Venice 2013 Day 6

Our 6 days in Venice went very fast, today was our last day in this beautiful island!  We tried to enjoy it as much as we could since it will be years before we'll have a chance to come back again! I woke up at 8 and hubby was still sleeping, I really wanted to go out to take photos of the early morning in Venice when it has less tourists.  I told my hubby that I'll take a quick walk out to St Mark's Square and be back soon haha!

Venice, looked very different during the early morning, the day, and the night but still beautiful on its own way. When I walked right out of the hotel, it was almost no one on the street!  The view of parked gondolas and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore on the back:

The hallway outside Doge's Palace, it looked so different when it wasn't packed with people!

Doge's Palace:

There were a few early birds and joggers:

I really like the quiet side of Venice; I felt so calm and relaxed to enjoy this beautiful city.

I went back to the room and hubby was getting ready :)  We wanted to get something to eat before our adventure, the cheap and good place is Bar Mio (address is Teso Mauro right on Calle Frezzeria). We found this place three years ago and we found it again; it was very close to St Mark's Square.  They have very good and inexpensive sandwiches, 1.7 euros each!

After a yummy breakfast, we took the water bus to San Giorgio Maggiore (we still have 12 hours left on our 36 hours travel card), I heard the view from the top of the bell tower there was the best, better than from the bell tower in San Marco. After we got off the stop at San Giorgio Maggiore, the view of San Marco here was awesome!

To entrance of the bell tower is located inside the church.  The church is worth a visit as well!

When we were there, they have a special collaboration with Swarovski which places a huge Swarovski crystal lens in the middle of the church to give a unique view of the church. The name of the crystal is "Perspective".

Then, we followed the sign to the entrance of the bell tower.  We purchased our ticket and waited a few minutes for the elevator. It was a small elevator so maximum 6 people can get in at once, good choice that we came here early in the morning!  

The view from the bell tower was amazing!  I would say it gives the best view of Venice from up top! 

Looking down at the San Giorgio Maggiore island:

San Giorgio Maggiore church on the right and the Giorgio Cini foundation on the left.

View of St Mark's Square:

Pier on the bottom, and San Marco on top:

Panorama of Venice!

  

The 360 view of Venice was incredible up here! We highly recommended it!

Afterwards, we took the elevator down and when we reached the ground floor, it was a line queuing already!

We got back to St Mark's Square and I saw zig-zagging of gondolas!

For lunch, we walked around and tried to avoid restaurants at St Mark's Square, we found this restaurant tucked under the bridge called Trattoria Alla Rivetta with Trip Advisor sticker! The cover of its menu is very unique so I took a photo of it!

We never had the spaghetti with cuttlefish ink sauce so hubby decided to try! It was pretty good but a little bit salty at the end (we heard about it being salty but it was less salty than we expected)!

I ordered a soup since I wanted something light and hubby ordered mussels as appetizer.

I saved room for tiramisu haha!  The tiramisu here was very smooth and creamy, only 5 euros! We both liked the tiramisu here than in Da Mamo. The bill came to 44.2 euros.

After lunch, we continued our way to explore the back roads on the right side of St Mark's Square   We tend to spent majority of our time on the section between St Mark's Square and Rialto Bridge and never really stepped into the right side of St Mark's Square  We passed by a gelato shop which Trip Advisor recommendation sticker so I had to go in to try!  I picked the coffee and rose flavors. Coffee flavor was good but I really don't like the rose flavor that much since it has a little bit of bitter taste.

We just walked around without a map and stop to take photos whenever we spotted a nice view :) I guess that was our favorite activity in Venice!

We ended up at San Lorenzo.  We liked the pattern of the huge wooden door!

We continued our back road walk, don't ask me where we were, we had no clue haha!

After the wonderful walk, we went back to our hotel to rest a bit; it was getting hot out!  The sun during end of July was very strong and temperatures in the upper 80s!  Oh one thing I forgot to mentioned, Venice in the summer doesn't smell bad!  A lot of people told me be prepared for the odor, majority of the time, we didn't noticed any odor at all!

We went back out at around 5 pm and wanted to take a gondola ride!  We didn't get a chance to take one last time we were here since it was so cold in March!  I read that the official price is 80 euros per ride for 40-50 minutes but not everyone followed that price.  I walked up to a gondola station right in San Marco and ask for the price, the guy said 120 euros!!! I said no thanks and walked away and then another guy ran to me and said 100 euros.  I felt like they were being dishonest so we said no thanks and walked away!  We walked to Campo San Moise and there was a station there.  I walked up to ask and the guy said 80 euros for 50 minutes...yep that's the right price!  This gondola station is popular, we saw many tour groups took the gondolas from here. I think it is a company operated station. The down side is you can't pick the gondola!  Since hubby wanted a very nice decorated gondola, we walked to the opposite side of the station where it seem like it is privately operated.  We asked for price and it was 100 euros for 50 minutes, but the gondola is what he wanted so we were willing to pay the 20 euros extra!

