Venice, Italy

Up to this point Booking.com had done a pretty good job providing information about the hotels we've booked.  We'd had a couple surprises - Prague and the mysterious substances splattered on the floor and wall for example - but for the most part our rooms have been basic but clean.  Our hotel in Venice was definitely the nicest room we've stayed in so far.  Apparently it was an old mansion that they converted into a small hotel.  I think there were only six or eight rooms total.  Not sure what the deal was because it was definitely one the low end of available rates - I guess we just lucked out.  Unfortunately we hardly got to enjoy the room since we arrived so late and we're leaving the next day.

At any rate, our morning in Venice started with a fantastic breakfast provided by the hotel.  We were all pretty hungry as we didn't stop for dinner on the way there, just ate snacks from the grocery store.  After breakfast we checked out and arranged for the hotel to hold our bags while we went sightseeing.  Once again we followed Rick Steve's tour which started at the Rialto bridge on the Grand Canal.  It was a bit of a walk and Rick's map didn't have some of the streets labelled correctly but eventually we made it.  On the way we stopped at a big church near our hotel.

The Rialto bridge is the oldest (finished in 1591) and biggest bridge that spans the Grand Canal, the main waterway in Venice.  The bridge is not only a means to cross the canal, it is also a mini shopping mall with two rows of shops on each side of the street.  The bridge was packed with tourists and we basically waited our turn to get a good view of the canal, snapped some pictures and then got off.

Rialto Bridge

Grand Canal from the bridge

From the bridge we followed the walking tour into the middle of the city to a market that was selling all kinds of touristy stuff.  Venice definitely is a very unique city - really crowded and really expensive.  It's built on a swamp and they have a lot of problems with flooding.  I thought it was a lot of fun watching all the boat traffic on the canals - water taxis and buses, delivery boats, personal boats and of course the gondolas with the guys somehow manuvering through all of this just using one long paddle.  The way they are able to control their boats standing on the deck, riding the waves was pretty impressive.

Construction Venice-style

The walking tour ended at Piazza San Marco.  We sat down and did a little people watching while I read from the book about what we were supposed to be looking at.  The square was absolutely packed with people, and there was a huge line waiting to get in to see St. Mark's church.  It looked like it was moving pretty quickly though so everyone got in line while I ran off to find some lunch. 

Piazza San Marco

I got back in time for us to scarf down our food before we got inside the church.  St. Mark's was built around 970.  To think that that long ago they could build a massive building like that on top of a swamp is kind of crazy to me.  The interior is one gigantic mosaic, pretty much floor to ceiling.  Due to the constant crowds, there's a path that is cordoned off that leads you through the church and you can't really linger so the viewing took about 10 minutes.

St. Mark's Cathedral

Afterward we sat outside the church and took a short break and then walked back to the hotel to get our bags.  On the way out of Venice we took a water taxi from one end of the Grand Canal to the other which took about an hour.  Then we piled in the van and began our trek to Croatia.

Water taxi

Heading out of town down the Grand Canal