Tour de France/Italy – Venice

Seeing as Venice was only a couple of hours away (and we love the place) we’d booked a couple of days and one night away to explore anew.

We’d found a lovely little small and charming hotel tucked away down an alleyway and after dropping our stuff off went out to explore.

We were enjoying a fine lunch when I thought my back was playing up which turned very quickly into a realisation it was a kidney stone pain event. They are very painful indeed and I just about managed to get myself back to the hotel for a couple of hours until the pain subsided. I was fine afterwards and while I had another couple of pain events during the holiday, whatever was blocking my pipes seems to have now gone.

While I was out of action everyone else took a walk about the city. J-Dog took this lovely photo of my two, a very rare and precious image, both together, both smiling!

We met up again in the Campo San Barnaba for a drink, the Prof here enjoying the local drink of an Aperol Spritz (Aperol, an orange spirit, Prosecco and sparkling water).

Chiesa San Barnaba.

Everyone else was tired and went back to the hotel to chill out. I was full of post pain energy so wanted explore. We took a walk through the Dorsoduro district.

And out the Zaterre waterfront, my favourite part of the city.

Stunning views over the water and always pretty much deserted.

Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore.

San Marco Bell Tower

TBF and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

Grand Canal from the Ponte dell’Accademia

Gondola’s navigating the narrow “streets”

Piazza San Marco.

Gondola central.

The canal that led to our hotel.

After a brief freshen up we were out for another splendid meal at the Caffe dei Fiori.

And the night-time view of our locale, this time with rain spattered pavements. Slightly wet end to a great first day.

Early the next morning I convinced J-Dog and TBF to join me in a walk through the city to see it while its quiet and catch a Vaporetto along the Grand Canal.

Piazza San Marco, free from the crowds.

Bridge of Sighs.

A lone gondolier tackling the open water.

The Grand Canal is hugely popular and the boats are rammed in the middle part of the day. In the morning the boats are much quieter and we snagged first class seats at the front of the boat.

The bell tower and the Palazzo Ducale.

Its always a pleasure to see the Grand hotels and Palaces of the Grand Canal, there are very limited places to see it other than from the water.

I looked at the prices and some of the hotels had some reasonable rates for rooms overlooking the water – some were frighteningly expensive!

My travelling companions.

And a little videoclip

There is a great deal of talk about how overcrowded Venice is, but in my experience its just a small handful of key sights (and the streets that link them) that are a problem. The vast majority of the city is uncrowded and a pleasure to walk around.

Approaching the Rialto.

Looking south and east along the canal.

It had been quite a dull and gloomy start to the day but everything looks much finer as the sun comes out.

There really is nowhere quite like Venice (although the are several places with the odd stretch canals that have “Venice” somewhere in their title). I always say a great city needs water as a feature. Venice is very much, built on water.

Chiesa di San Simeone Piccolo and its very striking green roof.

A rare photo of me and TBF together.

Back to the hotel for a lovely breakfast and then back out again for more wandering.

We headed down to the tip of the Dorsoduro district and sat on water’s edge with a great view across to San Marco.

We sat here and paddled our feet on our previous visit and it was a very happy memory.

Looking the other way was considerably less promising – storms were on the way. We decided it was time for an early lunch!

We came across the excellent Ristorante San Trovaso just as the first drops of rain fell. Within minutes of sitting down the heavens truly opened. The staff had to make emergency adjustments to the semi-outdoor seating area as the rain lashed down. Water poured through the gaps and was running in rivers across the floor. Luckily we stayed dry and enjoyed a fine meal.

A little video clip to show how heavy it rained.

We read afterwards that the storm has blown some tiles and bricks loose on the San Marco Bell Tower!

Afterwards all was calm and dry so we celebrated with a Gelato – of course.

Another wander through the busy street around the Rialto.

View over the Grand Canal.

We were heading for a well known bookshop, the Libreria Acqua Alta. It was crowded on account of the fact that it has a staircase made of books out back. Very odd but worth a quick look.

I was much more interested in the range of “books for the discerning adult reader”

Time for another sit down and a drink outside the massive Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

The same square hosts the equally stunning Scuola Grande di San Marco.

We took a stroll out to where we stayed last time near Fondamente Nove. Despite having lived here for 5 days I couldn’t find the street – that’s Venice for you!

The views out across the bay towards the mountains and the cemetery island were superb.

The sun was now out and the skies blue, all thoughts of storms seemed to have passed.

The Grand Canal.

And one of the major routes out into the bay.

Grand canal form the Ponte Degli Scalzi

A final group shot from the bridge before another great meal, collecting the bags and heading back to the car for the drive home.

In mentioned the sun coming out but this merely an interlude. It was clear that another massive storm was brewing but this also gave us the most magnificent sunset from the car park. We drove home with the sky crackling with lightening but we missed the worst of the rain.

Superb couple of days in one of my favourite places.