Queen of the Adriatic - Venice
The last day of our tour of Italy, we go to Venice. Early in the morning we left the hotel, as always, clearly on schedule. For the first part of the journey, many dozed off on the bus, there were also those who read books, and I just looked out the window: new terrain, new landscapes, new towns, new estates... After a pause, the guide began his story about the history of Venice. Its origin dates back to the 5th century, can you imagine the 5th century! ? Once the territory of Croatia - Istria and Dalmatia - also belonged to Venice, Morea, Cyprus and Crete were also subordinate to it, the guide tells a lot of interesting things and we quietly drive up to the mainland of Venice. We do not have excursions in this part of Venice, the group leader decides organizational issues, and then we go to the pier. The bus stays in the parking lot, and we go to the pier to board the boat. A boat or a water tram is nothing special: there are many of them and they are all different. We are sailing along the canal, some are on the deck, some are in the closed part, everyone is taking pictures, the boat was with a microphone and we continued to listen to the guide's story about the churches, cathedrals, the Doge's Palace, the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, located nearby the islands of Murano , Burano, Torcello, I don’t remember other names. It is a pity that there was not much time, I would definitely visit these islands. And now we are already in the bay of San Marco, moored to the embankment, we are already in Venice! Venice is a very beautiful word, somehow magical for me, despite the fact that we are here for the first time, we seem to know the city in absentia: from films, postcards, some programs... Expecting something extraordinary! ? Of course, it is unique when the city is located on 118 islands like no other in the world!
But the miracle does not happen yet and we are taken to a small shop-workshop. Here, in a very, well, very small room, the “glass maker” shows how glasses and vases are blown out of glass... Well, maybe someone who was standing close saw something, and my husband and I ended up at the doors to another hall behind everyone, we saw practically nothing and heard nothing, and strangely enough, for some reason we were not interested in this: how glasses are blown, what the alloy consists of, etc. We went to another hall, well, here it was already more interesting: an exhibition of various figures of animals, dishes with space prices, jewelry - of course, beautiful, but very expensive. We went to the next hall, everything is the same there and went out into the street. It turned out that several people from our group were even faster, they were already standing on the embankment and waiting for the others. 10 minutes pass, 15 minutes, the group does not appear, so 2-3 people go out lazily and no more. Another 15 minutes pass, the gathered people are already starting to lose patience: well, what can you do there for so long? Only if you buy in bulk! About 5 activists are sent with claims to the guide and the leader of the trip: why are we slowing down here for so long, do you want to see the city, and not some jewelry store? Almost the whole group is already on the street, we are waiting, finally “everyone” made purchases, this “everyone” turned out to be a single customer who could not decide in any way: what kind of bracelet should she buy on her hand: for 8 euros or for 10? Couldn't you do it in your spare time? It turned out that here our "bosses" have a commercial interest. But what do they get with one purchase? But how many dissatisfied statements from outraged tourists! This somehow crumpled the perception of Fairytale Venice, but soon it was all forgotten.
Our tour continued on: the Bridge of Sighs, Doge's Palace, Little Square, St. Mark's Library, St. Mark's Square, a beautiful square, but somehow empty, maybe because it is very large? St. Mark's Cathedral is outwardly very beautiful, again, it's a pity that we didn't go inside, as is often the case in sightseeing tours of cities: there is no time. After that, we had a choice: to go further with a guide or walk on our own, and since there was no walk along the Grand Canal, we decided to walk on our own.
Having bought tickets for the water tram, we set off on a voyage, it was great, we really enjoyed this trip: we sailed under bridges, looked at ancient buildings, past Palaces and squares, past numerous cafes with ubiquitous tourists. And boats and gondolas of various sizes, colors and colors are sailing back and forth! Returning back, we just went for a walk, wherever our eyes look, and ended up somewhere near the Laguna. We found a small restaurant there, had a bite, of course, pizza, because we are in Italy after all. It was tasty and not expensive, well, we were a bit far from the center. Then we got a little lost, because. in this part of the city there were no signs to Piazza San Marco, to other squares - yes, but not to the one we need. After asking once or twice where we should go, we found the direction we needed. I noticed that in Venice, as nowhere else, there are such a large number of shops with jewelry, well, literally at every step. We must pay tribute, beautiful decorations, a lot of Murano glass, and varied in design. We went to branded stores and boutiques, well, the prices in them, respectively, of Venice.
We didn’t have time to ride the gondola, and we didn’t have time to do a lot of other things, there will be a reason to come back again!
What can I say, did we like Venice? Yes, I liked it, but not in such a way that: Ah! And breath stopped. I would not compare it with either Amsterdam or St. Petersburg, for me these 3 cities are completely different, and the most beautiful of them for me is St. Petersburg.
Well, it's already evening, the group gathered on the boat, Venice, goodbye! Each city we visited differs from the other in something special, for example, Pisa - the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Siena - the Cathedral and Field Square, and best of all we liked Rome!
We again overslept the most beautiful crossing of the Alps, because again it was at night. In general, we were very pleased with the trip, every time you get to Italy, you discover something new and interesting for yourself. If possible, we will go to other cities!