Off we go...our first gondola ride! We first started off going through back canals, the view of Venice from here is "up close and personal" I would say!  

Hubby picked this beautiful gondola, doesn't I look like a queen LOL!

Our gondolier was humorous and he throw me his gondolier hat as prop for my photos haha!

Then we got out to Rialto Bridge and the golden ray of sunset...perfect timing for photos!

Then, we got back into the back canals again.  This time, hubby came back to sit with me and we both spend the rest of the ride to enjoy the little canals of Venice!

The 50 minutes ride ended quickly! Our gondolier helped us take a photo together:

For dinner, we decided to go back to Alla Rivetta again since it was pretty close to our hotel and food was good. Hubby ordered a seafood soup, it was yummy!

Hubby ordered fish fillet and I ordered a steak, both were good. And we had to order tiramisu again for desert!  The bill was 66.1 euros!

After we finished our dinner, we left the restaurant and noticed the floor was wet and people were carrying their umbrellas!  We were so lucky that it was pouring out while we had dinner wohoo! Venice, sunset time after the rain:

Venice - we'll miss this beautiful island, we hope we'll have a chance to come back again later on!! I was very glad that we had 6 days in Venice, we were able to take it easy and truly enjoy Venice! Ciao!

Venice 2013 Day 5

Venice 2013 Day 5: Burano and Murano

We didn't get a chance to visit the nearby islands of Burano and Murano last time we were in Venice and I told myself, I have to visit them both the next time!  So I made sure we have a day trip to Burano and Murano this time! And we were very glad we went because both islands were amazingly beautiful!  

We woke up early in the morning so we could be at Burano early in the morning before it is packed with tourists.  It was pretty easy to get to Burano; we took the route 4.1 from Zaccaria (St Mark's Square stop) to F.TE NOVE "B" then walked over to F.TE NOVE "A" to switch water bus to route 12 to Burano. It took almost an hour and a half with wait time in between the two lines. It was a long boat trip but definitely worth it!  We arrived Burano around 9:30 am and the island was nearly empty; we felt like we have the whole island ourselves!

From the water bus stop, we walked straight to the end of the street where this very cute pink cafe is located. It looked like it came right out of a story book like a toy house don't you think?  If I can choose a house to be my childhood dream house, this will be definitely it!

That area was where most of the online photos I seen taken from, the pastel and bright colored houses on each side of the canal. I had this pictured in my mind but it turned out to be more colorful and beautiful. Just by looking at it, it already made me happy.  Doesn't this look like a dreamland? Please don't wake me up!

In fact, the color of the houses are regulated! No two houses next to each other have the same color! We walked by each house and whenever we saw a house we like, we'll stop and have few photos with it.  It was so much fun doing so! I love the reflection of the colorful houses as well....another reason to be here early!

I never thought orange, blue, and purple could match so well together! 

Ladies, if you were like me who spend a lot of time packing for the trip to make sure you pack the right clothes that will match the place, then there's no need to worry about it for Burano because no matter what color you picked, it will blend in! I am sure you'll be able to find a house that'll match your color :)

Another side of the same street...gorgeous!

I like light colors but this bright pink somehow caught my attention!

I told hubby to run over to the other side of the canal to take a photo of me, the houses, and reflections! This is one of my favorite photos!

How can I not have a photo with a pink boat!!!

After the main street, we walked through small streets and let me tell you, the whole island houses are colorful not just the main street houses! We stopped by this yellow house and placed my camera on the window of the house opposite of it to take a photo of us two LOL! It was the best photo of us together of our trip except the ones we used a tripod! Now I am looking at it.....it looked like a greeting card!!!

Then we saw this fuchsia colored house with color matching flowers, I just like it so much!!

The house next to it is baby blue, it really matched my hubby's outfit LOL so I made him stand there so I could take a photo :)

We had so much fun that time passed by quickly! It was already lunch time! I was planning to have lunch at Da Romano (address: Via S.Martino DX 221) after I read a lot of good reviews about it but unfortunately there was a death in the family so the restaurant was closed when we were there!!! We checked out menus from a few restaurants nearby and decided to have lunch at Restaurant Galuppi.  The interior decors were nice with a lot of paintings, the food was just okay...a little bit on the expensive side: two pastas and mussels as appetizer total 44.55 euros!!

