HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017 EVERYONE! |
| Venice, Italy- From the Rialto Bridge |
Beautiful sight isn't it-The Charming & Enchanting City of Venice! Before saying anything else- I LOVE VENICE!
After a totally relaxing start to our Awesome Europe Honeymoon in Lucerne, Our next destination was Venice in Italy! I was particularly excited about Venice and I knew I would love it even before I went.. And.. It was true indeed! However, Traveller J didn't like Venice too much.. He said it was old and there wasn't anything to do there! How did he come up with that, I have NO CLUE! Haha! However, we spoke to other couples that were on honeymoon as well and the guys said the exact same thing! WHY! Anyways.. Back to The Beautiful water city of Venice!
Venice is a city in Italy located near the NorthEast. It's made up of many small islands and in between them are winding canals and are connected by bridges. There's lots of history behind this little city, as with all other cities in Italy! Its quite a popular tourist destination and it's famed for it's water city, venetian masks, gondolas, Murano / Venetian glass, lace, stores all along the little alleys & streets and the whole charm that Venice exudes! You will not get tired of the colourful houses, though old, has a pretty effect on the whole experience there! You might see beautiful strings of flowers hanging from their window or balcony or while walking along the sidewalk or one of the bridges, you just might hear gondoliers singing while rowing their gondolas! Just magnificent!
I have a thing for countries/cities or places that are surrounded by water! Hotels or Resorts next to the sea is my kinda thing too- if you haven't noticed!:D
We arrived Venice Marco Polo Airport (Link) at around 8.45 AM. Yay! No time to waste as we only have 1.5 days in Venice! Once again, we had a very smooth checkout. No loss in luggage or any delays at all! Before leaving Singapore for Europe, I had pre booked a private water taxi with our hotel, A Tribute to Music and the rates they quoted were by far better than any other online! Once we got our luggages, we went to the counter, mentioned we had booked with A Tribute to Music and we were on our way! It was EURO 110 for 2 persons and we were to pay it directly to our water taxi driver. There are other ways to get to Venice, like the public bus, or a shared water taxi, however I had heard feedback from my other fellow travellers, that you could get lost if you don't get it right! So! We didn't want to waste any of our time as we only had a day!
It was quite a walk from the Airport to the area for water taxis, but it was a beautiful day! Perfect for a Whimsical day in Venice!
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| On the way to our water taxi! |
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| Our Private Water taxi!:D |
Wohooo!!! I Love being in our private water taxi! It's like being in your own private boat! Totally Spacious and private! Love the sound of the water splashing all around you without getting wet!:D I would like to own my small water taxi please! I'll scoot around it everywhere I go!
Venice is awesome!
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| Inside the water taxi! |
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| A Glass factory while passing by! |
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| More coloured buildings! |
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| The water taxi stand near our Hotel! |
HOTEL:
A Tribute to Music (Residenza A Tribute to Music)
Castello 4127
30122 Venezia
The cost of hotels in Venice, especially by the lagoon, near the main sights at Piazza San Marco can be quite high!
We managed to find a wonderful Gem around a 3 minute walk near the wonderful sights of Venice: Piazza San Marco, Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs! We booked it through Expedia (Link). I had a 10% Voucher as I signed up for this Voucher Codes online (Link) that sends me emails for voucher codes for several online companies in the UK! Came totally handy! We paid around EURO 132 (Around SGD$200 ish) for a night after the 10% from Voucher codes! If not, you could try Booking.com (Link) or Agoda (Link)
The Hotel was a small but Beautiful hotel right by the lagoon! It was really clean and new inside as well! Remember to keep a lookout for the sign outside the building, as we missed it the first time and totally walked past it!
We arrived really early and so our room was not ready, however, we could just leave our luggage there without any fuss and come back later after our sightseeing! There's always someone at the Lobby and they are really friendly and helpful! They gave us tips on good local food as well as other restaurants which they recommend!
On entering the hotel, you could feel like you were in another era of time! It was beautifully decorated with the unique Venetian style and indeed it was a tribute to music as posters of musicals were all over the place!:D
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| Outside our hotel |
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| Inside A Tribute to Music |
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| Hotel's Lobby |
Our room was even a better surprise! Look at the grandeur of this room! It's totally Magnifico! Venetian style indeed!
The pillows however, could be thicker!:D
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| Our Grand Venetian Room- A tribute to Music |
The toilet was alright, not as grand, but Similarly it was clean and toiletries and a hairdryer was provided as well! Good thing for that hairdryer!
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There are a lot of things to do in the little city of Venice! However, as we only had 2 days, we had to prioritise! Before our trip, we had everything booked, to ensure we didn't have to line up for long for tickets! We didn't get any of the passes as we only wanted to do a few things so it ended up cheaper if we booked separately.
After we left our bags in the hotel, we had a quick, delicious lunch nearby our hotel. It was simple but yummy!
