Strolling around Venice...

On this day, my mum and I left the hotel at 11am. It was the check-in time! We could have left the room at one in the afternoon, but to check-in "late", (late?! That's a norml check-in time everywhere else! ), we had to pay 20€ extra (or something like that). So, you can see that the hotels are geniuses in finding ways to make more money out of you.

The narrow streets of Venice

Well the fact is, looking at the positive side of the issue, at least we could enjoy the day more like this. We left the hotel and we took a small tour in the surroundings. I remember that when we went past a street that lead to a dock, because it was so cold, there was still fog at that hour. It seemed as if the sky was confused and had joined itself to the water in the Venetian canals!

Venice was covered in mist: one of the most beautiful landscapes that I have ever seen in my life... and one which I will always remember!

The day before, we had gone to visit the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, but as we got there a little before it was closing, we didn't have enough time to see it. So, we decided that that would be our first stop this time.

Morning walk in the cold and fog!

When we got there, despite the cold, we stopped for a little while to observe the building's façade. With the light of day, we were able to appreciate the details more, furthermore, under the morning fog, the view was even more magical.

I had read in a "Routard guide" that Venice was beautiful at whatever time of day and in any moment. So, I can say that seeing the city amidst the fog, wandering around its narrow streets, was a moment that I'll never forget. It was really pretty to see how the fog made it look like the canals never ended, and instead they joined onto the sky to infinity.

Photo of the Santa Maria della Salute Basilica

After observing as much of the landscape as the façade of the Basilica della Salute, we finally went in, (it was so intensely cold outside that my hands and my feet were frozen - I couldn't stay outside any longer! )

Photo of the interior of the Basilica

We went into the basilica and we saw it in the daylight. We were able to appreciate the interior details more, whether as the day before, we had gone in when it was already getting dark. Furthermore, on this occasion, we had more time to admire this temple and walk around it from start to finish.

We stopped to observe its chapels and the details on them. From the altars and the religious images to the candle holders and other religious objects. I had wanted to stay there even longer, but my mum wanted us to carry on looking around Venice... I didn't really have any objection, except for the cold. At least we were well protected inside the church.

But oh well, we had to leave (we couldn't spend the whole day there). We took the vaporetto (Venetian public transport system) which is a public boat. We arrived in Piazza San Marco where the Basilica di San Marco is found.

Photo of Piazza San Marco

The Basilica as well as the square of San Marco are the most important points in Venice. Here, as well as a lot of tourists, there are loads of pigeons! There are so many that they're not even scared of the tourists, in fact, it's the complete opposite.

Although you can't believe it, they fly so close to the tourists, sometimes at an impressive speed. So you have to watch out, be careful not only of pickpockets, but also the pigeons and seagulls.

In San Marco square, there are some very beautiful alleys where there a various souvenir shops, jewellery shops and other Italian products. However, I remember that because it was so cold, I didn't want to keep stopping to see the details of the place! I just wanted to get to another enclosed area quickly so I could warm up again... I was frozen!

The alleys in San Marco square and the shops which kept distracting my mum! I was so cold!

I have to admit, just as my mum was stopping to look at the shops, I had no other choice but to take photos of the details which caught my attention. I hope that I can go back to that place, because there are various elements which are beautiful and I would like to be able to appreciate them again... but hopefully when the weather is a bit better!

Whilst waiting for my mum, I had no other choice but to take photos.

Façade of the San Marco Basilica

So, we finally got to San Marco Basilica. We went inside and it surprised me that taking photos was prohibited. Although, with so many beautiful details on the inside of this temple, I couldn't resist the temptation, so I did take some photos.

The interior of the San Marco Basilica

A photo of the San Marco Basilica entrance: I really liked the images on the ceiling, made with tiny mosaics in a Byzantine style.

I don't remember how much time we spent there, but I insisted that we stayed there a bit longer so I could stay in the warmth and regain my strength to continue with wandering around. When we left, we went to the left of the square and we saw Doge's Palace.

Doge's Palace in Venice

Another one of the multiple details which can be appreciated in San Marco Square.

Afterwards, we decided to go wandering between the streets in the city. The streets in Venice are very narrow and they are not at all straight, so it's very easy to get lost here, but that didn't cause any problems because in reality, we didn't have a specific place that we wanted to get to; we just wanted to explore the city.

