Italy - Venice

The Grand Canal from Accademia Bridge

As soon as you step out of the main station you are blown away by the uniqueness of this floating city.. They sure made life difficult for themselves by building the city here, but what a creation!! Even in the stifling heat of summer, while the rest of Italy sweltered in over 40 degrees Venice stayed a mild 30 degrees thanks to the sea breeze.

Good nights on cheap wine

I checked into one of the best hostels of my trip called Foresteria Valdese, a brilliant 800 year old mansion run by nuns in the centre of Venice. The hostel was full of cool and crazy people, the first night I went out for dinner with Kat an American from Long Beach, Bec an Aussie from the Northern Territories and Nathan also from LA. We had a great meal sitting outside at a restaurant until it was cut short by a thunderstorm.

Nathan at the restaurant
At the bar after dinner Keen for a bit of night life we headed to the nearest pub. We had a few drinks there and cracked up at these crazy Italian guys singing to us through the window.

The crazy singing Italians
Piazza San Marco by night, our favorite hangout After the bar we grabbed our wine and went on a midnight mission through Venice headed for Piazza San Marco (St Marks Square), one of the biggest draw cards to Venice. It is a stunning square host to thousands of tourists and pigeons by day. By night it is a great place to hang out with fewer people and live classical music. We sat there drinking for a few hours soaking up the culture until everyone had gone to bed except Kat and I, we hung out until sunrise..

The leaning tower of Venice You do not need to go to Pisa to see leaning towers, Venice is full of them!

Colourful houses on the Island of Murano
The Aussies Bec and Mat

On the second night we went out to a restaurant again, it was Kat and I, Bec and Mat. We had another good night and once again ended up in Piazza San Marco.

The view from our hostel window

I have never been anywhere like Venice, it is so different. There are no cars on the island and the only way of getting around is by water or foot. The maze of alleys and squares means you can have a great time getting seriously lost. Venice was my favorite of all the cities I visited on my travels and I will definitely be going back.

The Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge

The start of a Romance

After a couple of days it was time to go, Bec was heading off to Croatia, Mat off to Rome and Kat to Sorrento. My original plan was to head to Salzberg in Austria after Venice, however lets just say I got a better offer and joined Kat on a train to Sorrento which was the beginning of an amazing and unexpected adventure. I guess it is true what they say about Venice being the romantic city =)