Venice, 25 - 31 July

Our first impression of the city was from a vaporetto, the ferry, from the airport to San Marco square – byzantine rotundas interspersed with beautiful palazzos along the water’s edge. We stayed  in an apartment with Ros and Phil, my sister and brother-in-law.  It is a 2 bedroomed villa apartment tucked in behind the cathedral. It is extremely quiet and very convenient. Despite being peak tourist season and reasonably warm, we have loved our time here. The main advice given to us was to walk, explore and get lost. This has proved to be just perfect for us as we ooh and aah at the architecture, myriads of bridges and the life up and down the canals, especially the plethora of gondolas – and sometime opera-singing to the passengers with accordion accompaniment.

View from the Bridge of Sighs to the Venetian lagoon

It certainly has been excellent training for the commencement of our walk next week - blisters included. (Already I’m reassuring myself that it’s my strong mind and spirit that will help me survive the prospective 2,000 kms we plan to walk in the next few months – not my ageing body with my renegade feet!) We did attend mass at St Mark’s on Sunday morning to give us an added advantage before we start walking.

The Canal Grande

We have been so impressed with the locals’ friendly and patient attitude to the hordes of tourists, particularly in restaurants and cafes.(Too many delicious meals and snacks to mention – gorgeous fruit!) Phil has assured that we have sampled the best of food and drink of the area, often in the smallest of cafes with vine-covered courtyards, but also including Harry’s American Bar (a haunt of Ernest Hemingway) and Caffe Florian (established in 1720). I’m waxing lyrical as everyone has before us – can’t help it.

Rio di Palazzo towards the Ponte dei Sospiri the Bridge of Sighs)

We spent an afternoon on Lido at the beach which stretches along the eastern side of the island.  Thousands of holiday makers squeezed on to the (hot) sand. Phil bemused the locals in his miniscule speedos. It was great to have a swim and experience another aspect of life on the Mediterranean. On our last night, after an afternoon exploring the Jewish Quarter, we had a tranquil gondola ride along the canals to the Rialto where we attended a program of light arias by a local opera group. A perfect few days…such a relief to escape the Canberra winter to a summer paradise.

Our gondoliere-friend, Christian, shows us the sights

We’ve caught up with a few events of the Olympics but as far as this network is concerned only Italy is winning medals – I can’t imagine Australia being so one-eyed – not!

Tomorrow we are taking our packs and blisters off to England.