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Published: August 30th 2017
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Geo: 45.4345, 12.3384
After a fairly long trip from Pisa with a two hour layover in Florence, we finally arrived in Venice. During our couple of hours in Florence we stumbled upon the Santa Maria Novella church which was really beautiful and the only Americano I've been able to find so far. A woman asking me where I got it from at the train station made me feel like I'm not the only one who's struggled with finding actual cups of coffee thus far!
We took a bus to the campsite, checked in to our little wooden chalet- very nice too! Sparsely furnished with only a bed, heater and some curtains but it was very quaint and the campsite itself had everything we needed- clean shower blocks, a restaurant, a shop and a TV showing the football. After checking all this out we jumped on the bus for our 10 minute ride to central Venice where, in the theme of the holiday, we proceeded to walk around aimlessly, argued over who was going to map read, and ate and drank alot. Venice is as beautiful as it's reputation suggests and I think we were lucky that it didn't actually smell. Either that
or I've been in China too long and are now immune to smells of pollution!
We crossed bridges, wandered through random squares, watched street performers, decided the gondolas were such a tourist trap, wandered into some churches before deciding to take a boat to the beach. The churches in Italy were as you'd expect; ornately designed, not many stain glass windows and filled with statues. We took a boat, or 'vaporetti' as they're known here to Lido, a small island about 40 minutes boat ride from Rialto. Here we left the tourist crowds behind (there were lots!) and wandered the small narrow streets, situated beside canals, in search of a beach. We passed large houses with beautiful architecture and balconies overlooking the canals, coast and Rialto and then finally stumbled upon a pebbly beach, a nice pier and only a handful of other people. Not quite the sandy beach, hot weather and clean water for swimming in that I was hoping for but it was lovely nonetheless.
Today we had a bit of a lie-in and headed back to Venice with an aim of sticking to the map and seeing all the tourist sites. We first paid a visit to
the Jewish Ghetto, the first 'ghetto' to exist in Venice. There were five synagogues, countless restaurants and some of the best cakes I've ever eaten. There was also a plethora of shops selling artwork and handicrafts based on the Jewish culture. We then went to the Rialto bridge, decided to take 'arty' photos from a spot jetting out into the canal and where there were few other tourists. Here we learnt a valuable lesson- places with few tourists are not always good to go to. A speedboat went past, created a huge wave and soaked us both (well, Chris more than me as he decided to run away and got hit by the second wave whilst I was too slow to move!). Still photo taken and it was time to move on to the shops - Venice has great leather and bag shops, perfect for a spot of window-browsing.
We then made our way to San Marco Square where we did the obligatory feeding of the pigeons with the remains of our canalside picnic earlier. The architecture here was beautiful but the square itself was filled with tourists and pigeons. We decided this was one cathedral we should actually queue
up for- well worth it! The cathedral itself was beautiful- gold mosaics, large sculptures and we climbed the stairs to the balcony for great views of the square and neighboring clock tower.
After this and slightly sick of all the people, we jumped on another boat and headed to Murano, a small island about 15 minutes from St Marks Square and famous for it's glass making. We arrived here after most of the shops and factories had shut but it meant that we could wander the streets and take in the peacefulness. There wasn't a lot to see but it gave us an insight into local Venetian life- eating outside, family orientated and a big focus on having fun. We then had a 40 minute boat ride back to central Venice which fortunately for us included a nice tour of the canals and some areas we'd missed on our wanderings.
All in all, Venice exceeded my expectations and I'd definitely return one day.
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