Eurotrip 2011 – Milan & Venice, 21-23 Apr

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We decided it was time to travel Europe so we booked our tickets earlier in the year, read up, planned our rough itinerary, booked accommodations and got all excited as the date to depart drew nearer. Our route eventual route looked something like this

(Italy) Milan Venice Florence, SiennaRomePisa Cinque Terre
(Switzerland) Bern Bernese Oberland Swiss Alps  Luzern
(Germany)Rhine Valley
(Netherlands)Amsterdam , Haarlem, Kinderdijk (Belgium) Brussels
(France) Paris

The key idea was to have some flexibility to tweak our itinerary to suit our pace as we went along. We got ourselves a Eurail 7 day flexi pass for rail travel between cities which we found convenient as the trains pulled into stations which were often in the heart of the city and near our accommodations.

Milan. Sophisticated, stylish and expensive food. A huge cathedral (Duomo) dominated the main Square (Piazza) where people and pigeons gathered. The Gothic-styled Duomo is one of the more attractive ones with its sheer size, white facade and pointy tops.

In the afternoon we walked to a nearby palace (Palazzo) and park where the locals were relaxing under the sun and the cool temperatures. Some were walking their dogs, jogging or having a game of football. We too found a spot to people watch and take things slow on our 1st day.

We headed out to Venice the next morning. I was excited as we knew from pictures and movies how pretty it can be. True enough, it didn’t disappoint. We satisfied our gelato craving and started out with an introduction to Venice with a slow boat ride down the Grand Canal which was the main waterway. Rick Steve’s ipod audio guide came in handy to identify and provide some history to the sights. With cars and roads replaced by waterways, boats and gondolas, Venice is unique and beautiful with its own distinctive character.

In the afternoon, we took the boat to the islands of Murano and Burano. Visited a glass making factory and got lost amongst houses and backstreets. We liked the islands as there were less people around and the houses were so cute and colourful.

St Mark’s Square is filled with live music from the restaurants and cafes and at night, with less people, the square illuminated with lights can make it pretty romantic and nice. We were back here the next morning to visit St Mark’s Basilica. Byzantine architecture and mosaics dominate this basilica. In the afternoon, we visited the Doges Palace and the bridge of sighs which provided a wealth of information but we were easily tired out listening to the audio guides and walking around. I guess we are not really museum people. We appreciate the history but don’t last very long inside museums. Before we left Venice, we took a Traghetto to cross the Grand Canal. - Our very own 2 minute Gondola ride for 0.50 Euro. Yes, we are really cheap.

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Photos

St Mark's Sq
Masks on the Sq