Ward Family Vacations - Italy 2001 Venice

We finally arrived in Venice and what a sight! Once you cross the main bridge into Venice, there are no bicycles or cars, only boats! If you want to get somewhere you walk or take the water taxis. I loved touring all of the places we had been, but Venice was undoubtedly my favorite.

We crossed over the bridge that affords entry into Venice and walked to our hotel, The Hotel Carlton, which was not too far from the main entrance. All the hotels we stayed in on this Globus tour were 4 and 5 star hotels. I was surprised at the small size of our hotel rooms in Venice, but remember dry space is in high demand and that is taken from the rooms.

Venice was founded in 421 A.D and is founded on 117 small islands. There are about 150 canals and 400 bridges through Venice, however, there are only three that cross the grand canal, the Academia, Scalzi and the most famous, the Rialto. The first thing you notice is the smell, not a bad smell, but a definite sea type smell which with all of the surrounding water is no surprise.

We arrived in the afternoon and went to our rooms and freshened up for our dinner that night. It was a delicious dinner at the Hotel Carlton dining rooms. After dinner, Jessica and some others went on Gondola ride, and some of the rest of us just walked around close to the hotel. What was so neat, is everything has to come into and out of Venice on boats. In the evening you see the boats hauling out bags and bags of garbage and in the early morning, you see the boats come in with beverages and all kinds of fresh produce. The photograph below is in the early morning with the mist coming off of the water.

After we finished touring the Murano Glass factory, St. Mark's square and the Doges palace, we all went out own way to explore Venice. Jessica went with Jessica Maureen and her mom Suellen and mom and I went to eat lunch because we were hungry! We stopped at a small cafe and ordered Lasagna with red wine - the food was delicious and a very light meal. We worked our way back to our hotel which was on the the other side of Venice from where we were. We shopped along the way, and I bought several glass beaded bracelets and some other odds and ends. It is so much fun walking through Venice, you have to cross bridges as you walk through the city and it is very quaint to see people with clothes lines hanging out their windows letting their clothing dry and then you realize while this is a tourist attraction for us, people actually live and work here. You walk down different pathways, some we found leading to water only and no further land access you would have to double back and try a different path. As it neared 1 o'clock the stores began to close as all Italian businesses close for two hours between 1:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon for Siesta which is a nice custom. I wish it would catch on here in the States! We arrived back at our hotel weary and rested until our dinner that night.