melody's mindless musings: venice

Sunday, October 9, 2011

venice

Italy....July 31st - August 14th

Our first stop in Italy was Venice. We were in Venice from the 31st of August till the 4th of August. I enjoyed being in Venice and really loved walking everywhere. It really is a romantic city with all of the lovely canals and bridges. During our time in Venice, we stayed at the Hotel Ca' San Polo. It was very Venetian in that the interior of the room was very rich in color and design.

On the first day, we went to the Piazza San Marco, the Basilica di San Marco, and Doge's Palace. The Basilica was super impressive, particularly all of the mosaics. Everywhere you looked inside was covered with something remarkable. The Palace was also intricate and contained lots of history. A really neat thing we did on the first day was also to go on a gondola ferry with 10 other people. This was quite the experience as I felt like we were going to tip over at any moment. Thankfully we did not! :) On the second day, we went over to the Jewish Ghetto, had a Gondola Ride, and walked over to the Rialto Bridge in the evening. The Gondola ride was so fun! We had a lovely Gondolier who was super informative about Venice and about life as a gondolier. For our last day in Venice, we spent time exploring the outskirts of Venice and riding a Boat Taxi to Murano Island which is known for it's glass work. It was really nice to be on Murano Island as it was so empty. We had a lovely time walking around and eating fresh fruit on a bridge.

I haven't mentioned the food yet, but trust me when I say that I had some good food in Venice. The best thing I ate was a salad. It was so good that we ate at the same place a couple of times. It was just a simple salad with sundried tomatoes, feta, olives, red onions, and lettuce, but man...it was tasty! Besides from the salad, we also had some lovely pizzas and pastas while in Venice. Another highlight was a purchase of Venetian masks. I love them!

Enjoy the photos!