Bel and Phil's Adventures

Venice, Italy

By belandphilsadventures on June 21, 2018

Thursday 21st June 2018

We caught the train from Florence to Venice this morning. The train was late, but was very comfortable.

We arrived in Venezia SM at the station and followed the signs to the Grand Canal. We stepped out of the station and were instantly amazed. It was just as I’d imagined. There was a large river (or the Grand Canal to be precise) with lots of boats hanging around.

It was so pretty. We had already decided to get a private water taxi to our hotel – a luxury really as it was quite expensive. However, it is our first time in Venice and what better way to see it!

The driver dropped us off at a pier close to the hotel and gave us instructions to get there. We made it to the square and then couldn’t find the actual hotel. Phil went for a walk looking, then I did and found it. We got to the hotel, and realised there was no lift for the bags! This was a huge concern as there were lots of stairs. The lady at the desk told us her ‘boy’ would help us. He was 20-ish!

Thankfully he carried our bags upstairs. It’s about 8 flights – almost as many as Vernazza. We watched the Australia vs Denmark game where they had a draw 1 all. We then went out to get some food – I was so hungry!

We had a map and my camera! We were off. I had planned on heading to St Mark’s Square – um no – took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up somewhere completely different. Anyway, we found this gorgeous location that had a couple of restaurants. I refused to go any further until I had eaten, so we did.

We had bruschetta. It was the best bruschetta I have had in all of Italy! We tried some of their local sparkling wine, which was beautiful. Phil had a mushroom and pepperoni pizza, whilst I had tortellini with ham and cream sauce. It was such a lovely meal in such a perfect location. We also spoke to Ryan about the game and caught up with him, so that was nice too.

We found our bearings on the map and set off again. We reached the ferry terminal we were looking for to go to the airport as we can get a direct ferry there. We walked along the edge of the canal until we found Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s). It was so amazing Phil was speechless. I know – I couldn’t believe it either.

We were completely awed by the whole piazza, which was only highlighted as we moved into the square. Just gobsmacked. It is so amazing! We took some photos as we wandered around the square. Phil was mesmerised by these Italian musicians, so we decided to have some dessert. We looked at the menu and were shocked with how expensive they are. We decided to share a chocolate cake as this was 18 Euros! (which was $28.31 AUD) It was THE most expensive cake I’ve ever had! but the setting (and the cake) were exquisite. It also came with a small amount of free water (most water has to be paid for over here).

We then wandered back to our hotel, after buying some water and a punnet of cherries, from a local grocer in the square close to our hotel.

Early night tonight as we have our photo tour in the morning. We had requested, initially, a super early start, to get some night photos too – however it is predicted to be pouring at 4:30am tomorrow – so decided to push it back to 6am instead. After watching Croatia beat Argentina in a shocking 3 – 0 win, it’s time to go to sleep.