La Serenissima

Venice, a city of water, well known for her canals and canals and canals.

The city is practically floating on water and during summer, these can be annoying especially the smell. But hey, smell or no smell, she's one must visit city in Italy besides Rome although you might see more tourists that locals.

I had a chance to fufill my dream of visiting this place when I was backpacking around Europe in 2008 after my business trip in London. Yea, I know, this was two years ago but I guess, good and significant memories do retain and photos can help much in detailing a story. At that time I still had my old camera, actually it's my bro's old ancient Canon camera and so all photos credit to him.

We left for Venice from Florence in the early morning and decided to take the slow train (Trenitalia) instead of the fast train because of an incident in Rome to Florence which I shall write in my Florence travelogue. We alight at St. Lucia train station and find our way to the hotel which was very very expensive. In fact everything in Venice is expensive.

first sight of canals


no, there no wedding, it's just the deco





water taxis, the main transportation mode here

the main canal


gondoliers fishing for riders






plenty of bridges at Venice

Oh btw, if you had visited Venetian hotel before, Venice is nothing like that. Venice is best explore slowly and getting lost along the way. If you are not lost, you are definitely not enjoying Venice to the max. Leave the map at the hotel and just follow your instinct and of course the crowd. At least that's how we managed to navigate our way to St Mark's basilica and back to the hotel :)

And yea we were lost many times but during these times, we found little gems around corners such as the less expensive magnets as souvenirs. They were a must buy and it's only found in Venice. I regretted not getting myself a Venetian mask due to the logistic problem. Venice was the third pit stop and we had like 10 more cities before heading back to London. Dont think I can carry a fragile mask that far.

St. Mark basilica

little girl playing with pigeons








climb the clock tower for the panaromic view of the square


Venetian masks, aplenty in Venice

For food, try out the famous black ink squid pasta. I wont disclose how it taste like here.

black ink pasta

And for those couples who fancy a ride in the gondola, go for it. I didnt go the last time as money was tight plus there nothing romantic riding a gondola with you bro though. Oh, dont expect the gondolier will sing for you. It only happens in Venetian hotel.

the bridge used to be a prison














St. Lucia train station @night





quiet night after the tourist crowd subsided