Cortina d'Ampezzo to Venice

This morning, back on the bus, we headed South from the Dolomites, toward Venice. Along the way, we stopped for a short break in Cortina, where the 2026 Winter Olympics were held.
We hopped off at the bus's final stop, looking for the kiosk to buy vaporetto, (water bus), tickets. When we asked a woman for directions, she told us that we weren't in Venice at all but at the train station outside of the city! We hopped on a local bus that took us to the vaporetto station, bought our tickets, and got our first glimpses of Venice by boat! Beautiful!
Venice is like no place I have ever seen – there are no streets, only walkways, and people are transported by gondolas, water taxis and vaporetos, instead of cars.
Thanks to Mark's app, maps.me, we got off the vaporato at the Rialto bridge, found and checked into our hotel, had a delicious dinner, and started walking.
They say that when you are in Venice, to just start walking and get lost. We did just that, and wandered for hours looking at historical buildings, present politics depicted in murals, tasting the local gelato, and watching men expertly guiding gondolas through the canals. We walked through crowds of people, especially near St. Mark's Basilica, over many bridges, and ended up on empty cobblestone walkways virtually by ourselves.
When thunder and lightning threatened, and the sky broke loose with rain, we headed back to our hotel. What a great adventure- out first day in Venice!
Happy Birthday dear Ezra, Happy Birthday to you! Bugga and Papa love you!Read more