Venice, Italy - Day 2

Since we had taken the red-eye flight into Venice and had a very full first day, we crashed pretty hard that night. It was part of our plan to be very well-rested and completely adjusted to the time change for the rest of the trip. We got a really early start on the second day and walked along the Grand Canal to head back to St. Mark's Basilica.

Rialto Bridge - so empty at 8am!

view of the Grand Canal from the top of the Rialto Bridge

We figured the best time to wait in line to see St. Mark's was when everything else was closed anyway, so we spent about an hour just hanging out in the square and taking turns standing in line until it opened at 9:30am sharp. The line we stood in conveniently faced the clock tower, which taunted us for so long.

To the left of our line was the Campanile. We thought about climbing up to the top of the bell tower, but didn't think it was worth waiting in yet another line just to see a slightly better view than from the top of St. Mark's. Hindsight - good call.

Do you see Bo standing in line? The people on the far left were the very first in line, so we had a pretty darn good spot. 

And here is a view of the line from the top of the church - after they had already started letting people in. It was definitely worth waking up a little early. Notice how the line follows the path of the shade :)

St. Mark's Four Horses (duplicates - the originals are inside the church)

The inside of the church was stunning. The ceilings, walls, and even the floors were covered in mosaics, mostly made of gold. Admission is free and there were a few exhibits that you could pay to see, but no pictures allowed. Bo liked the museum best (shocking) - which is the exhibit that allows you to climb up to the top and enjoy the view, so I actually ended up liking it as well. The Treasury was also really awesome - very intricate chalices, crowns, and jewelry.

After seeing St. Mark's, we had finally done everything in the St. Mark's area that we wanted to do. We hopped on the vaporetto and made our way back near our hotel.

St. Mary of the Rosary

I was so fascinated by all the bridges, and couldn't believe how many boats could fit under them at a time. Dad - you would have been impressed!  Many times it felt like the top of our boat was going to hit the bridge, but there is just enough room with high tide. I could reach up and touch a lot of the bridges.

Ponte dei Pugni

Ponte dei Tre Archi

We got off at the stop near our hotel and walked over to the Basilica of Saint Giovanni and Paolo. Several doges are buried within the church and all the monuments were incredible. Bo specifically wanted to go to this church because he had recently read A History of Venice, and had learned all about the doges who were buried there. It was pretty nice having my own personal tour guide!

it's hard to capture - but the walls are made of brick which gives the red glow

Chapel of the Rosary

After spending a majority of the day in churches, we walked back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the cruise ship!! We took yet another vaporetto ride through the Grand Canal to get to the cruise port.

Scalzi Bridge

Almost a year in waiting...finally boarding the ms Nieuw Amsterdam - our home for the next 12 nights!

Venice, Italy - Day 1

Our big vacation this year was an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, which started in Venice, Italy. We spent a few days in Venice before the cruise and I absolutely fell in love with this city. Bo had been before when he was much younger and he gladly re-confirmed that it is still his favorite city in the world.

One of the things I loved most about Venice is that there are no cars in the city - all modes of transportation are by water, and there are several! We flew into the San Marco (VCE) airport and took the Alilaguna line to our hotel on the main island. We stayed at the Boscolo Venezia, which was one of the nicest hotels we've ever stayed in - doesn't hurt that we got a free upgrade to a suite that was half the size of our house!

view from the lagoon

view from the canal

tanning area

welcome gift!

We planned to spend the day in the St. Mark's Square area, and lucked out since our hotel provided a free water shuttle. We were the only ones on it at that time, so we got a private ride around the island!

Doge's Palace and Bridge of Sighs

St. Mark's Square

San Giorgio Maggiore

 

Santa Maria della Salute

Our private shuttle dropped us off at San Marco - it was packed!

San Marco

St. Mark's Campanile

St. Mark's Square

The line to get into St. Mark's was dreadfully long and standing in line for hours was not how we wanted to spend our first day. Instead, we went to the Correr Museum - nothing really special here. The main reason to here (in our opinion) is that there is no line, and you can get a combo ticket that also gives you admission to the Doge's Palace, which typically has a very long line. Plus, the Museum was air conditioned, which was a nice break from the heat. It was also connected to the National Archaeological Museum, which was a little more interesting and had some beautifully ornate rooms.

I developed a slight addiction to gelato on our honeymoon, so I had to have some in Venice. It was pretty good, but the gelato in Florence is still by far the best to me.

With our combo museum ticket, we skipped the enormous line at the Doge's Palace and spent over an hour there.

Doge's Palace

Doge's Palace

view from the top of the Doge's Palace

Doge's Palace, The Hall of the Grand Council

crossing the Bridge of Sighs

view from the Bridge of Sighs

While we were in the San Marco area, we stopped for a drink at Harry's Bar, which is where the bellini was invented. Of course, we had to try them. They were really good, but so so expensive (18.50€ each!!) and pretty small, which was somewhat disappointing.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon stopping in various bacaris, which are small wine bars that also have amazing food, as we made our way back to the hotel.

I am now hooked on Italian Pinot Grigio

sangria

more gelato :)

octopus, squid stuffed with octopus and couscous, and pancetta-wrapped ricotta

some more of the above, with sardines and artichokes

raw scallops

We made it back to our hotel just in time to watch the sunset from the hotel's private dock overlooking the Venetian lagoon. The vaporetto stop right next to us just happens to be one of the best public places on the island to watch the sunset, and I would definitely agree since our spot was even better. It was a gorgeous ending to our first day of vacation!