What a contrast to anything we have seen before. There is nowhere like Venezia. The craziness of Italian roads disappears. There are no scooters or push bikes trying to careen through the streets. It’s almost peaceful… or at least as peaceful as a small city with a massive influx of visitors can be.

Getting here is half the battle. We drive from Cortina to the Marco Polo Airport in Venice. After a small setback with returning the car, there is a chunk or rubber hanging from the sidewall of the front tire which catches the eye of the returns clerk. We must have caught it somewhere during our travels but have no idea where. Thankfully Stacey has ticked the full comprehensive insurance box when she picked up the car so we are covered for the accidental damage. Now to look for options to transfer us to the islands.

Our first option is via bus but, as we have arrived on a Sunday, there are limited services and after a bit of waiting we opt for the ferry. It’s probably a good call as we get to enjoy around 90 minutes of cruising the waterways and visiting the ports of the various islands before we make land at our destination. The views from the ferry are brilliant and essentially you are not fighting with the crowds to take photos.

Now for the fun part. Venice is a labyrinth of thoroughfares, alleys, courtyards and plain old fashioned dead ends. It takes some good map reading skills and a number of false starts for us to make it to our B&B. We are greeted by our Hostess and shown to a clean and comfortable room that will be ours for the next 3 nights. Our accommodation is in the Dorsoduro District, close to the waterfront, so there is a lot of exploring to do. Now off to see the sights.

Our first points of call are the main attractions so we head to Piazza San Marco and its adjoining basilica where to architecture is amazing but the crowds huge. There is a cruise ship in and it looks like half of Italy has decided to spend Sunday in Venice. We decide to escape the throng and head to the back streets and lose ourselves in the history of the island.

After a long day of traveling and walking around we hit a local restaurant recommended by our Hostess, where local pizza and wine are the fare. Our language skills are improving so ordering the meal is much simpler than expected. Asking for the bill at the end of the meal has also become my job so my confidence is growing with “Posso alvere il conto per favore”. After a final evening stroll we call it a day.

More to explore tomorrow.