Venice - 2015

Finally! I got to visit Venice! This has been on my list of places to visit for ages and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I visited in September when the weather was pleasant and not too hot which made strolling through the narrow, winding streets very pleasant and eating al fresco just lovely.

Venice is truly gorgeous; the architecture is stunning and the miraculous way the city appears to float upon the water has to be seen to be believed. Apparently, you are never more than a short distance away from one of the 340 bridges that cross the magnificent canals that form the infrastructure of this stunning city. There are many beautiful Churches & Museums to visit, the Doge's Palace as well as the famous St. Mark's Square. Art & culture is in abundance, as is the ice cream (gelato)! Tours, trips and concerts can be sourced locally - try your Hotel Reception for options - or can be arranged in advance.

There are many wonderful places to stay in Venice, ranging from cosy Boutique Hotels to large, luxury 5* Hotels. Due to the compact nature and layout of the city, the majority of accommodation options luckily have views of the canals. We chose to stay in a B&B as we wanted to spend our time exploring rather than relaxing on this trip. Mrs H enjoyed arriving at the Hotel in style via Water Taxi, which dropped us right at the Hotel Reception. Plus a B&B option gave us ample opportunity to sample lots (and lots!) of fabulous Italian food! My waistline is still recovering...

And, of course, you can’t go to Venice without going on a Gondola. Yes it was expensive (better to try and share to save costs, but perhaps the romance factor won't be exactly the same?!). But be careful! There are some artificial Gondola’s charging the full rate. How can you tell the difference? You'll have to give me a call and I’ll let you know.