Venice – Exploring further afield

It’s very easy to think of ‘Venice’ as just the main island with St. Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal and all the high end boutiques and hotels – but there’s so much more.

Having shot sunset images at the Grand Canal yesterday from the Ponte dell’ Accademia, we set off early this morning to catch pre-sunrise light near St. Mark’s. What a joy! The gondolas with their ‘fero del prova’ catching the light, the shadows in the square and, for a few moments the deep orange, penetrating, light of the sun as it shone behind the clouds meant that if I had seen nothing else today I would have been happy!

Both of these are images taken on my phone and not edited at all: another joy I’m learning.

We were up and out early enough to be back at the hotel for breakfast by 9.00am, have a bit of a break and make for the ferry to Burano by 10.30a.m.. I had seen images of this island before and loved the Lego colours and the leaning tower of the church as well as the canalside reflections and the little shops selling glasswares and lace. Finding a restaurant where we could sit outside in the sun to eat lunch was a bonus as was the hour long ferry ride!!

As we sat on the ferry in the sun it was good to look back on the classical area we had left: what was ahead would be very different.

There were flood defences against individual doors, lace fans made locally and a church with a leaning tower as well as indications of daily life – laundry hung out to dry on the pulleys and bicycles sitting alongside shops. But most eye-catching of all were the reflections of the brightly coloured houses in the canals.

All too soon it was time to make our way back to the ferry terminal, board line 14 and return to classical Venice.

The light was disappointing so we made for the hotel and then out to a really nice restaurant the hotel recommended for a relaxed local meal: I have never had such good bream and everyone said the same about the dish they chose, so, if you are in Venice consider eating at Trattoria alla Rivetta.

A later start tomorrow and we expect rain!!