Our final destination on the cruise was Venice. It was a beautiful day. The weather certainly has been kind to us.
The first thing to catch our attention? The extremely streamlined rubbish bins. Obviously not very effective.
First on the agenda was a visit to the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Square, for which we had to don some very attractive radio headpieces so we could hear our guide’s commentary amongst the crowds.
On our way from our little ferry boat to the palace, we crossed four bridges. Nothing brings home the fact that you’re in Venice like crossing the bridges. We still can’t believe we were actually there.
Tom inspected their rubbish removal system. This appears to be a popular European method.
We passed famous hotel Danieli…
And the Bridge of Sighs that goes between the Doge’s Palace and the prison, with giant bright blue signs on either side marking the fact that it’s being refurbished.
And then we reached the Doge’s Palace itself.
Tom liked this statue.
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the palace, so that’s it for the palace. The prison was next, and it was a not-particularly-interesting mass of concrete and steel bars.
Outside in the courtyard of the Doge’s Palace there were some pretty amazing statues. This guy looked quite full of himself.
This one had a very big sword.
We visited the church in the square, which I’m assuming was called St Mark’s, although my memory has failed me. No photos inside there either, so you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself!
After that we had a bit of spare time before the tour ended, so began wandering the very touristy streets surrounding St Mark’s square. Tom tried on his first Venetian mask.
We laughed at some street performers….
And then we hopped back on the ferry to take us back to the cruise ship for lunch (can’t turn down a free lunch on our last day on the cruise)!
After lunch we started a walking tour organised by the cruise people, but didn’t stick with it for very long. Not fast paced enough for Tom!
This is an example of the many many many little squares dotted around the city. They were originally designed very cleverly with a kind of a well in the centre that the surrounding homes would draw water from. When it rains, the square itself drains towards the stones with holes in them surrounding the well, thus collecting the rainwater effectively for use.
We got very used to this kind of sight.
And even found yet another dog in one of Allie’s favourite sleeping positions.
Can you believe that backdrop??
Tom had to try on another mask.
And then we made our way to the Rialto Bridge for this obligatory shot.
After which we decided that we well and truly deserved a break, so stopped by a little café next to the water, still in sight of the bridge.
I tried my first Italian Cioccolato.
I think one will probably do me for quite some time now. It was very dense.
We had the pleasure of observing some kind of an argument between a Gondolier and a resident.
And then we had to take advantage of the location for a few more snaps.
We still couldn’t believe we were in Venice.
They have free water fountains in a lot of the squares, meaning that Tom was in water heaven like in Dubrovnik.
We walked and walked and walked that first afternoon in Venice, getting lost many times, but getting the feel of it eventually. At one point we stumbled across a tiny little café that was crowded with students. The reason it was popular? Beers for 1.5 euros. The equivalent of about $2.23 AUD. And lovely little bruschetta nibblies for 0.50 euro each. We decided to try them out.
And that of course whetted our appetites, so we moved on to the search for dinner, deciding that we would forfeit the free dinner on the cruise for the sake of a once-in-a-lifetime (or at least this trip) dinner in Venice. We found a lovely little café in a back street somewhere, and sat down to our first Margherita pizza.
Yes, I believe the emotion on Tom’s face there is glee.
After that we had to attempt to navigate back to the cruise boat in the dark, when all of the streets look different. Tom did an excellent job.
We enjoyed our last night on the cruise boat, left our bags there in the morning for safekeeping, and then started out again for our second day of Venetian adventuring. Tom thought we needed a musical beginning.
We wandered, got lost, wandered, found ourselves again, and popped into shops here and there for most of the morning. Almost all of it window shopping, I’m proud to say. We were pretty astounded by these glass blocks (which are larger than the size of an ordinary glass brick) with beautifully detailed animals inside them.
We popped back to St Mark’s square and enjoyed about 30 seconds of the mini orchestra playing at one of the restaurants before the waiter came over to give us menus and told is it cost 20 euro to enjoy the music.
We had to do a double take when we saw this.
I think he was performing maintenance on the statue. Clearly this includes cleaning of underarms.
We admired the very cheerfully arranged house buzzers…
And of course we had to find a café with a view for lunch and our next Margherita pizza.
The decision as to whether we should have a gondola ride was a tough one. They cost 80 euros for a half hour journey, the equivalent of about $120 AUD. Ouch. Eventually we decided that we simply couldn’t come to Venice and not have a gondola ride, so ride we did. Although we cut the time down a bit and only paid $60 euro. Still ouch.
We enjoyed every bit of it.
Our gondolier told us that being a gondolier is inherited. His father was a gondolier, now he is a gondolier. The boat we were in was 35 years old.
We made it to the Rialto Bridge before turning around and visiting a few of the smaller canals that don’t have footpaths on either side, meaning we wouldn’t be able to really see them on foot.
Don’t worry, we fully appreciate how good we’ve got it.
To top it all off, we got ourselves a gelati.
That’s me losing one of the strawberries off the top.
One final pass across the Rialto Bridge…
A brief moment of wonder at the sheer size of the nutella jars…
One final little bit of window shopping...
And a moment to reference Mad Max…
And it was over. We returned to the cruise ship, collected our luggage, waved goodbye, and we were off.
We thought we were pretty clever working out how the public ferries worked so we could get to the train station on the mainland (Venice itself is an island).
Next stop? Rome!
When we were planning this holiday, someone had told me that Venice was a horrible, drizzly, depressing, smelly city, so we shouldn’t spend too much time there. I wish I could remember who it was so I could wash their mouth out with soap when we get home. It’s lovely. The weather was perfect for us, the cafes are lovely, and walking around and getting lost and seeing what you find is heaps of fun. Yes it’s expensive, but we’re in Europe. Yes, there are some bad smells on occasion when the tide is out and all of the seaweed attached to the sides of the canals is exposed to the air, or when you get a whiff of someone’s garbage or sewage in an alley somewhere. But you get those things in any real European city not exclusively aimed at tourists.
We did find that two days was enough for us to see the sights and feel like we’d “done” Venice thoroughly. If we’d stayed much longer we may have got a bit bored. Heaven forbid!
In the end though, Venice is gorgeous. I am so so glad we’ve seen it.
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