day 4: venezia/venice

class 2 train again from florence to venice. the train reached santa lucia station on the island. most ppl would have stayed at mestre (one stop before santa lucia) and take a train or water taxi to reach the island. too bad i dunno that. anyway the islands of venice look like a fish...very obvious from the map.

the famous site in venice is the big red dot at the bottom of the fish' s body, piazza san marco. the river that runs through the fish is the grand canale. the train station is the white space near the top and that is where we stayed.

our hotel, hotel canal, the cheapest night but it was better than the other 2 we had stayed in. breakfast was provided again. i love their pastries! my ideal breakfast with a cup of coffee. our hotel faces the grand canale. but again it is cheap because it is far from san marco. more expensive hotels are at the inner islands near the cathedral.

typical souvenir items in venice, masks and murano glass. very unique indeed but also expensive. good wall decoration...if only i have my own house.

the cathedral next to the train station, santa lucia on the top left. we decided to walk to san marco from the hotel...it took us about 30 mins. but no problem, lots of shops to see along the way. and there is no point getting a map in venice, the alleys are just too many and confusing. so just follow the yellow signs to rialto (the bridge) and to san marco. you can see the signs everywhere on the buildings. so all roads in venice lead to san marco. if you get lost, just ask or follow the crowd. and when u reach a dead end, just turn back. haha..

more piazzas and museums along the way.

this is rialto bridge with the grand canale flowing underneath. the shops here lined the way up to rialto.

the grand canale.

piazza san marco.
carvings and tiles on the cathedral.

many were concerned when i said that i was going to venice...the flood that occured the week before we went. well, i read that it had subsided, so i was not that worried. and here you can see the raised platforms they have for ppl to walk on when there is a flood. so sightseeing was still not spared during the flood which happens quite often. we did not go on any boat there, no gondola ride. too expensive. i think the minimum is 25Euro per person for 30 mins.

a clock tower on the square. time: 3.50 p.m.

the sighing bridge (left). it is the bridge the prisoners had to pass on the way to the prison and it was their only view of the outside through the windows. the right is the bridge where you stand to view the sighing bridge.

seafood is a must in venice. i had spaghetti with shrimps..yummy. that piece there was omelette with ham...aunt's. we also had mixed seafood salad. fresh. aunt said it was the best seafood salad she had ever tasted. buono.

then it was another round of walk in the maze of venezia to go back to our hotel. not easy. they only had signs to san marco but there was no sign to santa lucia. so i had to use my own internal compass and to go opposite direction of s marco. phew.