Venice, Veneto, Italy
Up at 4.15am to be ready for our airport transfer pick up at 5am!!!! Our airline, Volotea decided to change our flight time to 3 hours EARLIER, leaving Split at 7.30. At least it means we will arrive in Venice early so will have a full day of sightseeing.
The trip to the airport only took about 35mins instead of 50-60mins we were told to allow.
Flight was uneventful, we landed in Venice & had a quick exit through customs then on our way to find our transport to the hotel.....we splurged a bit on a private water taxi speed boat (Urs's suggestion, she had done it before). It was a really lovely way to travel from the airport & through Venice via the Grand Canal!!!
We were delivered to a feery wharf a very short stroll to our hotel, Abbazia Hotel. It is an old abbey (of the Monastery of Venice's Discalced Carmelite Friars) located in the heart of Venice, which has loads of atmosphere & character. The hotel has a beautiful lush rear private garden where you can enjoy breakfast, drinks on the raised deck or spend your time lounging around on the comfy outdoor furniture. Highly recommend this hotel & will definietly stay there again when I am in Venice (so close to everything).
After dropping our luggage, as it was too early to book in, the concierge advised we could help ourselves to what was left of the breakfast buffet......it was the best breakfast spread we had all trip!!!
We headed out to explore & set off in the direction of Rialto Bridge stopping to browse the shops along the way. It was another hot day & very crowded so after taking our pics we decided to head back. Di, Urs & I decided to do some laundry, boring but necessary as my packing pods were starting to not fit in my bag neatly because of the bulky dirty clothes bags......
We found the laundry on the 'other side' of the canal in a more residential area filled with locals. We worked out the machines & settled into the cafe next door with a cooling bottle of prosecco & some nibblies.
What we thought would be a boring task turned out to be a lovely afternoon sipping wine, chatting & watching the world (of Venetian locals) go by......I think they were more than amused at the crazy foreign washer women drinking prosecco whilst folding the washing Ursula wheeled out to our table!!!
Finally we were done so headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner as we had agreed to meet Gay & Sandra at Piazza San Marco (St Mark's square). We caught the vaporetta (water bus) which was going the long way around the island, so we had the grand tour!!! Amazingly we found the girls relatively easily despite the huge crowds.
A short walk away from San Marco & we came across a nice little ristorante with a gondola stop outside the window.
After dinner we walked back through San Marco to take some pics. Di, Urs & I caught the ferry back & had an early night, much needed after our very early start.
The trip to the airport only took about 35mins instead of 50-60mins we were told to allow.
Flight was uneventful, we landed in Venice & had a quick exit through customs then on our way to find our transport to the hotel.....we splurged a bit on a private water taxi speed boat (Urs's suggestion, she had done it before). It was a really lovely way to travel from the airport & through Venice via the Grand Canal!!!
We were delivered to a feery wharf a very short stroll to our hotel, Abbazia Hotel. It is an old abbey (of the Monastery of Venice's Discalced Carmelite Friars) located in the heart of Venice, which has loads of atmosphere & character. The hotel has a beautiful lush rear private garden where you can enjoy breakfast, drinks on the raised deck or spend your time lounging around on the comfy outdoor furniture. Highly recommend this hotel & will definietly stay there again when I am in Venice (so close to everything).
After dropping our luggage, as it was too early to book in, the concierge advised we could help ourselves to what was left of the breakfast buffet......it was the best breakfast spread we had all trip!!!
We headed out to explore & set off in the direction of Rialto Bridge stopping to browse the shops along the way. It was another hot day & very crowded so after taking our pics we decided to head back. Di, Urs & I decided to do some laundry, boring but necessary as my packing pods were starting to not fit in my bag neatly because of the bulky dirty clothes bags......
We found the laundry on the 'other side' of the canal in a more residential area filled with locals. We worked out the machines & settled into the cafe next door with a cooling bottle of prosecco & some nibblies.
What we thought would be a boring task turned out to be a lovely afternoon sipping wine, chatting & watching the world (of Venetian locals) go by......I think they were more than amused at the crazy foreign washer women drinking prosecco whilst folding the washing Ursula wheeled out to our table!!!
Finally we were done so headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner as we had agreed to meet Gay & Sandra at Piazza San Marco (St Mark's square). We caught the vaporetta (water bus) which was going the long way around the island, so we had the grand tour!!! Amazingly we found the girls relatively easily despite the huge crowds.
A short walk away from San Marco & we came across a nice little ristorante with a gondola stop outside the window.
After dinner we walked back through San Marco to take some pics. Di, Urs & I caught the ferry back & had an early night, much needed after our very early start.
2025-05-22