August 21st : Venice, Italy
A Gondola at Twilight: Ah, Venice
Today we woke at 7am and quickly ate breakfast. Our 8 am private transfer had us at Leonardo di Vinci airport for our 10am flight by 8:30am. So we bid a sweet farewell to the ‘Eternal City’ and looked forward to a date with destiny in Venice.
We had a minor incident at the airport, outbound. We went through the wrong security gate (air crew and staff) and were sent back.
One wonders, had we done the same thing someplace else (like LAX for example), would we have had the same experience in the days of heightened paranoia?
Our flight was incident free, and we landed at Marco Polo airport at 11:15am. It wasn’t until 12pm that our luggage dropped down onto the belt – pretty terrible service by the handling staff, though not helped by the many unclaimed (??!) suitcases clogging the conveyor belt.
We caught a bus to the train terminal area in Venice (for 5 Euros) and hauled our luggage north for about fifteen minutes.
We had to confirm directions before arriving at our B&B which is on a canal.
Once we had freshened up, we hit the nearest Vaporetto (water bus) station, about a minute from the hotel, and headed to Murano which is an island close to Venice famous for glassware.
When we arrived in Murano – a short 15 minute cruise (after switching lines) – we walked down the major areas window shopping the many, many glassware resellers and ‘museums’.
Eventually, after about an hour and a half, we finished browsing and made some purchases.
Murano is an interesting island which feels a lot like a shopping precinct at first.
There is also, evidentially, some issue with shops selling cheap Chinese made glass rather than the local product. Various places had specific “Made in Murano” labelled products and there was some local campaign very siilar to the “Made in Australia” campaign we enjoy back home.
Once we had finished at Murano, we took the Vaporetto north to Burano, which is a picturesque island town famous for its lace work. All the houses are painted in pastel colours making it a very pretty and pleasant location.
The waterways are perfect for capturing the vibrant colours, and it felt a lot like a small country town by comparison to “big city” Venice.
At 5:30pm we ate a quick meal of fish and chips dockside, before catching the 6pm return Vaporetto back to Venice and connecting back onto our local line.
We arrived back in the hotel at 6:30pm before relaxing for a while (and deciding what next to do!).
Around 7:30pm we walked down to the Grand Canal and caught a Vaperetto into the heart of Venice, at dusk (see headline photo). We passed under the Rialto bridge, whilst jostling for a seat at the front.
Shortly afterward, we arrived at the square of St Mark and the Doge’s Palace. By now, it was dark and many buildings were nicely lit up.
Utilizing an octopus tripod and a ball and socket swivel joint, I was able to “shoot” many of the main attractions by night – and to suffer from the many other tourists there who had no idea how to use their fancy dSLR toys.
We slowly made our way back to the Rialto, passing many top name fashion design stores and other trendy (expensive) shop fronts.
Pausing for gelato, we then crossed the Rialto and took pictures from the north western side.
Then we started to make our way back to the B&B to repack our suitcases and prepare for tomorrow (including writing this entry and reviewing photos!).
Stay tuned for more..
One of these days, you have to teach me how to use a camera properly. Although this will probably mean I’ll have to buy a proper camera.