Three Days in Venice

Venice...lovely Venice.  What a great way to start our 16 day adventure in Italy!  Venice is a charming, amazing city.  After arriving after a long overseas journey, we got checked into our apartment and set out for Piazza San Marco.  Here are views of Basilica San Marco and the piazza:

Views of Piazza San Marco and the Campanile (tower):

We just had to take a gondola ride while in Venice, right?  Massimo led us through the canals to the Grand Canal while telling us all about the history of the various buildings.  He sang to us n Italian, although my son wanted him to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"....too funny!

My husband and son were enjoying the gondola ride and waving the Italian way to everyone on the canal.

Ah, Piazza San Marco......it's amazing!

Views of us with the gondolas near by

The architecture of Doge's Palace is amazing:

This was the view out the window of our apartment...looking onto a quiet little canal:

Our first dinner in Italy at Ristorante Alla Conchiglia in Venice:

Scenes of Murano:

Jayden and me walking the streets of Venice:

Jayden enjoying the scenes of Venice and the boats!

Mom, Jayden and I in Venice:

The beautiful windows of Venice:

Jayden's first look at a gondola:

That really is a "Grand Canal"

The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal

So this is what gelato tastes like......I like it!

We spent three amazing days in Venice upon arrival in Italy.  Once we arrived the first afternoon, we got checked into our apartment (booked through Views on Venice) and headed out to explore.  Our first mission was food!  We grabbed a few pannini's and slices of pizza and headed towards Piazza San Marco.  We found a spot for a picnic for dinner and took in the sights.  Later we walked around and relaxed at our apartment in San Marco. 

The next morning, we took a long stroll through the less touristy areas of Venice and headed for Fondament Nove to catch a boat to Murano for the afternoon.   We stopped and had a gelato while seeing the beautiful Rialto Bridge.  Gelato was only 1.30 euros each...what a deal on the Grand Canal!!!  After arriving in Murano, we found an outdoor cafe (Gran Cafe Laguna) right near the boat dock and had lunch.    Our lunch consisted of a pepperoni pizza, Greek salad, grilled cheese, and a few beverages - cost 42 euros total.  It was nice to sit outside and enjoy Murano over lunch.  After lunch we walked the main street in Murano visiting the shops and taking it all in.  We found some beautiful glass items including Christmas ornaments which were great souvenirs.  By 6:30pm we were ready to head back.  It took about an hour to get back by boat.  Now we needed to find a spot for dinner.  We stumbled on a place called Ristorante Alla Conchiglia (http://www.ristoranteallaconchiglia.com/).  We ate inside, but the restaurant was right on a canal and offered outdoor seating.  The four of us ate bruschetta, pasta carbonara, gnocchi Gorgonzola, beef with zucchini, wine, tiramisu and lemon tore - total cost 122 euros.  After dinner we took a long walk back to our apartment....we got lost and took a scenic route!
On day three we took the boat to St. Elena and let my little one hit the playground for a while.  He had a great time playing there and watching all the boats go by.  We relaxed and just enjoyed a nice stroll in the park.  We headed back to the San Marco area for lunch and picked up panini's on Calle della Rasse (a street full of panini shops near San Marco) and took them back to the apartment for lunch.  We bought our panninis from Bar Verde (3 paninis, a few sodas, a beer and 1 slice of pizza for 26 euros).  After lunch, we went to San Marco to tour the Basilica.  We then walked towards the Accademia Bridge.  We also stopped at Campo San Stefano and had a glass of wine on the piazza.  Two glasses of wine and an iced tea were 13 euros at Le Cafe on the piazza.  Now we were ready for a gondola ride!  It was 100 euros for a 45 minute ride.  Our gondolier, Massimo, showed us the town and told us all the history..oh and sang in Italian!  We headed back to the apartment for some down time before dinner.  We had dinner out our last night at a small cafe outside called Ristorante Al Teatro - not too far from San Marco.  It was more expensive...total cost was 173 euros.  We had veggie soup, gnocchi with red sauce, 2 asparagus risottos, 1 steak fiorentina, 2 glasses of prosecco, 1 glass of red wine, milk, 1 piece ricotta cheese cake and 2 cappuccino's.  There was outdoor seating and live music playing, which was nice. 

The next day we took a water taxi to Piazzale Roma (65 euros from San Marco) and picked up our car rental to head to Tuscany.  It was easy to get out of Venice from there and get on the autostrada quickly.  Overall, Venice was a wonderful first stop on our 16 day adventure.  This was my second visit to Venice.  I did enjoy it, but in my opinion, it is very expensive.  The San Marco area is lovely, but so incredibly crowded.  Once you get away from San Marco, you can enjoy getting lost in the real city of Venice without the big crowds.  I highly recommend getting lost in Venice for a few hours.....it's simply lovely.