There are 2 ways you can take a gondola in Venice - this is the usual way for tourista and costs around 100 euros an hour.
This is the other way on a public crossing of the Grand Canal and costs ,50 cents. You can see which one we did. Phil made a friend as well.
We took a ferry one dat to the islands in the lagoon - this is the ancient monastery on Torcello - wonderful mosaics - thanks for the tip Paddy and Di.
This is the lovely island of Burano with its lollypop houses
We had one VERY wet day and at high tide there was water everywhere.
This is the hospital in Venice which we DIDNT visit but our apartment was nearby - all we had to do was follow the OSPEDALE signs and we were home (almost )
Wonderful shopping opportunities - my sister would be in heaven. I bought a travel iron.
And lots of pretty young men.
Now we are cruising the Med and it is fabulous. An enorous boat - just like a 5 star hotel. Off to Santorini tonight. Love to everyone. Ciao
This is the blog I had meant to post but couldn't open at one of the internet cafes.
We are coming to the end of a delightful week in Venice. It is an amazing city – wonderful to visit but I wouldn’t want to live here. It is hard work getting around – lots of tourists in the popular areas during the day and climbing up and over the canals every few minutes. But it is beautiful.
When we were here last about 6 years ago we stayed in a hotel on the Grand Canal not far from St Marks – a great location but very busy. This time we had an apartment back in the residential area and got a much better feel for how the Venetians live. It had the advantage of being close to the only hospital in Venice – well signposted throughout the city – so we managed to find it fairly reliably. It is such an easy city to get lost in – a couple of times we started out with our map to go somewhere, only to discover half an hour later that we’d walked in a big circle and were no closer to our destination than when we began – not that it mattered too much – we were never in a hurry to get anywhere.
Mostly the weather was kind but on Tuesday it rained all day and at high tide in the afternoon the square at St Marks was more like a wading pool.
We had been to all the big landmarks on our last visit so didn’t go into most of them again. But we did visit the Peggy Guggenheim gallery and a number of lesser churches and galleries. For me a big delight of Venice is just watching the locals go about their business in this challenging city where everything is done on the water – all the deliveries, the garbage collection, the ambulance, the police, taxis, trademen – all come and go by water – I could sit and watch them all day – preferably while drinking a cup of coffee and eating one of their yummy custard filled pastries.
Each day we went to the nearby Rialto market for fresh fruit and salad – it is a delight to the eye and the tummy.
Window shopping is a pleasure – the Italians have a great eye for display and the windows are exquisite.
The young men are also very easy on the eye.
There are 2 ways to have a gondola ride in Venice. One is to hire a private gondolier by the hour for around 100 euros ( about $150) the other is to cross the Grand Canal on the public gondola for 50 euro cents. We did the latter – twice. This French lady let the romance of the ride into her blood as she snuggled up to Phil – he doesn’t look as if he minds.
One day we took a boat to 2 of the other islands in the Lagoon – Burano was once famous for it’s handmade lace ( but most of what is sold there now comes cheaply from Asia) and it’s lollypop coloured houses.
Then on to Torcello, which was the richest and most powerful island in the lagoon in the 10th century with 10,000 inhabitants. The population is now about 60 but it has the remains of a vast church complex including the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta with its amazing mosaics.
Our week in Venice is coming to an end and this is our home for the next 2 weeks. It is like a floating 5 star hotel – if last night’s dinner is anything to go by, we will have to make sure we get plenty of exercise to work of the meals – it was fabulous food. Today we are off to Dubrovnick.
When we were here last about 6 years ago we stayed in a hotel on the Grand Canal not far from St Marks – a great location but very busy. This time we had an apartment back in the residential area and got a much better feel for how the Venetians live. It had the advantage of being close to the only hospital in Venice – well signposted throughout the city – so we managed to find it fairly reliably. It is such an easy city to get lost in – a couple of times we started out with our map to go somewhere, only to discover half an hour later that we’d walked in a big circle and were no closer to our destination than when we began – not that it mattered too much – we were never in a hurry to get anywhere.
Mostly the weather was kind but on Tuesday it rained all day and at high tide in the afternoon the square at St Marks was more like a wading pool.
We had been to all the big landmarks on our last visit so didn’t go into most of them again. But we did visit the Peggy Guggenheim gallery and a number of lesser churches and galleries. For me a big delight of Venice is just watching the locals go about their business in this challenging city where everything is done on the water – all the deliveries, the garbage collection, the ambulance, the police, taxis, trademen – all come and go by water – I could sit and watch them all day – preferably while drinking a cup of coffee and eating one of their yummy custard filled pastries.
Each day we went to the nearby Rialto market for fresh fruit and salad – it is a delight to the eye and the tummy.
Window shopping is a pleasure – the Italians have a great eye for display and the windows are exquisite.
The young men are also very easy on the eye.
There are 2 ways to have a gondola ride in Venice. One is to hire a private gondolier by the hour for around 100 euros ( about $150) the other is to cross the Grand Canal on the public gondola for 50 euro cents. We did the latter – twice. This French lady let the romance of the ride into her blood as she snuggled up to Phil – he doesn’t look as if he minds.
One day we took a boat to 2 of the other islands in the Lagoon – Burano was once famous for it’s handmade lace ( but most of what is sold there now comes cheaply from Asia) and it’s lollypop coloured houses.
Then on to Torcello, which was the richest and most powerful island in the lagoon in the 10th century with 10,000 inhabitants. The population is now about 60 but it has the remains of a vast church complex including the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta with its amazing mosaics.
Our week in Venice is coming to an end and this is our home for the next 2 weeks. It is like a floating 5 star hotel – if last night’s dinner is anything to go by, we will have to make sure we get plenty of exercise to work of the meals – it was fabulous food. Today we are off to Dubrovnick.
