Venice...finally we are back!

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This is not the first attempt to do this Italian trip. Last one was exactly when Covid hit Italy in March 2019. We landed in Nice and were supposed to go next day to the left...to Italy. Well, they closed the border, we made it all around the South-East of France than headed back home to Seychelles at the time before they would close all airports around just few days after the trip. We are actually holding one two different tickets that were issued back in 2018, one in Milan and one in Florence!



So when we landed in Venice, just around lunch on this beautiful day of January, Tanya and I just looked at each other in relieved, we finally made it!



I love Italy in January. It may be cold, but it's generally dry with pure blue skies. This was one of those January month. To top it up, in normal conditions, you have very few tourists visiting Italy in January...so imagine with Omicron roaming around, we had the place to ourselves!



We spent a grand total of 4 nights in Venice. This is a special moment for us, celebrating Tanya's birthday at the Gritti. The hotel is around 40% occupancy only. This is not the place you use your credit card to book/pay, but rather few points from Marriott. This place is a legend, and they did upgrade use to a signature suite for the occasion. View on the Grand Canal, massive historic suite, beautiful bathroom....and don't even let me start on the breakfast or the little attentions the hotel delivered for us in the room. That was a stay! It would actually register as my best ever deal if we have to compare the insane amount that suite was on sale for that night!



The Gritti is one of those very special places. They closed the hotel few years ago for a massive multi-multi millions Euros renovation. The rooms themselves have not changed much, specially as if like us you are staying in a signature historic suite. What did improve a lot is the quality of the bathroom. It's interesting as bathrooms were not really part of the luxury experience at the beginning of the 20th century. While today, the luxury is actually the bathroom, with some of them nearly bigger than the actual room you are staying in!



The good news when the tourists are not there, is you just have to follow the locals when you are looking for food. So yes, it's a first, but I must admit we did eat decently well in Venice! We don't find nice pastas or pizzas back at home in South Africa....so the next few days was just a lot of those! Not sure next time we will visit Italy we will enjoy the place for ourselves, as well as the incredible deals all over the place.



Next, we are heading for a little of snow. Another seriously amazing stay on the program. But first let's hope you enjoy the pictures of Venice. Oh yes, we even had a foggy morning, this is rendering some truly fun pictures opportunities too!



Tanya and I have both been to Venice few times before we met. So you will not see pictures of the Palace of the Doges, done way before this trip! But yes the weather was nice enough to have lunch on a piazza!

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