We arrived safely in Venice last night...but not before a minor hiccup at the airport. One of us, who shall remain nameless, failed to type out his entire last name when booking his flight. Wizzair was going to charge 690 hryvniy, about $90, to do a "Name Change." However, when the individual in question mentioned that he used to work for an airline, they waived the fee. Phew!
When we boarded the plane, we discovered one of the reasons why Wizzair has such low fares....the legroom (or lack thereof). They cram people onto those planes like sardines. However, we got lucky when one of the flight attendants came over (get your minds out of the gutter) asked us if we spoke English. When we told her we did, she moved us to the reserved emergency exit row, with lots and lots of room. We never thought we'd get special treatment for speaking English, but we'll take it.
We landed, everyone else applauded, and we began to make our way around Venice. Our hostel was easy to locate, and it's pretty nice. Clean, comfortable, safe, and in a good location.
We spent the day taking in some major sights, and the city itself. Our guidebook, "Rick Steves' Guide to Europe," has become our third best friend (we already have first and second best friends, respectively). It points out where to go, where not to waste time, and gives great hints and tips for travelers on a budget. It also has great information on all the sights it recommends. We also downloaded Rick Steves' free podcasts, which give tours of major attractions around the city. We basically have our own free tour guide! The book and podcasts cover almost all the cities we'll visit, and we highly recommend them to anyone who will be traveling around Europe.
What did we actually SEE today? Lots! We spent most of the day in and around St. Mark's Square, the main gathering place in Venice. At two acres in size, and surrounded by a beautiful basilica and grandiose buildings from centuries ago, the square is quite impressive. Mainly tourists fill the area. The hustle and bustle of tour groups mixes with the sounds of orchestra music coming from one of the squares' main cafes. It's a great place to just sit and people-watch. We got lost (on purpose) among the countless side streets in the area, many of them just barely wide enough for two people to cross. It's really difficult for us not to stop and sample food at every single pizzeria, cafe, or gelato joint in town.
Venice has no cars, anywhere. People go everywhere on foot, or take a water-bus or taxi down the grand canal. We took a vaporetto, a water bus, from a stop near our hotel all the way to St. Mark's Square. The slow boat took 45 minutes to get to where we needed to go, but we did that on purpose, as one of our podcasts is a tour of Venice's Grand Canal. Pretty cool! It's fascinating to see all the different styles of buildings and facades, and how Venice has changed as the centuries have gone by.
Some other minor sights, eating, a brief intermission due to rain, and a lonnnng walk home took up the rest of our day. Venice at sunset is very beautiful, so we stopped everywhere to admire the view. We went for a glass of wine at a cafe near our place, and during our people-watching session, an accordionist began to busk on the street not 20 feet away from us. Free concert? Jackpot!
We'll be busy busy busy for our entire trip, so we'll blog when we can. We figured we'd try to put up something from day one just to get the ball rolling! Enjoy the pictures below, and we're sure you'll hear from us again soon!
 |
| In front of St. Mark's Basilica on St. Mark's Square |
 |
| First stop - Venice! |
No comments:
Post a Comment