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Published: July 23rd 2008
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Ducal Palace
our first sight from the public water bus Those were Kev's remarks as we walked across St Marks Square, Venice towards the Bridge of Sighs!! Tourists, tourists everywhere - not only Japanese! From the steady streams of what seemed to be school groups there must also have been many empty classrooms all over Europe too! Later when we booked for a Vivaldi concert at Campo San Salvador which is close to the Rialto Bridge and a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel, the man who sold us the tickets told us that Venice is nowhere near as busy as it does get. Kev found that hard to believe - not a lover of being in a crowd he thought it was busy enough! Our ticket-seller also told us that so many tourists are now visiting Venice that it's beginning to annoy the Venetians who live and work here although he said they realise that tourism brings in a lot of money. But I can see what he means, the narrow streets and the public water buses are not made for the hundreds of tourist who use them, all (like me) snapping photos here, there and everywhere. Kev actually played his part in stopping a fight which was
about to take place between a tourist and a local - holding one bloke back while someone else held his potential sparring partner back! Incidentally the Vivaldi concert was great!!
It was quite amazing when we first arrived at Venice's railway station with all the public water buses just beyond the station steps. It took us well over an hour to finally reach our hotel although we couldn't really claim to have been lost - we discovered when reading the hotel reviews that a great many tourists do get lost so we can congratulate ourselves. And by the time we had to return to the train station to catch the train to Florence we'd worked out the best way to get there so it only took us about 20 minutes at the most.
On our first morning in Venice the umbrella was a necessity - luckily the rain eased in the afternoon. We did our usual wandering around and, thanks to Kev's great sense of direction, we always seemed to find our way back to the hotel without having to resort to a map. (So far we've only got lost once, when we were in Zürich.)
We booked on a
couple of guided tours during our stay - always great value as far as I'm concerned because of all the interesting historical facts you are given. The first took us inside St Mark's Basilica, from there to the Ducal Palace and the prison next door which is connected by the Bridge of Sighs - so named by Lord Byron when he was in Venice because, he said, prisoners looking out as they were being escorted to the prison would have sighed as they took their last look at the city of Venice. A very knowledgeable guide gave us lots of historical facts, figures and tales of Venetian life. From there we taken on a ferry to the island of Murano - famous for the Venetian glass-making factories - where we were given a demonstration. Then came the sales pitch, but we were strong!! - all to expensive for us although we did later buy some glass trinkets from the markets.
Due to a combination of us not reading the instructions properly and inadequate sign-age we didn't find the place where we were supposed to meet for the next tour we'd booked - we also reckoned it must have left a
St Marks Basilica
in the drizzle and before the crowds built up couple of minutes early. Consequently we missed out! Needless to say I was very annoyed, mainly with us - but I did get our money back!! Because the tour was taking us to a couple of other islands we ended up going there on the public water buses - missed out on all that great info though. Ah well - that will teach us to be more careful and observant in future!!
We found Venice to be very expensive. We had every intention of going on a gondola ride until we were told the cost - 80 Euros for 45 minutes!! As I write this we are now in Florence and, in retrospect, I'm a bit sorry we didn't bite the bullet but at the time it just seemed way too expensive.
At least Venice put on a fantastic farewell for us on our last night in the form of 40 minutes of fireworks - all part of the Festival of the Redemption. What looked like a full moon shone over the city on a beautiful balmy night. Boats from many of the surrounding islands had congregated in front of St Marks Square and those on board were all in
Ducal Palace
and the rain seems to be here for a while party mood so it was a great sight to see - shimmering lights reflecting in the water and music, music everywhere. Those not on boats had set up tables along the waterfront while the restaurants all had extra tables and chairs out as the city filled with revelers. It was a magnificent firework display - it seemed as though it would never end! Finally we stumbled into bed, sleeping in a little before we headed to the Rialto Bridge markets for some last minute shopping before catching the train to Florence.
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Sean Gavin
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Jackie Gleeson
To the honeymooners - once a knight is enough - in madrid Not a toy boy from Geneva for Michelle - and elvis has just left the room Lake Como brought back memories - did you get a chance to take the ferry on the lake to Bellagio and Venice - getting lost is half the fun - did San Marco square flood while you were there Love the blog and the photos - don't know how you keep up Sean