The restaurant has wifi and this is what they gave me for password...the longest password I ever seen in my life lol....wondered who can remember that!!

Food was just okay!

After lunch, we headed to the other section of the island...still filled with colorful houses!

A house with a very leaning tower!!!  Oh, a local fishing right in front of his house woah!

Me..walking down the street of the colorful Burano island :)

I saw this pastel green-blue house with matching colored plant of course and this lady was doing her laundry!

Even the cat on this island is relaxing!

My favorite pink!!! What I really like about Burano is that locals really spend time on color matching their houses and well decorated with flowers and plants!  No one house is the same!!!

A very bright red house...reminded me of Memo!

Another fuchsia house but decorated with two green plants on the entrance!

Hubby likes this yellow house with the blue windows and the two barber-poles at the front door!

A blue house hanging a fuchsia shirt, the color contrast really stand out!

My favorite pastel pink with color matching curtains and two hanging plants!

Burano is really like a dreamland!  It is the most colorful island I ever seen in my life!  If you seen another other island more colorful than Burano please let me know!!

We left Burano at around 2 pm and headed back to stop by at Murano - island famous for its glass.  I pictured Murano as an island filled with glass souvenir shops and factories...I was wrong!  It was not the factory as I pictured factory to be...but instead, the island is similarly beautiful as Burano but bigger in size!

First, we walked pass a glass factory where they open their back door so tourists could see the factory...workers blowing glass.  We didn't get to see the actual blowing the glass though!

After we walked straight from the Murano stop (Murano island has many water bus stops....I forgot which one we got off though), we turned right and both side of the canal was filled with souvenir shops! Instead of shopping, we enjoyed the view of the island more!

The big huge blue colored Murano glass display right at the front of a bell tower!

I didn't realized hubby took this photo LOL!

Very nice but expensive Murano glass!

The Grand Canal of Murano!

We left Murano around 4 pm and rest a bit in the hotel before heading out for dinner.  Today, I insisted on having pizza!  I told hubby that if I didn't get a chance to have pizza in Italy this time, I'll regret it LOL! We took the water bus to Accademia since we purchased a 36 hours travel card to save us time and energy to walk all the way there from San Marco!  We went to the ATM machine to get some cash and then we were too lazy to find a restaurant so we had our dinner at Bar Foscarini, right next to Accademia Bridge.  The view was breathtaking of the Grand Canal!

We ordered two pizzas, prices were a little bit more expensive than what we seen but it was reasonable for its location!  Total for two pizzas and a bottle of water was 30 euros (the cheapest dinner we had in Venice!). 

Yummy!! We don't think it's possible to have a bad pizza in Italy!!!

As we were enjoying our pizzas, we saw 8 gondolas passed by, must be a tour group or something!

After dinner, we took the water bus back to St Mark's Square  on the way people were taking photos of the Grand Canal......with their iPads LOL!!

Reflection of San Giorgio Maggiore on one of St Mark's Square water bus stops' glass windows, I thought it looked like an advertisement banner!

It was still early when we got back to St Mark's Square  so we decided to take a little walk before heading back to our hotel! We passed by a bakery, wondered if those are pastries or candies....

Another church and bell tower on the back side of St Mark's Square....

Urggg..this building looked like it's going to fall!

Speaking of narrow roads in Venice, here's a very narrow house!  

After an half an hour lovely walk, we walked back to our hotel and rest.  We weren't tired at all so we had an idea....we took our tripods out to take some portraits of us in this glamorous hotel!  When we had our wedding photos taken in Venice, our first choice was at Hotel Danieli because of its grand staircase but due to room availability, we weren't able to stay at Danieli.  Then we found out no professional/commercial photography is allowed inside the hotel according to our photographer!  So this time since it's not for professional/commercial purposes, we were able to take photos of ourselves :)

This photo was taken after we got back from Murano:

The rest of the photos were taken late at night around 11 pm so not much people around the lobby and public areas hehe! Here are a few photos to share!

I like the angle of the staircase and the Murano glass chandelier on the top!

Photo of us with the famous Danieli grand staircase!

Looked like painting of a king and queen hahaha!

We walked out to St Mark's Square but there were no water puddles for reflections so we didn't stay for much photos and walked back to our hotel.  One photo though.....I like the mysterious and dreamy mood from this photo:

Can't love enough of Venice!  Another great day and great night!