After flying all night to Frankfurt, Germany Gail and I hopped the short flight to Venice and found our way to the Water Bus. It was still early in the morning and the boat ride out to Venice was very surreal. We couldn't believe we were actually in Venice.
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| Two weary travelers on the water bus to Venice |
Our water bus wound it's way through the canal, past amazing old buildings that have been battling the elements for hundreds of years. As you probably know, there are no cars allowed on the Island of Venice. Fortunately our hotel is right on the canal, and the bus stop was only a couple hundred meters from the hotel. As Venice was built a while back, they didn't think about things like tourists, so there are no ramps to wheel your bags up and down, and lots of stairs!
We lugged the bags to our hotel, and were surprised to find out that our room was ready at 9:30 in the morning! Bonus!
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| Our hotel right next to the Rialto Bridge |
After dropping our bags we hit the town! It was still pretty early and shops were just starting to open. We headed straight for San Marco Square and made it there ahead of the throngs of people. Venice was experiencing one of it's hottest summers on record, and even though we live in the desert, the heat and humidity took it's toll. We could have (and maybe should have) changed our clothes three times a day. We found a funky little place to have lunch al fresca, and enjoyed our first of many pizzas!
The rest of the day we just wandered the many "streets" and alley ways, and took time to sit at the waters edge and sip a couple of cool ones.
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| Random window taken during our first meal in Venice |
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| Day One, trying to get our bearings |
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| San Marco Square |
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| Basilica San Marco |
We had booked a walking tour for day two, so we were up early to meet our group. Unfortunately, there was a service of some kind in the basilica and we weren't able to go in that day. We talked to the guide and they told us we could come back the next day for the first part of the day. So we did, and got to see the inside of the Basilica, but it was way too hot and crowded to enjoy.
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| Hangin' by the water |
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| This is our hotel sun deck |
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| Grand Canal from our hotel sun deck |
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| Rialto Bridge |
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| Mark in Torcello |
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| Venice happiness! |
View from the bell tower of Campanile.
While we were up here enjoying the view...
the bells tolled and it was Loud and Amazing!
The next day we decided to do a boat trip to the islands of Murano, known for it's famous glass blowers, Torcello, and Burano, known for it's lace and brightly painted houses. It was great to get off the island and away from the masses of people for a few hours, but it would have been nice to visit on our own schedule. We only got about 40 minutes on each island.
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| Burano's colorful houses |
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| Marostica Castle in the medieval town of Veneto, 1372 |
On day five Gail and I had a trip booked to visit the hill towns outside of Venice. We met the guide and the other four tourists on the outskirts of town, and headed out toward the hills. It was great that the group was small and we had a nice van for the trip. We stopped first at a quaint little mideville town that was just waking up for the day. It seems that everyone bikes there. We saw every brand of bike imaginable during our tour, and it made me a little sad that I can't just hop on my bike at will and go for a ride.
Fun fact, Venice is built on an archipelago of 117 islands formed by 177 shallow canals.
There are over 400 bridges throughout the city
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Brenta river at the base of Monte Grappa
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Our second stop was at this beautiful town. The river comes straight down from the Dolomite mountains and is crystal clear. The Ponte Vecchia bridge was first built in the 11th century. There are hundreds of massive trout in the river that you can easily spot from the shore. Several guys were fly fishing from the banks, but the fish were being thrown bread from the bridge, so the poor anglers didn't stand a chance. This is a place that I could easily stay for a few days. Very peaceful and relaxing. We had our first Grappa tasting at one of the oldest distilleries in Italy. Can you say "fire water". But soon it was time to head for our next town.
We stopped at another very small village for lunch. We got a chance to sit together as a group and got to know each other and talk about our many travels. Amazingly enough, all six of us were Americans, so we had a lot in common. After that stop we traveled on to the villa in the pictures. The villa from the 15th century is amazing and we got to tour part of it. Decendants of the original owner resorted the villa after it was left in shambles and still live in a portion of the house today. More interesting than the house to us was the wine tasting room, where we all ventured for a sample of the vino! I bought a great bottle of red, then it was on to our last stop, a winery in the hills of Preseco.
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| The hills of Proseco |
At the winery we were introduced to the owner and got to sit and visit with him whilst enjoying samples of the bubbly! Before long, a tour bus pulled in, and our peaceful visit came to a quick end. Time to get the hell out of there.
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| My sexy wife! |
Backing up a day, we got up in the morning and Gail suggested we hop a boat for Lido, one of the major barrier islands. So we did!
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| The Island of Lido and the Adriatic Sea |
After jumping off the boat we did the 15 minute walk through town and landed on the opposite side of the island, on the Adriatic coast. We rented a beach chair and spent the next couple of hours chillin' with our books and walking the beach. Heading back across the island, we stopped for a nice lunch and some gelato!
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| Ceiling decoration at our favorite bar |
One of the fun places we discovered was this little jazz bar. They had dos por uno happy hour every night, and it was a great place to wind down and cool off after a long hot day of "touristing". On the second night the owner welcomed us back with a thank you shot with limoncello, kiwi and some mystery mixer. They went down very nicely! The entire ceiling of the bar is covered in bras!
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| Sunset from our hotel deck |
One of my fondest memories will be relaxing and people watching from the hotels panoramic veranda on the second floor, above all the chaos below. We visited pretty much every night, bringing with us a bottle of wine, and sometimes a monster slab of pizza from the shop directly below. From here we watched the sunset several times and watched the gondola's glide quietly past. One night a two man violin band started playing right below the veranda, and we got to lean on the rail and enjoy the music while sipping our wine.
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| The Bridge Sigh |
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| Santa Maria della salute |
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| The winged lion is the symbol of Venice |
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| Yes, some streets are narrow |
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Torcello Basilica, one of the oldest buildings in Venice dating
from 639 then reconstructed in 1008. |
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| Gail in Murano |
Eventually all vacations come to an end, and I left Venice with no regrets. It was nice to have a full week to explore the city and outlying area. Too often our trips are short and we end up running from one attraction to the next.
My one piece of advice to anyone considering a trip to Venice would be to avoid August. We went then because of a work holiday, but the heat was cranked up and the crowds were thick. I lied, I have one other piece of advice. Don't try to do Venice in a couple days! There is just too much to see, and you really will enjoy getting to know the town if you spend a little more time there.
Soon we were winging our way home and planning our next getaway.....let see, can you say "PRAGUE"?! Oct 25-28....I can't wait!
View from the bell tower of Campanile.
The next day we decided to do a boat trip to the islands of Murano, known for it's famous glass blowers, Torcello, and Burano, known for it's lace and brightly painted houses. It was great to get off the island and away from the masses of people for a few hours, but it would have been nice to visit on our own schedule. We only got about 40 minutes on each island.
We stopped at another very small village for lunch. We got a chance to sit together as a group and got to know each other and talk about our many travels. Amazingly enough, all six of us were Americans, so we had a lot in common. After that stop we traveled on to the villa in the pictures. The villa from the 15th century is amazing and we got to tour part of it. Decendants of the original owner resorted the villa after it was left in shambles and still live in a portion of the house today. More interesting than the house to us was the wine tasting room, where we all ventured for a sample of the vino! I bought a great bottle of red, then it was on to our last stop, a winery in the hills of Preseco.
