Venice. Date #2.
I'm not interested in writing a tour report. Moreover, I left a detailed account on the TO website, so I divided the stories by city. We have already been to Venice. And they were long, three days. But it turned out that we saw a lot of temples, visited the islands of Murano and Burano, rode gondolas, did not do it ourselves, in my opinion. We didn't get to the Doge's Palace and I didn't climb the San Marco campanile. But this did not decide the trip in favor of Venice. For me, relationships with cities are like relationships with people. You get to know some and immediately understand that you have a lot in common, mutual interest and you will communicate for a long time. Others do not touch the soul at all and there is nothing in common, and you know for sure that you will communicate when necessary, but it is better not to communicate at all. And there is a third category that you think about for a long time, then give yourself a second chance and make a date number 2. As a rule, you rarely make mistakes and using a second chance you get a true friend for the rest of your life. So it is with Venice. You can visit it, ride along the canals, admire the southern riot of colors, the crowds of tourists. Drink coffee on the embankment, shrug your shoulders and leave, believing that you have seen Venice. And only then, at night, will you dream of the emerald Lagoon and the gently swaying gondolas, and there will be an irresistible desire to return and fall in love forever with this open-air museum called Venice. When we arrived at the Troncheto embankment, it was already getting dark, but it got dark somehow immediately. Twenty minutes on the Giudecca Canal was like preparation for the meeting. Imagine the waters of the lagoon like a black, shiny satin, and there, as if on the palms of your hands, the embankment of San Marco with the Piazza and the Doge's Palace shining with night lights. This is what Venice looked like from the lagoon at night. Wonderful tour guide Elena, conducted an amazing tour. It was one of the best tours I have ever had in my travel experience. Elena confidently led us through the narrow streets of Venice, sometimes completely dark, and she told not an abstract, general history of Venice, but specifically tied it to the buildings and monuments that we passed. It was very interesting. She seemed to know about every house in Venice. Venice at night is very mysterious. The lack of crowds of tourists (in some places we were generally alone) and the darkness did their job. It seemed that now, indeed, from behind the neighboring palazzo, Casanova's cloak would appear or a black gondola would carry a mysterious lady in a mask. Venice at night is mysterious and wonderful. On the second day, at 8.30 we were already on the embankment near the Doge's Palace. Since the departure from Venice was supposed to be at 13.00, not at 15.00-16.00 as I was convinced by THREE agencies before paying for the tour, we decided to abandon the trip to the island of Saint Giorgio. There is no queue at the Doge's Palace and I immediately go on a tour. It is not difficult to consider everything there, because they were preparing and initially decided to see for themselves. The hitch arose only when it was necessary to find a passage to the prison. A group of Chinese citizens helped here. Following them, I looked at both the prison and the cells, walked along the Sospiri bridge and took pictures through its bars. There is also no queue for the campanile, and here are 10 minutes and I can admire the views of Venice from a height. The weather is fine. It's still summer in Venice. The photos turn out good. Inspired by the beauty, I go down. . . and then a riot on the ship. Well, my companion does not want to go to the Academy Gallery, but quite the opposite, he wants seafood and only at the Rialto Bridge! The streets, by that time, were filled with incredible crowds of tourists. Slowly we move to the bridge. On the way we buy souvenirs. Jewelry in the Murin technique, watches (this is sacred) with a dial in the Murin technique. It turned out to be a good set. We also bought bottle caps with Murano glass for gifts. We sit down near the bridge and enjoy the weather, food and Venice. I can say with confidence that date #2 didn't just happen, it turned out to be wonderful! And even though my companion (not a fan of Italy) believes that there are other interesting places, I know for sure that this date was the second and certainly not the last.
