Walking in Venice

One of the things I loved in Venice is just wandering around. It's not that hard to find your way, just watch for the directions painted on the buildings pointing towards St. Mark's Square, or the Rialto Bridge, or Piazza Roma.

The architecture in Venice is amazing. Rather than ramble on, I'll just let you enjoy it.

During our wandering, we naturally got hungry, and found a lovely little trattoria with a courtyard for lunch. They let me into the kitchen for pictures, though the chef insisted he not be in them. Look at the piles of fresh pasta on top!

We had AMAZING food.

Gnocci:

and lasagna:

after lunch we took the water taxi back to our side of Venice. here are a few final pictures of this lovely city:

I loved every minute of our trip. Italy was amazing, and I would love to go back for another visit. I'd like to spend more time in Florence, Venice, and then see Naples and Capri next time. Whenever that may be.

Enjoy your new day!

The Canals

When folks found out I was going to visit Venice as part of this trip, I heard two things:
1) I LOVE VENICE
and
2) I HATE VENICE

I didn't hear many thoughts that were in between the two. No "meh, Venice is ok", or "Venice is mediocre". Everyone who has visited had one of the two polar opposite opinions. Since Venice was on my bucket list, I was determine to go with an open mind.

My first impression of Venice (after being thrown off the Voyager of the Seas, our home for the last 6 nights) was Piazzale Roma. This is the only place cars, buses and such are allowed on the islands of Venice. If you're going to or from Venice in a motorized vehicle, then Piazzale Roma is as far as you're going. From here you can get the water taxi, a private taxi (boat) or walk.

Here's a tip for my fellow Americanos who may be contemplating going to Venice: pack light. Those bridges are no joke my friends.

This is the little canal that our B&B was on - we ate our european breakfast and drank our cappuccino
sitting along this canal. And that cappuccino? made me want to slap my Keurig and scream "that ain't real coffee!!". I still dream of the cappuccino (and the vino, and other things that end with "o").

I know. It's *exactly* how I dreamed it would be. Maybe even better.

The requisite gondola

Complete with the asshole-ish gondolier (he's pretty and he knew it)

Oh how I adored wandering along the canals. I pinched myself several times - was I really in Venice??

YES. Yes I was!

St Mark's Square

I loved this perspective:

The infamous pigeons



















The winged lion (a symbol of Venice)

The Grand Canal & The Rialto Bridge

You could hire private water taxi to get around

Or enjoy a leisurely (and expensive) gondola ride

We chose to walk or use the public water taxis. 

Sunset in Venice on the Grand Canal 

The Grand Canal at Sunset - how about that lighting? 

If you haven't figured it out yet, I seriously loved Venice. It was more than I'd imagined. Old world charm, amazing architecture, the canals, the boats, the history - incredible. 

I have 2 more posts of Venice for you - one of the wandering/shopping day (wait til you see some of the Murano glass!!), and one just of the architecture. 

And yes, this makes 3 days of posting in a row. I'm on a roll, y'all!! 

Finally: Venice! Vino!

We had a leisurely day at sea following our port call in Sicily. And when I say "leisurely", I mean the only reason I got out of bed was to eat. I was that sick/exhausted. I slept off and on most of the day, while mom read on the balcony (we kept the door open so the soothing sounds of the sea made it a PERFECT day to stay in bed!).

The sea day also meant that our lovely cruise of the Mediterranean was quickly coming to an end. Our disembarkation port was Venice. Luckily we planned 2 extra nights there to explore.

I loved Venice. Loved it. Every stair, every bridge, every winding little alley and canal.

Before we got to the canals and the architecture, we took a tour over to Trieste (the mainland) to visit a winery and do a little wine tasting.

Ok maybe it's more accurate to say we did a LOT of wine tasting.

The estate was amazing. It would be the perfect setting for a wedding - wait! There was one happening while we were visiting!

(yes people, when you're a bride-to-be, you're automatically wedding-obsessed. I'd just like to remind you that this took place LAST MAY. 2 months before I even became engaged. for the record.)

















wine.

more wine.

and more wine.

have I mentioned yet just how PHENOMENAL the wine is in Italy? I don't care if you never drink wine at home - DRINK WINE IN ITALY. It must be a law somewhere.

I'll leave you with a few more pics from this amazing winery.

Vino. Good stuff.