Escaping from our Innsbruck experience we arrived in Venezia (Venice) in the early evening. The actual city is composed of over a hundred fairly small islands clustered so close that the space in between the land makes up the canal system. This means that most of the canals run in wavering directions, nothing like the grid waterways that are in Amsterdam, making it very hard to navigate. The hotel we had booked was actually on one of the islands, Lido, that had a few hundred meters of water (a lagoon) between it and the rest of the city. So one side of this skinny island faced the city and one side faced the Adriatic Sea. The beaches that are on the sea side is why we wanted to stay here, we were in need of some relaxation days. Anyways, back to our arrival, when we exited the train station we found a ticket stand and got one way passes for ourselves and luggage aboard the main form of transportation here, a vaporetto, or water bus. There were a lot of buses boarding and leaving from the same dock, so we looked for our route and joined the crowd. On our way around the canals, very few cars were to be seen, all of the "taxis" were small boats. Since the ride had go throughout the city, then out across the lagoon, we were on the water bus for about 45 minutes and it turned out to be a good overall tour of Venezia. Once we landed in Lido, we looked up and our hotel was right in front of us. After checking in we were both quite exhausted so we grabbed a quick bit at a close pizzeria and headed off to bed. The next morning is what we had been waiting for and when we had gotten our hotel Italian breakfast (which is very similar to the rest of Europe-only more sweets) we headed across the island towards the beaches. Lido is a long island with 10 miles or so of beach front, but from one side of the island to the other in width it was a quick walk, only about a 1/2 mile. With 10 miles of beach front we had quite a few decisions on where we wanted to go, most of the beaches are private, though, a few are public. We had picked up a couple straw mats to layout on and we headed to the nearest public beach. The main difference we found with the private beaches is that no one was actual on the sand. Lounge chairs, couches and even beds, with a hefty cost to use, lined the private beaches. The public ones were free to enter and surprisingly not that crowded. We found a spot on the sand, which was the hottest sand I had ever felt, and spent the day relaxing in the sun. We spent quite a bit of time in the refreshing water also. Which was beautiful to look out upon, the water was calm compared to what we see in the ocean or gulfs back home. Only a few tiny waves lapped onto the beach. It was also strange to look away from the water and only see trees and parks instead of hotels and condos, which weren't allowed along the sea front. The beach was great although we left with something extra, two terrible sunburns!! As the afternoon wrapped up we headed back to the hotel to clean up and then headed out to a modern little Italian bar and cafe. Where we had homemade lasagna and pizza, and of course we had to end the night with some creamy gelato. It was a fantastic way to spend the 4th of July!!
Escaping from our Innsbruck experience we arrived in Venezia (Venice) in the early evening. The actual city is composed of over a hundred fairly small islands clustered so close that the space in between the land makes up the canal system. This means that most of the canals run in wavering directions, nothing like the grid waterways that are in Amsterdam, making it very hard to navigate. The hotel we had booked was actually on one of the islands, Lido, that had a few hundred meters of water (a lagoon) between it and the rest of the city. So one side of this skinny island faced the city and one side faced the Adriatic Sea. The beaches that are on the sea side is why we wanted to stay here, we were in need of some relaxation days. Anyways, back to our arrival, when we exited the train station we found a ticket stand and got one way passes for ourselves and luggage aboard the main form of transportation here, a vaporetto, or water bus. There were a lot of buses boarding and leaving from the same dock, so we looked for our route and joined the crowd. On our way around the canals, very few cars were to be seen, all of the "taxis" were small boats. Since the ride had go throughout the city, then out across the lagoon, we were on the water bus for about 45 minutes and it turned out to be a good overall tour of Venezia. Once we landed in Lido, we looked up and our hotel was right in front of us. After checking in we were both quite exhausted so we grabbed a quick bit at a close pizzeria and headed off to bed. The next morning is what we had been waiting for and when we had gotten our hotel Italian breakfast (which is very similar to the rest of Europe-only more sweets) we headed across the island towards the beaches. Lido is a long island with 10 miles or so of beach front, but from one side of the island to the other in width it was a quick walk, only about a 1/2 mile. With 10 miles of beach front we had quite a few decisions on where we wanted to go, most of the beaches are private, though, a few are public. We had picked up a couple straw mats to layout on and we headed to the nearest public beach. The main difference we found with the private beaches is that no one was actual on the sand. Lounge chairs, couches and even beds, with a hefty cost to use, lined the private beaches. The public ones were free to enter and surprisingly not that crowded. We found a spot on the sand, which was the hottest sand I had ever felt, and spent the day relaxing in the sun. We spent quite a bit of time in the refreshing water also. Which was beautiful to look out upon, the water was calm compared to what we see in the ocean or gulfs back home. Only a few tiny waves lapped onto the beach. It was also strange to look away from the water and only see trees and parks instead of hotels and condos, which weren't allowed along the sea front. The beach was great although we left with something extra, two terrible sunburns!! As the afternoon wrapped up we headed back to the hotel to clean up and then headed out to a modern little Italian bar and cafe. Where we had homemade lasagna and pizza, and of course we had to end the night with some creamy gelato. It was a fantastic way to spend the 4th of July!!
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