VENICE
GALLERY
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien
Standing on the Bridge of Sighs
The importance of staying in a hotel that makes each city walkable...
City Highlights:
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Being in the city that Molly's grandmother told her she had to see before it was under water
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Bridge of Sighs
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Doge's Palace
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St. Mark's Square
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Saint Mark's Basilica
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Lunch in the park at the end of the island
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Evening gondola ride in order to see the sights of Venice at night
Tips for Venice:
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Wander aimlessly and don’t be afraid to get lost. For starters, it is impossible not to get lost here at some point. Secondly, that is how you find some of the best local places.
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It is considered illegal to purchase knockoff designer handbags here, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
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Spritz is the name of the early afternoon/early evening refreshing drink in Italy. It is prosecco wine with some sort of fruit juice (has a peach color tint to it); to dine like a local, try this.
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Limoncello is the name of the Italian after dinner drink. It is vodka and lemon juice/lemon peel that is condensed. It is quite potent and also refreshing. Another drink to try.
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The house wines in Italy are incredibly good and inexpensive. The 1/2 liter has approximately three glasses of wine in it for 7-8 euros. This is your best bang-for-your-buck.
Journal Highlights:
Monday, July 25, 2016:
We arrived in Venice around 4pm. By the time we unloaded the bus, made a bathroom stop, and loaded our private boat over to the city, it was about 5pm before we checked into our hotel. J and I dropped our bags real quick and headed out to walk and explore the city.
Our first evening in Venice we saw the Bridge of Sighs (which is only accessible inside of Doge’s Palace), walked through St. Mark's Square, saw the outside of Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica, walked over Realto Bridge (which had the sides under construction), saw the Academia, found the fish market, walked into numerous churches, and "got lost" per instruction to really see the city. We covered a lot of ground this evening, and shed a lot of sweat, and decided to find a small pub to eat dinner in. Fortunately there was one just down from our hotel, so we poked our heads in, saw a couple of people from our tour (Janice and her daughter Lila), so sat down to eat with them. J had the lasagna and I had the seafood risotto--both were outstanding! J also ordered the 1/2 liter of house red wine, which was delicious and dirt cheap (only 8 euros for about three glasses of wine), and I had a Spritz (prosecco wine and some sort of fizzy juice--okay, but J's wine was much better). Like I said, the food was outstanding, we had great company, and the overall price was very reasonable.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016:
For our one full day in Venice we decided to get up early so that I could get a couple of pictures at/around sunrise. I had heard that this is one of the best times to be in Venice because the lighting is beautiful, and the cruise ship passengers have not yet embarked on the city. This was definitely the case as I was able to get some great shots.
After sunrise pictures, and breakfast, our first stop today was Doge's Palace. Doge's Palace is obscenely ornate, but totally worth the price of entry. The gold in the ceilings and along the staircases was just crazy! The ornate pictures, the marble that was everywhere, the different types of rooms--wow! I will say, despite how lovely the Palace rooms were, some of my favorite views within the Palace were from their windows to see the views looking out. Gorgeous views--and I took lots of pictures out of the windows.
Next we headed to St. Mark's Basilica to try to catch the lighting within the Basilica, which apparently only happens once a day. J dropped his bag at bag check, which then shot us to the front of the line. Most people were in line for a couple of hours, we didn't even wait a couple of minutes to get in! Inside the church we went, where no pictures are allowed. I tried to sneak a quick picture and was caught; meanwhile, hundreds of people around me continued to take pictures and videos. Oh well. Again, the pictures and architecture within the church were beautiful. We also heard a chamber choir singing (listed on one of our guide maps), which sounded beautiful.
After leaving the church we decided we had had enough of the crowds for the day, so we dropped J's bag in our room and then headed on a walk along the waterfront to check out the park at the very end of the island (look for the trees at the end of the island). Along our way we ran into a tour member, Sony (originally from Cuba), and invited her to walk with us. We found a fabulous park cafe with great views, sat down and had lunch. We split three different kinds of bruschetta (pronounced bru-ket-a in Italian), Sony had a beer, and J and I split the 1/2 liter of their house white wine. Both J and I had two glasses of wine out of this half liter and felt a little tipsy. We don't know if it was the heat, or if the wine had a little more kick to it, but we certainly did not need anything more to drink. Sony wasn't quite done though, she proceeded to order the five scoops of ice cream dessert option. J and I each had a couple bites with her, but then we were stuffed! Back to the room for a much needed siesta.
After our siesta we headed out to walk around the city a bit more before heading to dinner. We found the oldest pizzeria in Venice and ate there. After dinner—onto our gondola ride!
For the gondola ride our guide had arranged for us to group-up in order to cut down costs. Gondola rides after 7pm typically run around 130 euros for 30 minutes. Jason and I shared a gondola with the mother-daughter pairings on the tour: Janice and Lila and Karen and Olivia. An evening gondola ride through Venice can be checked off the bucket list. (Thanks Grandma Hays!)
