Exploring Venice

Today we traveled to Venice, and explored the sinking city! (Venice is sinking by a couple millimeters every year)

We started our day with cappuccinos on the road, and then drove to the outskirts of Venice so we could park and bus in. There are no cars in Venice(only boats), so once the bus dropped us on the outskirts we walked the rest of the way into the city core. On our way we stopped for cicchetti, which is essentially small bites or tapas that are unique to Venice. We sampled a ton, with some being bread topped with pesto/mozzarella/sun dried tomato, bread topped with meat/mustard, bread topped with anchovies/cabbage, etc. These were delicious and really fun, as they enabled us to sample a ton of different food!

After our cicchetti’s, we made our way to the Rialto Bridge which is an iconic bridge over Venice’s Grand Canal. We enjoyed fantastic views from the bridge, and then headed to Piazza San Marco, which is the main square in Venice with a panoramic view of St. Mark’s Basilica and St. Mark’s Campanile, which is a giant tower outside the cathedral that was once a lighthouse for shipping.

As big fans of a view, we headed straight up the tower for amazing views of Venice! Next we headed into the basilica, to check out the church itself. St. Mark’s Basilica is impressive inside, and is almost entirely lined with gold. It makes for quite the view. At the back of the basilica we checked out the Pala d’Oro, which is a massive gold altarpiece covered in gemstones.

After the basilica, we went upstairs to explore the basilica museum, and to get views of the plaza from the basilica’s outdoor terrace. We were really impressed by this whole outing, as there were incredible views throughout both the basilica and campanile!

Next we headed to the Teatro La Fenice, which is Venice’s opera house and theater. This too was very gold, and very impressive!

At this point we’d worked up an appetite, so we headed to a local pizza spot for a bite to eat. On the way Chelsea grabbed tiramisu gelato, and then at the pizza joint she also ordered their tiramisu. She was in tiramisu heaven!

After pizza Chris grabbed cannoli and tried vanilla and pistachio, and Chris and Chels also tried a sfogliatella, which was essentially a pastry stuffed with pistachio and cream, and was delicious!

After our desserts we walked through the city more, before bussing back to our car and heading home.Läs mer