Day Twenty One: The magical city of Venice

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Getting to Venice was a little tricky. That morning we walked from our hotel to the center of the little town we were staying in, not a huge walk, but for me, and dragging the wheel chair and a suitcase, and our two carry ons, it was little tough. When we got to the town we were supposed to look for a tobacco shop. That's where they sell bus tickets. We found it, and the little old man running it, unfortunately the man only spoke italian, and he only took cash. We hadn't run in to too many places that only took cash and we hadn't got any since we only just got there the night before. Lesson learned. Jen walked all over the little town looking for an ATM and finally back to the hotel we stayed at to ask where to get cash. The only place that had an ATM was the airport, so Jen walked to the airport and back to me waiting at the tobacco shop. Finally we got our tickets and were on our way to the Island of Venice.


Venice is an island but there is a land bridge that goes to it from the main land of Italy. You can drive but then have to park and leave your car because the streets of Venice are made of water. Your two best options are taking a bus or the train. We chose the bus to get there and then tomorrow to travel to Verona we are taking the train. When we got on the island it was a little tricky getting from the bus station to our accommodations. Venice is built on water so there are a lot of bridges, and most of the bridges have a lot of steps. We managed to make it up two bridges and through crowds of people, so who actually helped us, to meet the women we were renting a room with for the night.

Because of our mix up with the cash we were late getting to the spot we were supposed to meet our host, but no worries she sent her only italian speaking mom to pick us up. Through pointing and gestures we were able to get settled in. She was a sweet lady and it worked out fine.

All of our troubles melted away when we stepped into our room and open the curtians. This is what we saw!!!

Sticking our head out our window to the right and left.

A video out our window in our room as a gondola floats by with an Italian man singing.

We rented our room through Airbnb again, and it was amazing! I wish we would have stayed more than one night. But we'll just have to go back someday. We rented a room (Click here to see) in an apartment right on one of the canals (streets) of Venice. It was only a few min from the train station and the water bus stop, so it makes it really easy to get every where in the city. The bed was comfy and hearing the italian men singing as the floated by in their boats was magical.


The area outside the apartment

Down the street from our apartment. The Gand Canal.

Grand Canal

"The Grand Canal is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola. At one end, the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin; in between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts of Venice. It is 3,800 m long, 30–90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters (16.5 ft)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(Venice)).

The first things we did after settling in in our room was take the Vaporetti (water bus) from the train station to St. Mark's Square, the top of the grand canal to the bottom. This is a great way to see the city. Yes, its like taking a public bus to tour a city but the Grand Canal is the major thorough fair of the city, and you can see a lot from your seat on the bus. Rick Steves (a travel writer, who I used for a lot of my planning) has a free audio tour that you can listen to as your traveling down the canal. He points out interesting spots, and the history behind a lot of the buildings (Rick Steves Audio Tour).









St. Mark's Square

"Piazza San Marco, often known in English as the St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy. The Piazza is dominated at its eastern end by the great church of St Mark. Beyond that is the Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio), completed in 1499, above a high archway where the street known as the Merceria (a main thoroughfare of the city) leads through shopping streets to the Rialto, the commercial and financial center. To the right of the clock-tower is the closed church of San Basso, sometimes open for exhibitions. To the left is the long arcade along the north side of the Piazza, formerly the homes and offices, they were built in the early 16th century, [now the] arcade is lined with shops and restaurants at ground level, with offices above" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco).

After we rode the water bus down the grand canal we got off at St Mark's Square. It is a busy place full of people, but amazing to see. There are lots of restaurants and shops surrounding the square. We did not tour St Marks church, because of time, but enjoyed seeing its architecture from the outside.




After taking some pictures we walked down to Merceria St, the main street with lots of shopping (window shopping for us) and restaurants. We had lunch at one of the restaurants, which was pretty good, but definitley catered to tourist. Their menu was in multiple languages (english, french, spanish, etc.), and usually a good rule of thumb is, if you want more authentic italian food, go somewhere where the menu is not in multiple languages. Usually, there will always be some english, and if not usually you can ask what something is and the waiter (especially if they are a younger generation) will be able to tell you in english. 

Rialto Bridge

We walked back from lunch to are apartment to take a nap and on our way we stopped at the Rialto Bridge to take some pictures. "The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rialto_Bridge). 



Gondola Ride

After our nap we decided to take a gondola ride. Thankfully there was a canal right outside our apartment with a couple gondolas you could ride. We asked how much it was, agreed on a price, and then started our ride. Alex was our gondolier, he was super friendly and full of great information.



  
Alex took us past the garage from the "Italian Job" (the movie). It is the only garage in all of Venice.


Venice at Sunset

Venice as the sun is setting become a whole different city. First, the sun hits the multi-colored buildings along the grand canal and washes all the colors with a warm orange light. Its so beautiful! Also, it is around this time that the tourist start to leave. A lot of people stay on the main land or on a cruise ship, so Venice is so much different as the sun goes down. Again, I really recommend staying on the Island so that you are able to enjoy Venice at this time.









Dueling Orchestra

"Just being in St. Mark's Square after dark is a thrill, as dueling café orchestras entertain. Every night, enthusiastic musicians play the same songs, creating the same irresistible magic. Hang out for free behind the tables (which allows you to easily move on to the next orchestra when the musicians take a break) or spring for a seat and enjoy a fun and gorgeously set concert. If you sit a while, it can be €15–20 well spent" (Rick Steves).



Dinner

I actually don't remember where we ate dinner but I do remember it was really yummy.


After dinner we took the water bus back up the grand canal to our apartment. Venice is so beautiful at night too, it such a magical place, I can't wait to go back.




Venice can be a difficult city for people with limited mobility issues to navigate. When planning this trip I found several travel sites and people that said Venice was too hard for someone who has any issues with walking and steps (i.e. wheelchair dependent, people bad knees, the elderly, etc), and there were "easier" places to visit. This is not acceptable to me. If you want to go to Venice, go, no matter how you are physically limited. Venice is an amazingly beautiful, unique, cannot miss place. There really is no other city like it. It is as beautiful as you see in movies and as interesting as all the travel shows make it out to be. So then how do you do it. Click here to find out: How to get around Venice with Limited Mobility.


Catch up on all the days:


one year ago    Day One    Day Two    Day Three    Day Four    Day Five    Day Six    Day Seven




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