Italy – Venice 25/8/16

A day trip to Venice by way of TrensItalia. It took 90 minutes on the fast train for a cost of €32 pp one way. A bit expensive but we’ll worth it, comfy seats and a great buffet car. Once we arrived we followed the signs for Piazza San Marco. Venice is huge lots of narrow streets, canals and of course hundreds of small bridges. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze in the air, and the best bit, it wasn’t too over crowded. Along its many streets were hundreds of market stalls selling everything from souvenirs to clothing to juice bars, very refreshing on a day like today’s. It’s minus points is its cost of food and beverages – we paid €8 for 1 bottle of Sprite! A very expensive city. We decided to do this day trip from Bologna as we couldn’t find a room anywhere for under NZ $120. Like I say expect to pay top notch $ here.
On saying that, Venice is one of the most beautiful cities we’ve ever been too, and at San Marco Basilica the views are to die for. The square itself is massive, each side of the square has magnificent architecture and the Basilica shone brightly as its colourful façade caught the morning sun. The gold twinkling, sparkling and throwing shards of sunlight in every direction, very spiritual. We sat at one of the many restaurants in the square for coffee, and was greeted by a waiter in full regalia. White tuxedo jacket, black trousers and if course bow tie, very posh and proper. This place is truly unbelievable, it has stained the inner part of my memory in a very positive way, where it will stay for eternity.
If like us, you want to see the majority of this fantastic city, I suggest you get yourself to San Marco, then try and find your way back to the central train station. You WILL get lost in its streets, you will be memorized by its architecture, you will pass many of the canals, and you will find the most amazing coffee shops/cafes as matched by any cosmopolitan cities in the world. Lovely to sit, have a coffee or lunch and watch the gondolas float by.