Vivo Venice!

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Greg:

Venice... if this is how the rest of Italy is going to be, i don't think we will make it any further - we have fallen in love already with the food, people, waterways, food, wine, basilicas, and food.

Getting there was slightly longer than expected as we sat on the tarmac for an extra two hours in Hong Kong, due to their airport not letting us take off. We did however take the opportunity to strike conversation with the fidgeting passenger to my immediate right. Initially assuming he was French due to the mumbling of discontent towards his seat, tv, headphones and temperature, I was happily proved wrong when we started talking travel and learnt he was a Spanish garment designer who flew to a different country almost every week for contact work). Fastforward a few hours of talking Barcelona and bad New Zealand fashion we got to Frankfurt, where we watched our Venice flight soar off without us due to the delay earlier on. After rebooking and wandering around the airport for a bit (including going through the same customs twice), we finally made the last leg to Venice (or Venezia in Italiano).

Once we had sorted a water ferry over to the main island, we checked into our hotel and had a look around. We were very jetlagged by this point, so got a few recommendations and went to a local trattoria (italian style resturant which is family owned and serve traditional dishes) "Barababaou"and had the best proscuitto / cheese platter followed by pasta i think either of us have ever tasted.

We spent the next day truly getting lost in Venice, which included visits to the Leonardo da Vinci and Gallerie dell'Accademia. We tried our first italian pizza (cheap takeaway but still very good) and completed our roundabout circuit via the San Marco square, scaling the belltower and taking in its breathtaking views before the end of the day. Again out to another local recommendation, we tried our first gnocchi (amazing!) and traditional tiramisu - two dishes that are now safely in Kim's favourite meals.

For our third day we ferried to the local island of Murano, famous for the art of glass blowing. After seeing the process in action both at a industrial shop and a Murano resident's house, we had a very tasty pizza lunch with some local brew at "Osteria al Duomo" and ferried back via Venice's island cemetary. Arriving back on the main island we hooked up with a free local walking tour, and our guide Sam led us through some uncommon Venetian locations and facts for roughly 4 hours, before we ended the night by eating at a close-to-home recommendation and popping out to local bar "Baraco Jazz" for a few birra/sangria's.

Not quite believing we had to leave so soon, we spent our last day exploring the Fish Markets near the rialto bridge, had some 5 star takeaway pasta at "Alfredo's", explored San Marco's basilica and Doge's palace and ran to catch our first train out to Vicenza.

A perfect start to what is shaping up to be a brilliant 3 weeks in Italy, we absolutely loved Venice and left feeling both sad but excited to move on to our next adventure - we wouldnt recommend any less time for those interested!

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Comments

[Em]

WOW!
Living vicariously through you (and Karen as she recalls all the experiences you are living!). Wonderful coverage thanks. Must get there someday!

[Ash]

LOL
"Some very expensive glass animals, and they don't even talk"

[Gran and G'dad Black]

Hi! Again great photo's. Gran and I were in Venice in 1984, our hotel was by the Grand Canal and your photo's brought back some great memories, especially , The Doge's Palace, St Mark's (San Marco) square and the Bridge of Sighs (Rialto). We didn't see half of what you saw, because we only spent two nights at Venice as we were on a three week bus tour of Europe. Looking forward to more photo's. Love to you both. Gran and Grandad