Two Days in Venice

Ah here we are and the end of our trip. From Amalfi, Rome, Florence and then to Cinque Terre we end our trip in Venice. Originally we were going to head to Lake Como as well but we cut our trip short do to the procedure D was going to have (thankfully he didn't have to in the end).

Every night before the day of check out M and I would go over our plan, book our train tickets etc. That night as we sat planning we changed things up a bit last minute. Instead of taking the train we decided to rent a car instead. We wanted to stop in Pisa on our way to Venice and the train timings were just not making sense to us. We would either have to wake up way too early, have too little time in Pisa or get to Venice too late. 

We took a train from Riomaggiore to La Spezia and picked up are car from there.. and then we were off. Train travel was so easy and worry free it was a bit annoying in the beginning having to drive (M not me) and figuring out the roads etc but we got to Pisa in good time and took all the necessary cheesy pictures lol. 

These are so hard to take.. it was the opposite of fun. A lot of  'my left' and 'an inch this way.. no not that way the other way.' argh. And the hundreds of people try to take silly pictures around you.. lol.. it was quite a sight.

Famous for its unintended 4 degree tilt, the 56m tower took nearly 200 years to build - work started in 1173. Five years later it started tilting. The tilt was noticeable as workers built the second floor. The shift was caused by shallow foundations of 3m and unstable subsoil. 

Afterwards we grabbed a quick lunch and some coffee before heading off again. 

There was a lot of traffic, we arrived in Venice a little later than intended. We had our dinner reservations moved. Venice being a car free city we boarded a vaporetto with our luggage and then dragged/carried it through the cobblestone streets and over the multitude of bridges Venice has. Thankfully our hotel was not too far. Instead of heading to our room we asked the reception to just hold on to our things so we could have dinner first. They were kind and agreed. 

We stayed at the Hotel al Piave, in a small but wonderfully charming two bedroom suite. And had dinner at the equally small and charming Ristorante Da Carletto. We also had our first ever creme brulee, made tableside.

The next morning we were ready to explore. We had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then hit the streets!

First stop Liberia Acqua Alta

Super cool bookstore. They had a wall of old book spines, even a staircase made of old books.. I was pretty sure I took a pic of H on it but can't find it now. 

 

They also had a gondola strung up on a canal near it for people to take photos. 

Next we headed to St. Mark's Basilica and Piazza Saint Marco.

 

This behind us is the Bridge of Sighs as seen from Ponte Della Paglia. The Bridge of Sighs is an enclosed bridge made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars, connecting the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. The bridge got its name from the romantic notion that prisoners sighed as they crossed the bridge catching their final glimpse of the world.

There are a total of 446 bridges in Venice. 

It was a hot day so we ducked into the Cafe Florian for a break. The Cafe Florian is the oldest cafe in Italy and the second oldest in Europe and the first cafe to allow women.

We continued on to Rialto Bridge.. half the fun of Venice is to roam around without a map. We had a general idea of which direction we needed to be going in but didn't focus too much on the exact directions.

Then on to Dorsoduro all the way to Basilica Santa Maria Della Salute. We stumbled upon galleries and interesting art. 

And then a delicious dinner at Al Profeta. Absolutely scrumptious. 

We ended the night with Venchi Gelato. It is a chain we saw in other parts of Italy as well. It was fine but we have had better. 

The next day after having breakfast at the hotel we boarded a vaporetto to explore the islands of Venice. There are 5 islands in the Venice lagoon; Murano, Burano, San Giorgio Maggiore, Torcello and Lido. We choose to visit both Murano, famous for its glass and Burano, famous for its lace. 

First stop Burano. It was an hour long journey and the ferry was very very full. The current population of Burano is about 2,800. Venetian lace was once considered a prized possession, one of the finest in the lands. To optimize production and keep cost low they moved all the lace makers to an island. The history of the lace is quite fascinating and I found a wonderful article about it here for those interested.

 

As you can see the houses are all painted in bright colors. As a fishing village, historically, the fishermen decided to paint their homes in bright colors so they could find them in the thickest of fogs. In order to keep the colors bright the houses are repainted every two years.

 

We got some gelato at Trecento Luxury Gelato before heading back to the vaporetto. I had low expectation of this gelato due to its name.. luxury? But I was wrong. It was very good. 

Another 45 minute vaporetto brought us to Murano. Murano has been known for its glass production since the 13th century, when glassmakers were forced to move their furnaces to the island to reduce the risk of fires in Venice. Since then, Murano has become the center of Venetian glass production.

You have to be careful when shopping. If it's cheap it's probably not real. There are also levels.. the above ones are Murano glass but a lower end one where the color is painted on instead of being actual colored glass. Murano glass also always has the artist's signature somewhere on the glass. 

We bought glass directly from an artist. While I am blanking on the owners name the shop was called Neropaco Di Cenedese Andrea. The owner came from a long line of glass blowers. He himself blew glass for over 4o years. His wife makes the jewelry in the shop. It now holds one of my many pothos plants. 

We had lunch and then hurried over to catch a live glass blowing demonstration. It was a fifteen minute demo for 5 euros. 

And then we grabbed a quick coffee before hopping on another vaporetto, back to Venice. Once back we roamed around the streets some more. We discovered the narrowest street.. I made a video. I have so many videos I am just not fast enough with my reels but If you follow me on instagram I will one day post it. 

As a break from Italian food we found a little Mexican place with great food. And then we had our final gelato at Suso. It was one of the best. 

Our flight was from Milan. The next morning we headed to Milan. We had a few hours to explore before catching our flight. We did not do much but we did visit it's Duomo. 

So came to an end our Italian adventure.. I hope you enjoyed travelling around with us. 

      

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