Exploring Venice

Ahh jet lag. Despite keeping everyone awake until after dinner, we were all restless, mostly awake and struggling to return to sleep in the wee hours of the morning! Andy eventually cracked and headed out for a dark early morning run at 5am. Then after a slow breakfast and much discussion on our day's itinerary, we wandered down towards the Canal Grande before detouring into Pasticceria dal Mas, for a coffee and pastry.

Purchasing a 24 hour tourist ticket for the vaporetto (water bus) seemed like our best option. The journey down the Canal Grande was a wonderful way to see Venice from a different perspective. The vaporetto made numerous stops along this 3.8km main street of Venice. The waterway was busy with private taxis, gondolas and various other boats going about on their daily business.

Our boat glided under, the Ponte di Rialto, the oldest and most famous bridge in Venice. Built in 1588, this stone bridge was once the only crossing point located midway along the Canal Grande. Our destination was Piazza San Marco located at the southern end of the Canal Grande.

This area of San Marco is filled with important and stunning buildings. First to see overlooking the canal was Doge's Palace, an impressive place that once housed the Doge of Venice. Today it is a museum. On the western side of the palace is the Bridge of Sighs. This small enclosed bridge built in 1600's linked the palace to the Prigioni Nuove (prison). As the name suggests, prisoners would sigh as they stole their last glimpse of Venice before being imprisoned or executed. We wandered through the narrow streets crossing little canals every so often, ticking off a few items on our shopping list - mittens and journal for Ella. Eventually we found ourselves back at the Piazza.

We enter Venice's largest square, Piazza San Marco through the archway of the Torre dell'Orologio (St Mark's Clocktower). The Piazza which forms the social, religious and political centre of Venice is impressive and surrounded by wonderful buildings. The ornate and intricate details of the facade of Basilica di San Marco (St Mark's Basilica) dominates one side. The red bricks of the Campanile di San Marco (St Mark's campanile) housing five bells rises 100m into the sky. The Procuratie Vecchio, Nuove and Nuovissime, three elegant buildings connect the north, west and south sides of the square.

Our journey continues with another vaporetto ride. We gladly retreat to the interior of the boat and warm up on the 30min ride out to the glass making island of Murano, located 1.5km to the north of Venice. History tells us that in 1291, the Venetian Great Council forced all glass makers to move to Murano for two reasons - firstly the threat of fire destroying the wooden venetian buildings and secondly to preserve the knowledge and techniques of glass making and thus the monopoly of the market. We were hoping to watch some glass blowing as well as pick up a few treasures ourselves. Disembarking at Murano Faro, we wandered along the canal, stopping it seemed at every glass shop at the request of the girls. Numerous small glass animals and jewellery were purchased. We found a nice spot for lunch but failed at finding any glass blowing demonstrations so back to the vaporetto in search of some Christmas Markets.

The internet is a great source of information most of the time. Unfortunately not in regards to Christmas Markets in Venice. We hopped off the vaporetto on the eastern side of the island and walked through to the Giardini Della Biennale and were once again disappointed to find the space bare of anything christmassy. Luckily we emerged at a vaporetto wharf to embark on our final ride back along the Canal Grande. We disembarked early in search of the ice skating rink at Campo San Polo. We found the ice rink but everyone was too cold and too tired to have a go. Instead we ambled back to the apartment, cooked dinner and were all in bed by 8pm!