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| View of Venice from the plane |
This place is (literally, and in both senses) amaze-ing. We're just in awe over how beautiful Venice is. The buildings are so colorful and incredibly old! It's like stepping back in time. Not only that, but it is so easy to get lost here (but for us, that's a good thing). There's hundreds of little streets to wander into.
We got into Venice around 4:30 and met up with a friendly Italian guy named Francesco, who walked us to the apartment we are staying in. He suggested a handful of restaurants and things to see, which was very helpful. After he left, we hit the streets to go explore!
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| Waiting for Francesco |
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| Along the Canal Grande |
We really just walked around last night, since we wanted to see what was around us. We also sat/ate dinner along the Canal Grande, which was lovely! Following that, we had some delicious gelato to end the evening.
Today was another walk-filled day. We started off by visiting the Rialto Market, which is a popular place to buy fresh fruits/veggies, and all of the seafood you could think of!
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| Snails, they're still alive!! |
After the Rialto Market, we took a quick coffee break and munched on some strawberries (from the market), then headed over to Piazza San Marco. All I can say is that this place is breathtaking! The buildings surrounding the square are gorgeous, and the water is right around the corner, offering beautiful views of the nearby islands.
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| It's only the side of the Basilica di San Marco, but this was the first thing we saw, and we were amazed. |
After checking out the Piazza San Marco, we continued walking/wandering around. Adam grabbed a couple of slices of pizza for lunch while I had a nice cold fruit smoothie. It's VERY hot here, so anything cold worked just fine for me. We went into a couple churches, but unfortunately you can't take pictures. However, I decided to be a rebel and took some pictures of the second church we saw. There was too much beautiful art not to!
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| Outside of Chiesa di San Salvador - The first church we went to |
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| The second church...don't know the name |
We also picked up a couple of Venice Museum Passes, which will allow us to visit a number of museums without having to wait in line (and a discounted price)! So tomorrow will be a museum-filled day for sure.
So after picking up the passes, we made our way back to the apartment to cool off and rest up. Luckily the scenery along the way was beautiful!
We rested at the apartment for a couple of hours and by 5:30, we were out wandering the streets of Venice again. We stopped by a local pasticceria to have a pastry. We ended up getting pan del moretto, which was similar to a chocolate scone with raisins and chocolate. It was alright...a little on the dry side, but I'm excited to go back and try something else!
We then walked all the way back to Piazza San Marco in the hopes of getting a pre-dinner drink. But alas, the drinks in that area are incredibly expensive! 18 Euros for a beer! Granted you get a beautiful view, but still...that's just too much. We even stopped by Harry's Bar (home of the bellini), but it was 16 Euros for a glass. We weren't up for spending that much money on a drink, so we kept walking.
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| Pigeons everywhere! |
But we did see the Bridge of Sighs, which was cool! The bridge connects from the Doge's Palace to the prison. The bridge was named this in the 19th century because the bridge was believed to have given convicts their last view of Venice before execution. However, the inquisition/execution days were over by the time the bridge was finished being built. It's still an iconic part of Venice though!
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| Adam sighing at the Bridge of Sighs |
Soon enough, it was dinner time. So we stopped by a restaurant for some carbonara (Adam) and spaghetti al nero de seppia (spaghetti with cuttlefish ink). Both dishes were very tasty! I absolutely loved the spaghetti al nero de seppia, which is a popular dish served here in Venice. It was all umami flavor, and there were chunks of cuttlefish so it was just delicious. It was also comical for us to eat this pasta. It looked like a pen exploded in our mouths every time we took a bite!
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| Mouthwatering. I'll be eating this at least one more time before we leave! |
After dinner, we slowly made our way back home. But our day wouldn't be perfect if we didn't get some gelato. So we each got a tasty scoop to end our day. Now to rest up for tomorrow!
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