04-15 Venice "Are there any hills in Venice?"

Venice "Are there any hills in Venice?"

04-15

Wheather: Cloudy, cool, avg temp 17c

Venice is about 3 hours from Florence by train so although we were on an early train out it was not until 12:30PM we arrived in Venice. Jas asked if there were any hills in Venice expecting some more vigorous walking as in San Gimignano. As advised by our guide book, we caught a ferry from the train station into San Marco so as to walk our way back to the station. Unfortunately, catching a ferry in Italy is just as confusing as catching a train in Italy so we did not go down the Grande Canal but headed out to the main port and then to San Marco.The square was bustling with tour groups (mainly school children). Jas waited outside with the bags (Ed: as for some strange reason this is the only place we visited that did not allow bags in...wierd.) as I visited the church in the square(the name I have to lookup). It had the most amazing mosaic goldtiled ceiling and the marble floor undulated like the sea. We then planned on walking to another church to the east (which I have to lookup - I am terrible with names) which by the map seemed to be no morethan 700m away. 1.5 hours later we got there!

Venice is difficult to navigate for the unwary. After initially trying to feel our way there(and going in circles) I found our trusty National Geographic compass keyring and started orinteering our way which was much more efficent.We passed many glass shops with billiant, seemingly impossible glass sculptures. Other shops had the famous masks of Venice. The gondolas were busy as they navigated expertly the narrow canals. Even though it was a fine day Venice sat in the middle of a haze of smog and almost every corner turned we faced a tour group of children and so happy tohave visited we were happy to head back to the hotel.

Nice place to visit but a day is more than enough for this location.