Venice

Venice

 May 7th and 8^th

Venice there is nothing like it, nothing equal to it!  The streets are like alleys, dark and dingy, but really very safe.  It is a giant labyrinth, a huge maze of streets and getting lost is just part of the fun.  There are 117 small islands all interlocked by 400 bridges over 150 canals.  It is built on marsh, on a lagoon and it is quiet expansive .  Architecturally it is rather stunning; there is eastern and Islamic inspiration. We are rather lucky as our hotel is right in Venice and not in Venice mainstay, so we are right in the hub of all the activity and we are right on the grand canal, it doesn’t get much better.

 First we went on a water taxi ride, we couldn’t get to St Mark’s Square as the Pope was on his way and they were closing off the canal at 1900, but we still got to see some magnificent sights whilst drinking champagne and bolene – this went down a treat.  We then had a gondola ride and went up and down lots of little canals and under all these lovely little bridges, it was great.  The canals get really busy and the ride isn’t all that smooth due to the wake of the other boats on the canal, but heck we didn’t care.  We had dinner in a lovely little restaurant just a hope skip and a jump over a few bridges and had a great evening.  Himself was off the grog for the night!!  Can’t imagine why myself.

Public transport has never seemed so glamorous as the No 1 route down the shimmering 3.5 km stretch of the Grand Canal  to San Marco, we passed so many palazzo, churches, four bridges, two open air markets ( fish and vegetable) and other landmarks recognisable form the scene – stealing cameos in the James Bond films. 

We were unable to go into the San Marco chapel because of the Pope’s visit it was closed, as was the museum.  We had to go through the metal detectors and have a bag search to enter the square.  Huge screens were erected for the people to watch the Pope’s arrival.  Well I was dead set on lining up to see the Papi.  We lined up very successfully and saw him, be it from a distance – I feel like I received a personal blessing from the Papi, I was chuffed.  It may have taken a while but he was worth the wait.  

We did go to the island of Murano to see some glass blowing; it was a bit disappointing as it really doesn’t appeal to me.  But what we really loved was our trip to Burano.  It was a lovely ferry ride and we wandered around the streets, looking at the clothes hanging from the brightly coloured houses.  Burano is naturally the most artistically inclined fishing village in the Mediterranean basin.  This little fishing village is famed for its lace, but we didn’t find a great lot of lace there but did find a few little treasures.  We had a great seafood meal at Burano and of course himself was in fine form after his abstinence yesterday. 

A trip down the Grand Canal in Venice must rate as one of the Worlds must do attractions. It fully deserves the reputation for grandeur, romance and beauty. We cruised up and down the canal between visiting other attractions all day, enjoying all of its charm. A little reading up on some of the wonderfull old waterfront palaces payed dividends and added to our enjoyment. We were fortunate to have wonderful weather  and some of our journeys were early evening as the lights from the canalside properties lit up in the twilight.

  As I said earlier, Venice there is nothing like it, nothing equal to it!  We just loved it.