Venice !

By Deborah - I’d like to say it took forever to get to Venice but it was more like a week since we first saw road signs pointing to Venice. Coming around the corner up the Coast from Trieste, the first one said ‘Venice 99km’. I was quietly excited 🤣 it’s got to be on everybody’s bucket list I reckon. We biked about 80kms that day - a bit off track because we were heading for the beach around 1pm each afternoon (remember that heatwave). Beach resorts galore with large sandy (but shallow) beaches. First camping we tried charged 64 euro for a small tent and 2 people. Understandably we moved on and found some more reasonably priced ones. 

Next day we biked out from the beach place - the Venice sign came out ‘Venice 99km’.... WHAT? Yeah that coastline is a crock, it’s jagged with huge inlets and wet lands that have no bridges so in most cases you need to bike around to get to the next beach. Next day ‘99km’ and bitch hot 🥵. You could say it added to the magic of the city, it being so illusive.

Venice is pretty amazing, to be honest. Never have I ever seen something like it, apart from tv, so you kind of imagine James Bond to whip by or witness a great heist by boat ripping through the canals. 

Gondolas of course! At 80-100 euros a pop I’m too cheap to take a ride besides I’d rather ride on 2 wheels (NOT) oh and no bikes are allowed in Venice anyway.

And there’s a lot of Gondolas;  actually they say there’s only about 500 in the city whereas there was upward of 10,000 in earlier times.

The romance of it.... some people had opera singers or violin players riding along with them

The Rialto Bridge - a famous bridge for taking selfies. It is one of a few bridges that crosses the Grand Canal, the channel that weaves through Venice in a big S-shape cutting the place in half. Although realistically the place is made up of many, many little islands by the canals. 

St Mark’s Basilica - another great spot to stand in front of with your phone aimed directly at yourself with this beautiful building as a blurry afterthought behind. I had no idea how to take a pretty picture of it with the crowds.

The first day we went into town very early, catching the 7AM bus from our campground for the 10 min bus trip to Piazza Roma - the main gateway into the City. The city is still very quiet at that time so an excellent time to see some of the buildings without the crowds. It gets busy from around 10 AM onwards, is quieter again around 3 to 4PM and then it ramps up again for the evening lights. 


Gondola jam. Gotta love those narrow canals lined with the high houses. 

The City has a great transport system, you can buy a 20 Euro day pass that gives you 24 hours full access to busses, boats and trams - it’s a great way to get around - the boats run through the main Grand Canal and around the City in the same way the Metro runs through Paris. We went up and down the Grand Canal a few times as it is a great way to see the city from the water. But wandering through the maze of little streets to see the many squares and alleyways is a must do too! You get lost in seconds so make sure you carry a map of sorts. 

The great thing about the day pass for the public transport is that you can also use it to go to Murano island and Burano island. A 20 to 30 minute ferry ride gets you to these small  water towns. Every house is brightly coloured and not the same as your neighbours and how pretty is that? It’s like the peasant’s version compared to the rich merchant city 😃

 It’s touristy of course but not as busy as Venice. It’s sunnier ,more colourful and more open due to the lower buildings. 

The second day we went to Venice in the evening to experience the city at night. Above are the lights over the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge. 

Parts of Marko Square gets flooded, we assumed on purpose (and not due to global warming) with water coming up through the drains presenting a “mirror” lake in front of the cathedral and palace. 

And the band serenaded - that actually sealed my love for Venice ❤️ -  around st Marco Square there are several very fancy hotels and restaurants and some of them have a string quartet or some other style of music ensemble playing outside. It gives the evening this wonderful magical feel. 



Walking through the maze to get home; the dimly lit streets and canals really give the City a very different feel - many of the alleys go very quiet and you can easily imagine you have stepped back in time  ... Ciao ciao