2016 - The Italian Trip (Part 2 - Venice)
To the third most visited place on the planet.
Tuesday 20 September 2016 - Thursday 22 September 2016
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2016 Italy
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Tuesday 20 September
The train from Bologna to Venice was on time and we were met by Anna, who took us on a very circuitous route to the apartment.
The apartment was nicely furnished and I suppose it is one those ones where the occupants had been thrown out to make yet another place for tourists.
We walked back to the railway station (by the direct route along the canal) to buy some train tickets and lunch.
It was a lazy afternoon as Hung was not well. I had dinner by myself just up the road (?) and we had a short evening walk.
Wednesday 21 September
This was a long walk in two parts following the yellow line on the map (along with many other tourists). I wasn't feeling that well so I had to find several of the toilets thoughtfully provided by the city (at €1.50 each time!!).
The markets near the railway station.
Tourists in Venice.
One of the many churches in Venice.
The Grand Canal.
A gondola on the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal.
Typical Venice: a canal, a gondola and a restaurant.
St Mark's Square.
We ended up at St Mark's Square and from there we caught the boat back to the railway station, via the outside route not the Grand Canal.
A simple dinner of pasta and beer at a little place near the apartment.
Thursday 22 September
We caught the vaporetto (water taxi) out to Murano, the glass making island. There are lots of tourist shops selling very expensive, high quality local glass and others selling cheap imported rubbish.
The view back towards the city.
The main canal in Murano.
The main church in Murano.
The view from Murano back to Venice.
The main canal at Murano.
Even the ambulances are boats.
Smile.
From there we went back to Venice and the connected to another vaporetto to the Lido. This is the long thin island on the outside on the outside of the lagoon. This island has all the beaches but given that most of them are private and you have to pay for everything, we had a quick look around and then stopped at a very nice restaurant for lunch.
The beach at the Lido.
Lunch out on the Lido.
The view back across the lagoon towards Venice.
One of the many palaces along the Grand Canal.
Back to the railway station, this time via the Grand Canal.
Dinner was pasta with sauce, mushroom risotto and beer.
Venice is a great place but it is being spoiled by the vast number of tourists going there. The population has dropped significantly as apartments are being turned into visitor accommodation. I admit to being part of the problem and so the next time we go there, we will do a day trip from somewhere else, say Padua.
