Day 36 - Venice

Today we leave Verona and head for Venice. The hotel came with a breakfast so we had breakfast at the hotel, packed and headed to the car.

Katie had subtly suggested I needed a hair cut, I had to agree! We went on the hunt for a barber shop - a lot were closed, the first one I walked into, I asked if they spoke English and got laughed at… safe to say I didn’t get my hair cut there. Finally found one in town, The Istanbul Barbers… Very Italian! There was a language barrier but google translate helped and they gave me espresso, Katie believes it’s the shortest I’ve ever gone and was shocked upon seeing it.

After the haircut we got in the car, filled up with petrol at a really cheap self pump servo and made our way to the autostrada to get to Venice.
On exiting the Autostrada there was a que to pay and of course our ticket didn’t work so we had to press the assistance button - easily resolved.

We found the car parking lot I had booked, only to get the main guy signally we weren’t allowed in. Luckily I had a booking and explained this but he was still a little bit rude about it. Though we were lucky to find a park inside, as it was jam packed full, we brought bus tickets off the attendant and made our way into Venice.

After the bus ride we walked to the accomodation in the blistering heat, we were both sweaty messes once we had got there. We had showers and started to use the washing machine.

We went for a walk to find a bite to eat and see some sites. We got to the more touristy populated area and found a bakery that sold per grams focaccia pizza, so we ordered that. There was a slight mix up and our card got charged twice so he asked us kindly instead of giving money back he’ll give us more in stock. So we got Katie a coke, me a beer and a few pastries. Upon leaving and walking to a spot to sit on the grand canal, Katie had a seagull come down on her head and steal a bit of the focaccia - these seagulls are massive compared to back home! So we moved quickly to sit down and eat.’

After that ordeal we went off to see some sites, we walked down to the famous Librería Acqua Alta, a cozy offbeat bookstore apparently. There was masses of people, no cats, a weird lady taking your picture on the staircase made out of books, that can’t take a photo to save herself and more people. So we left quickly! Just down the alley is Palazzo Tetto, a picturesque building surround on three sides of it by canals.
We venture to San Marco so Katie could see the masses of people… was quieter than I expected but still busy. We were both a bit tired so decided to head back to the accomodation.

I went to get some supplies from the grocery store for lunch, ended up on deciding to cook dinner as we both couldn’t be stuffed - Basil Ravioli with Bolognese sauce and a salad, with a side of wine from the castle we saw in Tuscany. I also brought some 99cent gelato from the supermarket - superb!

We had a quiet evening ready for all the walking we will do tomorrow.Read more