach on Lido. Lido is a long, thin island facing the Adriatic which provides protection for the Venice Lagoon. Many of the beaches cost money to enter but we found the free Blue Moon beach. I was absolutely ecstatic to see people walking around the beach pushing blankets, sunglasses, and jewelry at the beach goers. I counted at least 7 people selling just in my immediate area. Apart from that it was a beautiful sandy beach with warm water.
We took a ferry directly from Lido to Venice Marco Polo Airport to catch our flight to London. The flight ended up being delayed about an hour but had no other issues.
In London we checked into the Premier Inn London Gatwick for our first ever trip to the UK. After a nights rest we bought the hotel’s full English breakfast then headed straight back across the parking lot to the airport. We are now waiting at the gate, surrounded by an English school rugby team on their way to San Fransisco.
Declan Easton 