Photo blog: Venice

Venice is not a place that requires any introduction - despite the hoards of tourists (us included), it is still a pretty special place and I was super excited to see it. We went there back in October for my birthday and spent 3 days there, a good amount of time to absorb the things we wanted to see without too much rush. It was a nice time of year to go, though probably a little on the chilly side, but fortunate as well since San Marco was flooded literally the week after we were there. Looks like November got even worse so it was lucky we didn't hold off until Mr T's birthday to go! Check out these flooding photos from National Geographic photos here. Oh, and as a starter here's a some photo fun - a miniature, and some people gawking at a photo shoot next to the Doge's palace.



The motivation for going to Venice was two fold - i) There's no place like Venice - canals, gondalas, architecture, Murano glass... ii) Assassin's Creed 2 - a big big chunk of this game was set in Venice and I feel like I know it already. I was obsessed with this game in 2011, and managed to complete 97% of it. I couldn't get the last 3% because the downloadable content (from Australia) was not compatible with the game disc that Mr T had bought (from Hong Kong) due to some region issue. Needless to say we had to buy a new version of the game and I'm still slowly replaying though with a little less enthusiasm than the first time round.

Being such a popular city, there are an abundance of things to do in Venice, but I thought Jessica summed it up quite nicely. Here is my list of top memories and things worth doing:

Things that take time to do

1) Campanile

This was so worth it for the views, and no one tried to stop us from going round each side again and again, despite being a small space.



2) Doge's Palace

Highly recommend doing this as a sole activity for the day (if you can afford the time), else half a day (and a lunchtime break to recover) to get the most out of the palace. The audio tour was really helpful as well.



3) Murano





Take a ferry to Murano and watch a glass blowing demonstration. The one we went to was arranged by the hotel so we got ferried privately to the workshop of their choice (a bit touristy, but on the upside there was nothing for us to arrange). We watched the glass master a number of items (vases etc.) and at the end he made a green horse statue, After we'd done a load of gift shopping, we were offered a free horse in blue, red or yellow. Mr T was on the ball and asked for a green horse, and the lady went off to the workshop to pick up a green one for us. It was still warm and so it looks like we got the one we watched being made! (or so we like to think anyway).

4) Burano 

Famous for the lace museum, the coloured houses, and one cannot fail to notice the leaning church tower. As we were staying in Lido, I was trying to get to San Marco (a 10min ride away) but somehow ended on a ferry going the other direction and half an hour later it was apparent we were going elsewhere... so we hopped off the ferry at the next stop and there was a sign to Burano, so we went there instead.  It had been on my to-do list (but not the must do list) but I was pleasantly surprised that this became one of my favourite parts of the trip. It was super chilled compared to the rest of Venice and there were a load of great photo ops.

Other things to see

 

Basilica - I know this will be on a lot of people's lists, but having seen so many cathedrals and castles this year I wasn't feeling particularly enthusiastic about an extensive tour (yes, I really just said that). No photo as it was under reconstruction and the degree of scaffolding spoiled the view.

Rialto Bridge - I had to go just because of the Assassin's Creed reference. Screenshot to come once I get that far in the game again on my PC....I was so sad that there was graffiti all over it *shakes fist at graffiti* and banners hanging from it.
Bridge of Sighs - you'll get to walk across this if you do the Doge's palace tour and check out the people on one of the outside bridges all leaning to take a photo of the bridge.

San Marco Square - Europe's finest drawing room according to Napoleon. Its huge, its crowded, its awesome. Check out the bride near the Silvian Heach sign!

Finally, my quick tips for visiting Venice:

• Accommodation location: If your reaction to crowds is like mine (i.e. not pretty), try staying in one of the islands off Venice. We stayed in Lido which is a 10 min ferry ride to San Marco (Cantonese speaking friends, Mr T thought it was hilarious to spend 3 days saying "we are staying at Lido" (as opposed to "gor-do")) .


• Food: Try eating at places that are off the tourist strip. We noticed that the same meal in Lido was 20 euros cheaper (and tastier) than around San Marco. The restaurants were smaller, less busy, and the food was better than the one meal we had in San Marco (which had rated well on tripadvisor). And yes, the gelato is better in Italy!


• Carry a camera: I might be a little photo nuts (around 500 in 3 days), but there is ALWAYS something to take a photo of. Seriously, every time you turn around there's something.


• Souvenirs: From a glass perspective, there are a load of imitations sold at shops near San Marco - you just don't know what you're getting for a dirt cheap price. I got slightly more peace of mind knowing we purchased stuff from the actual factory rather than a retail outlet.

Thanks for my birthday trip Mr T, been looking forward to it for 18 months and it was everything I hoped it would be!