Venice Day 1

Our hotel the Hilton Molino Stucky is on the island of Giudecca which is a short boat ride from the main island and has beautiful views of Venice from the rooftop. 

A private boat picked us up this morning for the transfer to Venice and the start of our two hour walking tour. Venice is beautiful and the most unique city I have ever visited. It was very hot and humid but as Venice is flat the walking was much easier. Our guide led us up and down the most intriguing alleyways and streets. The history of the city and how it was established is amazing. Venice is a city of merchants and small shops line every street. The way they move their goods is incredible. Small barges pull into a stop and the goods are unloaded onto big trollies and these are then ‘run’ through the city. And look out if you get in the way of one of the workers hurrying to get goods delivered. They wait for no one and constantly yell ‘attenzione’ as they barrel through.

At the conclusion of our walking tour we climbed aboard a gondola for a 30 minute ride through the canals. It was wonderful and so interesting to watch how expertly the gondoliers manoeuvre their gondola through the very, very busy waterways that are basically the Venice ‘streets.’ At the conclusion of the ride Stephen and I sat a quaint ristorante and enjoyed a pizza for lunch. It even had red and white check table cloths. We sat a table on the street and simply watched the world go by. It was wonderful.

Bridge of Sighs and a bloke in a hat

A Venetian traffic jam!

Tonight, was our farewell dinner. Twelve people were ending their journey in Venice and twelve were continuing on to Budapest where they will board a Scenic ship for a river cruise. I must say that our group was terrific. Everyone got on well and we really did have an enjoyable time. As with every Scenic tour we have done our guide Marino and bus driver Milan were fabulous. Obviously hand-picked. Italian roads are not easy to drive along, particularly those that hug the steep coast roads and those that wind through the ancient towns, but Milan managed to manoeuvre the large bus through some very tight situations with great skill. As of tomorrow Stephen and I are on our own as our Italian adventure continues for a few more days.