Italy: Venice Part 2

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

Continued from Part 1.

So on the next morning, we start our day very early in the morning to catch as much sights as we can in Venice. Venice is not really that big, so it is possible to walk everywhere like we did, but be prepared to get your feet sore the next day. hahahaha

 

The arrow is our accommodation and all the red dots are the places you'd want to visit. 

We relied mostly on this map from the book that my friend who couldn't join us gave. It has all the information we need from the top attractions, food, and travel tips. Of course we do use the gps too when we get lost because this map doesn't really have all the road names.

 

There weren't a lot of people at that time of day, so it was a nice walk. The first place we went to is Ponte de Rialto (Bridge of Rialto) which is just a few minutes walk from our accommodation. 

 

The bridge was supposed to have a lot of shops and market along the bridge. However, it was under construction, so there were no shop open. Usually, the shops at the bridge will open from 8am to 12pm. So we decided to get some breakfast at the cafes nearby. 

 

We found this cute little place beside the grand canal.

  

The food was amazing. We ordered a pizza which was enough for all three of us. I ordered some cafe latte. It was amazing! My bestie always wanted to try tiramisu here. It was awesome too!

 

The cafe has many fresh seafood. Just look at these huge babies!!!

 

 

Near the cafe, there's a booth for gondola. The guy already called us before we went to eat at the cafe, so when we passed him again, he called and gave us a great deal. The gondola ride is supposed to be €80 per ride (maximum people can go on the gondola is 6). He gave us a ride for only €60!!

He first took us through the grand canal. He told us this is the house of casanova, from the movie casanova. huhu...

 

The weather at that moment was amazing. The gentle breeze just makes you feel so relaxed.

 

The view was amazing too!

After that, he took us through the smaller canals. 

 

 

Our gondola guide trying to look cool. =P

 

 

The picture at the bottom is the house of Marco Polo.

 

Then we went back out again to the grand canal...

 

The bridge at the back is Ponte de Rialto.

 

 

Look at these cute oldies. They still have the strength and energy to do some regatta. They must be practicing for a tournament or something. You go oldies!!

 

Aww...look at these two love-gondolas. 

Next to the gondola dock, there were people transporting fruits and veggies from the boat. You don't often see that.

  

You know when you watch the movies, you'll see the people at the gondola wearing striped shirts with hats. There's even a store selling their shirts! They really do wear like that, they just don't sing. haha...I've asked our gondola guide, he said he couldn't sing. We did see another gondola that had that though, maybe you have to pay a different price or something. oh well..

After the gondola ride, we bumped into some Malaysians that were on their holiday trip too. It's hard to see other muslims here, let alone Malaysians. 

 

Near from where we were standing, there's this authentic Venetian mask shop where they handmade all these Venetian mask out of Pape Mache (it's an art technique using paper and pva glue).

After that, we walked to Piazza San Marco.

This is a must see place is Venice. 

It's one of the places Johnny Depp shot for The Tourist with Angelina Jolie. 

There are soooo many people here. You can enter the buildings here (I'm not really sure what they are), but there were too many people on queue, so we decided not to enter anything.

 

We just took pictures of it.

 

 

Imagine Johnny Depp standing in the middle. huhu...

 

There are so many gondola services here, but so many people too. If you've ever watched people shared pictures comparing the dream and reality pictures when you are traveling, part of it is true.

 


But for the gondola part, I don't think it was true. When we took the gondola, there were nobody at the canal. You just need to know when and where to go and do something to avoid the huge crowd.

I can't get enough of these canals. The bridge at the back is called the bridge of sighs. The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron as a translation from the Italian "Ponte dei sospiri" in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows.

There are hardly any gondolas at this time, but later on in the day, you'll see the gondolas lining up at these canals.

 

You see the girl on the right wearing the Venetian dress? There are a few of them along these road, be aware of them when they call for you to take a picture with them because they'll ask you to pay them.

I have no idea what building is at the back, but I do love the view.

The building behind this picture is Santa Maria della Salute. It's located at the tail of the grand canal, so we decided to walk there to see the gorgeous view.

 

 

When I saw the picture below, I imagine Johnny Depp is inside the boat in front because that's the exact water taxi he used in the movie. It's quite expensive though, €15 per person.

  

 

The view in front of the Santa Maria.

 

This is at the tip beside the Santa Maria.

 

You can see the Piazza San Marco from here.



And below is the Santa Maria della Salute.

 

I'll continue on the next post. Until next time...

Continue to Part 3.

p.s: Picture credit for my friend who took most of these pictures with her camera.