We saw various shops, a lot of them were selling typical Italian products like leather bags, Murano glass crystal, pieces of art... I really liked the shop windows; they were all really creative and elegant. You could see that the shop-keepers had gone to a lot of effort to create an excellent image for the customers... and did just that! I think that if a Venetian shop-window competition was organised, it would be very difficult to choose a winner! In my opinion, a lot of the shops were lit up by their decorations.

Some of the Venetian shop-windows

In an art gallery, there were various paintings of a cat: paintings and famous portraits, but with cat heads! Do you recognise that one? It's Napoleon! Or rather, Catoleon! There was also a version of the Catilisa (the Mona Lisa).

We went past a street where we saw a house which had a plaque saying the following: "Mozart stayed in this house during a trip to Venice". The "Serenissima" had hosted a lot of important people from all sorts of fields, leaving everyone completely enchanted.

This is where Mozart stayed during his stay in Venice

After being at the heights, we were already hungry! So we decided to start looking for somewhere to eat, but the only thing we saw were sandwiches or cafés that didn't really convince us. We came to a street where there was a man outside. You could tell that he was foreign (Turkish maybe? ), we spoke to him in English and he showed us the menu of the restaurant which he worked in.

Another one of the numerous churches in Venice... Simply beautiful!

Something else that I noticed in Venice is that the prices in restaurants very often have a service charge added onto them. This can make the bill rapidly go up in price so you finish your meal spending more than you thought you would have. The man from the restaurant told us that there were no extra charges, only the prices which we saw on the menu.

There were two menu options. One was a little more expensive than the other, but both of them included an entrée and a main dish. He convinced us to go in and we weren't disappointed. We were served quickly and the portions were big. We hadn't expected to find a place like this in Venice, but fortunately, we found one!

Furthermore, the service was very good and the décor was very warm and inviting. They had some chequered tablecloths and some little candles on the tables. There was also very pretty pictures on the walls. We were so pleased to have found this place! Above all, the guy that convinced us to go in had done a very good job of inviting us in, not without explaining everything that was on offer to us before we went in and in a very clear way.

A photo of our food... We were so happy and satisfied! Everything was so tasty and seeing the food again makes me want to be there again.

Once satisfied and after regaining out strength (and warmth! ), we continued wandering around... of course when we left, it was already getting dark. We hadn't spent too long in the restaurant, but because it was winter, the sun had gone down very early.

We were leaving Venice the same day, but our bus wasn't until 11:35pm! So we still had time to wander around the city. I wanted to go to see the Rialto Bridge because, according to my memory, we hadn't been there.

Despite not having a map, it wasn't difficult to find the bridge and in Venice there are different, big signs painted on walls which tell you where to go to get to important places in the city.

But when we arrived... surprise! We had already been there. So the walk was a little pointless. Well, not so pointless because we were able to discover new streets which we hadn't gone down before.

The Rialto Bridge with a horrible advert stuck in the middle, which spoils this exceptional monument!

I have to say that the Rialto Bridge was under restoration works, so we couldn't cross it. Something that I didn't like (at all! ) was that there was a huge advertisement in the middle of the bridge. I thought it looked really ugly, I didn't go for any other reason than to look at the beautiful architecture on the bridge!

It was still getting dark, but it wasn't even 7pm. Nevertheless, although our bus left at 11pm, we decided that it was already time to go back to the hotel to collect our bags and head towards the station.

Our hotel: Hotel alla Salute

So that's what we did. Some time later, we found ourselves in the hotel waiting room. We collected our belongings, we said goodbye to the nice and sweet girl who had served us the night before in the hotel restaurant and we went to the stop where we would catch the Vaporetto.

Although, there was a small mishap; when we waiting to go to the station, we found out that the Vaporetto doesn't come as often at night and we thought that we were going to be too late to catch our bus! Finally, everything turned out okay and we got to the bus station some minutes before we needed to.

In conclusion, although I was scared that we wouldn't be able to enjoy our day to the maximum in Venice thanks to the cold, it ended up being our unforgettable day-trip: we discovered a part of the city which we didn't know, we wandered around new streets and we found a very good restaurant. I hope to go to Venice again after this trip... I want nothing more than to go back to the Serenissima!

Venice by night: the building that can be seen on the extreme right, next to the building in the middle, was one of my favourite buildings in the city. I don't know if it's famous, but in a shop which I had seen had a representation of this very building... I don't think I'm the only person that finds the building beautiful!

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