JULAAYY: September 2022

Our first night in Venice - after a day of exploring and wandering round we got a recommendation from Holly's mate who was in Venice a couple of days before we went and told us to go to Cannaregio for food so we trekked down there. It's a 20 minute walk from St Mark's Square and is an area where tourists don't tend to venture out to.

Cannaregio

It wasn't a great recommendation as there was nothing we liked the look of so ended up walking back towards St Mark's Square and found this restaurant we liked the look of which is still part of Cannaregio but just not along the canal. It was about 7pm by the time we had dinner and we were so hungry as we didn't have any lunch.

There was a man just singing opera on his own.

We did look at the menu at this restaurant across the road but the guy was being really rude and snotty because we couldn't decide between that restaurant and the one we ended up going to he was like "no you go to that one, not here" so did end up going to the other one as the menu was better and we're glad we did.

We got the veggie pizza and added Parma ham to it

Got a salad as we needed some veg

I've never had gnocci before so we tried this tomato based one and I wasn't a fan but Holly said it wasn't freshly made but it was edible and were so hungry.

The pizza was good and the only pizza we had on the whole trip!

Most restaurants in Italy have a charge called "Caperto" where they charge you for just sitting down. Some restaurants state this on the menu but not all - so ones that don't state probably best to avoid as in the tourist hotspots like the grand canal can charge anything from €20-40. Some places more further out charge €2-3 per person and covers your tips/bread but some charge that as well as a service charge on top.

This place didn't charge us caperto just a 10% service charge which was acceptable and we got bread. It cost us €42.50 - got a bottle of water, Holly got a Negroni, pizza, gnocci and salad.

We went past a gelato shop on the way to Cannaregio so had to go back to it to get one.

I got pistachio and almond with a dipped white chocolate hazelnut cone and it was so good! Especially when I had the crap coconut one earlier. Holly got a vegan hazelnut one. This cost €2,50 considering I got a dipped cone and 2 scoops!

Think this might have been the best gelato I had (I had that many that they all kind of blurred into one)

So we didn't realise we crossed the Rialto Bridge earlier on in the day.. But definitely did this time!

It was cooler in the night but still warm. The night temperature was definitely more to what we preferred! Day 1 of Venice was a good one and was excited for day 2 as we were going to take the ferry over to one of the islands Burano.

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After a night's stay in Milan we took the train to Venice. We were suppose to have our breakfast delivered at 9am but it got to 9:30am and it still didn't turned up so Holly emailed them and they rang our room saying they were waiting for us to let them know about it when Holly already did. It came super quick and because we were in a rush I forgot to take a photo. We got a croissant each, glass of orange juice, yoghurt, pack of rusk and spread for it. We walked to centrale station which was only round the corner but when we went to the hotel the first time it seemed a lot further!

Holly got a coffee and the croissants looked so good!

Our train was at 11:35am and it took 2 hours 35 minutes. We had to wear a mask on the train and there was someone walking through checking but the rule is only till the end of September. We left on time but it ended up getting in 10 minutes late. We were on first class and it was so good, we got asked what snack we wanted could choose from: biscuits, cereal bar or peanuts, a drink - water, tea, coffee or juice. They came round twice. There was free Wi-Fi and you can charge your phone - like the first class on Virgin trains.

We got off the train and out the station...

These guys in the hi vis jackets are water taxi drivers

The best view outside of a train station you can get!

It was so hot once we stepped out of the station and was not looking forward to the 17 minute walk to our hotel which consisted crossing a lot of bridges that all had stairs with our cases in the heat.

They had a Magnum shop were you make your own where you can choose the toppings to add to it. Super expensive!

These stairs had to be some joke! And that wasn't even it..

We were not looking forward to going down them with our cases!

There was this shared area where there was snacks left out and a kitchen with a sink, fridge and coffee machine we could use.

Our room was really big so much space but then we felt like there was no space/area to actually put stuff on

The hotel was great minus the stairs.

We got a shower then went out to explore Venice!

So we didn't realise this was the Rialto Bridge..

Every couple we seen on a gondola ride looked so miserable but they are so expensive so not surprised. We did want to have a go but couldn't justify it.