Things we did in Venice!
1. Doges Palace / Palazzo Ducale (Link)
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| Exterior of the Doges Palace |
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| One of the Interiors of the Doges Palace |
This was once a palace which was built in Venetian Gothic Style. The interior was magnificent! It also had different sections and buildings which served different purposes in that time. At first Traveller J and I was wondering whether we should spend our time here, but I'm glad that we have booked it in the end! It was wonderful to know of part of the Venetian history and the wonderful architecture and art! Read up more on their website- (Link) !
Another attraction in the Doges Palace was the Bridge of Sighs. It was a small corridor that the prisoners in that period walked through before they were sent to their prison cells. It's referred to as the Bridge of Sighs as Prisoners would take a last glimpse of the beautiful lagoon through the small window and sigh from the last view of freedom.
When you're there, You gotta take a deep sigh to have a feel of how the prisoners felt!:P;P
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| Sighhhhhhh |
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| Exterior of the Bridge of Sighs! |
When you're in Venice, this is a must DO! This was totally the highlight of my trip! It was FANTASTIC to finally be on a real Gondola and being serenaded! Remember to book the one that says serenade as I have heard a lot of people that has gone on a gondola and said there was no singing!
We did have to share the Gondola with other people, It would have been better if it was just Traveller J and I on the Gondola, but it's all good! Our Gondolier was really nice and friendly too! Man! Please someone bring me back to Venice!:D:D
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| View while on our Gondola! |
Sit back, relax and take in the beautiful view and music!
3. Saint Mark's Basilica
Look at the Beautiful Cathedral in Venice! It's free to go in but if you would like to avoid the lines head online to Veneto Inside (Link) to book a ticket for 2 Euros! We didn't go inside as we have a lot of other Basilicas to go to in Italy! However, Just from the outside, you can see its wonderful architecture and design!
Piazza San Marco is a public space in the middle of Venice. Walk along the waters and you will find small stores selling water colour paintings and other cool stuff! In this square, you'll find lots of pigeons! I know everywhere says it's nice to feed the pigeons, have a coffee around here, but I myself did not find anything fascinating or anything intriguing about this space! It's so crowded and I do not want any pigeons pooping on me! ha! However, you could try it out, have a cuppa coffee or people watch if it's your thing!:D
5. Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest Bridge spanning across the Grand Canal in Venice. It separates the districts of San Marco and San Polo. Loads of people were here taking pictures! The scenery here is one where you would have seen lots of paintings of Venice. It would definitely be very beautiful in the daytime where there are not many people around! The view while standing on the Rialto Bridge is on the first photo of this blog post!
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| Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy |
Last but not least.. Explore this Beautiful city of Venice! It's definitely true you should just walk around, get lost and see where your 2 feet brings you!
Traveller J and I found a beautiful, quiet and quaint little area to spend some time! It was probably someone's backyard as we found a boat!:D It was just beautiful having some quiet time and enjoying the sights around!
While exploring, you will find many little eateries, cafes, gelato stores, antique stores, souvenir stores and etc! You would probably also see many gondolas passing you by or hear the gondoliers serenading its customers!:D You'll also see quite a few artists selling their beautiful paintings of Venice!
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FOOD
I didn't manage to get all the name of the places that I went for food in Venice!:( Was too excited and hungry! haha! The only one that I got and searched for on TripAdvisor was Dal Moro Fresh Pasta to go. We ordered the one with Pesto Sauce but I'm not sure was it just me or was it just that day, that the pasta was quite gooey and not al dante? But you could have a try for yourself! Pretty affordable though!:D
Agh! I should have remembered the place of this restaurant.. Seafood was totally YUMMY!! Had lobster pasta, seafood platter and a seafood pasta! ahaha! Seafood Overload!! Awesome times indeed!:D Don't have the name but here's some photos!:D
We did most of the things we wanted to do on the first day and on our second and last half of the day we just walked around and ate!:D Just the right amount of time I would say! Probably 2 Nights would have been perfect!
We checked out of our hotel on the last day, left our luggage with the staff at A Tribute to Music and had a lovely walk! It's much nicer in the mornings, where there aren't that many tourists yet!
When it was time to catch our train to Florence, we told the staff at A tribute to Music and they helped us call for a water taxi again to the train station! Yay! My favourite! Water taxi rides:D Saves time and the hassle!
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| Venice in the morning |
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| On the Water taxi to the train station! |
Ohwait!!! In the Venice Santa Lucia train station, if you have time, remember to grab an ice-cream from Venchi (Venchi) IT's AMAZING!! haha! Great thing they have a store in Singapore Takashimaya as well! However, the price is pretty high!
SEE YOU SOON VENICE!! IT HAS BEEN MAGICAL!!
Here's a photo taken from the Beautiful Venice before I end the post! Ahhhh~~~
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| Venice |
XOXOXO~!
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