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This morning after breakfast we left our hotel in Florence and set off in the hire care for Venice. It was overcast most of the way but didn't rain which was good. It's a really nice drive even though on a highway with mountains and really nice countryside on either side. It took us about 4hours and we didn't even get lost! Coming into Venice though you come over a really big bridge into a little area with the waterbus stop is and heaps and heaps of buses. This is where we had to drop the hire car off but with millions of cars/buses/people around and no parking etc it made it quite difficult to find where we had to drop it off, we did as the Italians do and stopped the car where we weren't meant to and had to ask around until we found it.Once we'd said goodbye to our car we had to lug our suitcases over to where the waterbuses left from and try to figure out which one would get us the closest to our hotel.We got off at the St Marks stop and had to fight through about a bazillion people with our bags through St Mark's Square… just as we were about to aimlessly wonder the streets in search of our hotel (no map) a little old man wondered over and offered to walk us to our hotel for just 1 euro.. It was definitely worth it! After he shuffled off in front off us it turned out we were just about 2 streets back from St Mark's and in a really good location.
After checking in we were off (hotel room was tiny and no lift so had to cart suitcases up flights of stairs!) to explore Venice.Venice is a great city as you don't need a destination in mind you just set off and explore the streets, the canals, the bridges, the shops etc.The weather was really good in the afternoon so we were lucky and got a good look around. I loved just watching how they function a whole city with boats.. They have ambulance boats, police boats, fire boats etc.Even watching the postman boats is entertaining!
Venice was definitely the most expensive place we've been to yet in terms of restaurants etc but for dinner we found one up a quite little laneway and was greeted with by far the best hospitality we've had since being in Italy by a waiter.He gave us free drink to start with and had a great dinner.On the way home from dinner we passed a wine bar that had a machine in the middle of the room with about 20 different wines on it that you put money in and your glass under and it pours it out just like a vending machine, it was so funny.
The next morning it was rainy and stayed that way all day, we had to brave it so set out with our umbrellas.Lets just say Venice is not the best city to have umbrellas down narrow laneways but we managed!First destination was the Rialto bridge that has shops on it from one side to the other, we stopped for a coffee at a nice little spot right at the base of it to attempt to dry out for a bit.As we started to wonder again we came across the markets. There was a section for fresh fruit and veggies and another for meat/fish. Never in my life have I seen such amazing looking fruit and veggies everything looked fake it was so perfect and was great to just walk around and check it all out.We spent the rest of the day wandering around checking out different parts of the city.. the best thing about Venice is you get really lost but within a matter of minutes you figure out where you are or see a sign pointing in the right direction.. its exactly like being in a hedge maze, but was great to have a change from the crazy cars and motorbikes of all the other cities!
On part of our travels today we came across a big group of people setting up for filming, on the way into Venice on the waterbus we saw them doing this also in a different spot… I'm pretty sure it must have been the Angelina Jolie movie that she's been filming in Venice for the past couple of months…however after lots of looking there was no sighting of her or Brad anywhere!
- comments
Kara It is indeed a very interesting town.. Sounds very similiar to all the experiences that I had in Venice (except the rain) but I even saw a movie getting filmed!! crazy