Day 35-37: Venice, Italy

And we were off into the city, first by bus and then by vaperetto (water bus). The weather started out a bit cloudy but cleared a bit as the morning went on.

We had bought a 48hour ACTV ticket from the campsite which allowed us full access to all public transport in Venice (including Murano & Burano islands) for €30 per person. If you decide to do a visit yourself, this is the way to do it. In retrospect, we would probably have bought a 3 day pass as we would have liked to have spent more time on the islands, but with a weather forecast that was predicting a downturn and the cost of a 3 day pass at an eye-watering €40 each, we decided against it.

Our impression of Venice? An ageing dowager. A little less like Maggie Smith in Downtown Abbey and a bit more like Barbara Cartland. Still impressive in her old age but with major cracks appearing covered over with thick caked makeup. It’s Venice after all! The city of love and romance, of gondolas and black & white striped,singing gondaliers, of swathy, flirting Italian men, of history, culture and art. We explored the canals on the vaperettos, Venice’s answer to London Underground on water, we visited the culture spots, flirted with a gondolier and went on a walking tour to discover the “real” Venice.

So prepare yourself for a pictorial tour of Venice. They do a better job of explaining.

**Remember that you can click on any picture to see it in full screen.

Masks Galore

A few Venetian doors, windows and balconies

Cultural sights

St Mark’s Square
Grand Canal
Rialto Bridge

Food & restaurants

All things gondolas and boats

Moosette trying her luck!
Where gondolas are built
Amazon delivery?
Only a Venetian man can look so cool steering a boat with his bum!

THE VENETIAN ISLAND OF BURANO

One word only……. WOW!

We fell in love with the islands.

Burano especially. With it’s same canals, it’s brightly coloured fishermen’s houses awash with the sun, it’s delicate lace, it’s seafood and despite being busy, it’s more laid back approach to tourists, it’s lack of pretention and pressurised sales, it’s locals happy to chat.

And this was where we celebrated together. Where we had our most memorable Venetian meal – the best seafood, the ultimate risotto, a crisp white wine.

Where we looked back on the past year and thanked god that we’d come through it.

Leaving Venice behind and heading for Burano