Italy (Venezia)

My report will now focus on Venice.

As soon as I disembarked from the train at Venezia Santa Lucia train station, I went out of the train station where I could find few vaporetti stops at the bank of Canal Grande. Vaporetti is a kind of boat which functioned as buses in Venice, or properly known as waterbus.

 Vaporetti stop in Riva degli Schiovani.

To be confirmed, I asked the person in charge at ticket counter on which vaporetti should I take to Giglio stop, because the stop was mentioned in my hostel booking sheet. She said, “You take vaporetti number 2 and you can buy the ticket here for €6.50”. I was thrilled when I first board  the vaporetti. “Venice is fantastic”, I said to myself.

The boat stopped at few stops along the Canal Grande, the main waterway in Venice before reaching the Giglio in 20 minutes. I arrived in Giglio without any map with me. I called Annalisa, the operator of Ca’ del Pozzo to ask for direction to the hostel. Ca’ del Pozzo was the hostel I booked through hostelbookers.com. That was the cheapest hostel I could find in Venice.  

Not having any map in Venice wasn’t a good idea. I was walking in front of my hostel twice before I decided to buy a map for €2.50. My hostel is situated in Campo San Maurizio. I had to climb to the 5^th floor to get to Ca’ del Pozzo. Annalisa was waiting for me since I was the only guest on that day. 

 My room in Ca' del Pozzo.

For those who plan to visit Venice, I highly recommended this hostel. It was very comfortable and clean. It was a value for money.

I planned to have a rest that night and study the map a little bit, so that I wouldn’t be easily lost in the complicated city of Venice. It didn’t turn up as planned. I was very hungry, went out of the hostel and follow my instinct to walk around the area nearby hoping that I will find a restaurant preparing halal food. About 5 minutes walking, I was at the most famous piazza in Venice, Piazza San Marco but no food can be bought there. It was very expensive. I headed off the piazza and found a pizza shop. A vegetarian pizza and a 500ml bottle drink cost me €7.00. It was enough for that day. 

The next morning, I went into the Basilica di San Marco, the most famous church in the city of Venice. The architecture is awesome. It was a sunny day and I enjoyed Venice the most. Piazza San Marco was full of crowd. I did notice that most of the clocks in Venice was marked by 24 hour systems.

 Piazza San Marco; the San Marco Basilica and clock tower.

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Unique clock in Piazza San Marco.

Gondolas, water taxis and boats were everywhere in the canal around Venice. I also went to the Riva degli Schiovani, one of the most beautiful landscapes in the island. From there, I’d got to see Santa Maria della Salute, a beautiful Roman catholic church in Venice. 

 Lovely couple in Riva degli Schiovani. Santa Maria della Salute can be seen in the background.

Gondolas.

Me in Riva Degli Schiovani. In the background is Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore.

Birds in love in Venice.(I think la...)

Not far from there, there is a bridge, Ponte dell’ Accademia. It is one of 4 bridges in Venice to span the Canal Grande. My next destination was Ponte di Rialto, the most famous bridge in Venice where I got to find shops selling souvenirs and food. 

 Me in Rialto.

Although it wasn’t far from the Ponte dell’ Accademia, I took about 45 minutes to reach it. Venice was still complicated to me even I had a map in my hand.

 Canal Grande from Ponte di Rialto.

I found a pizza shop, full of crowd in Rialto. So, I thought the pizza must be very delicious and had a try. Marvelous! It was very delicious. €4.00 for a slice of pizza fungi and it satisfied me. Maybe I was too hungry at that time. Everything could be delicious. I did try a chocolate ice cream too. Yummy.

 Ponte di Rialto; crowd and souvenir shops.

I bought an ‘I love Venezia’ t-shirt and a gondola model in Rialto souvenir shops. I strolled around the area for an hour and walked back to Riva Degli Schiovani to enjoy the sunset.

 Venice during sunset from Riva Degli Schiovani.