Returning to the Milan area i managed to finish early enough to have sufficient daylight to visit Venice, i have long been planning to go there and this time it seemed like it could be done!
After driving for a few hours i arrived in Venice at about 15:00 in the afternoon, giving me plenty of daylight to do a express tour!
Driving across the bridge connecting the islands to the mainland you could start seeing the online of the city, and expectations was building rapidly , but first you need to get rid of your car.. and that was not exactly cheap! I went into a garage that had a minimum charge of 23 Euros for 12 hours, others have a system where you pay for 2 and 2 hours, not knowing how long this would take i took the 12 hour option.
Entering the city is done by Boat – Bus or by foot.. i chose the last one!
I knew where is wanted to end up witch was the Piazza San Marco, but how i was going to get there was not decided yet, a quick search on google earth established that i was roughly 3-4 km away. OK, lets try!
Taking Photos in Venice turned out to be quite difficult, at lest for an amateur with limitations in regards to equipment and knowledge.. capturing the light you actually see on camera is quite difficult, and without the proper gear or technique you will end up with either underexposed architecture or burnt out skies !
The Shops:
The shops in venice offers plenty of venecian artwork and souvenirs, especially glass and carnival masks.
My personal opinion is that cities like Venice should be spared for the numerous shops that sell folding knives – lighters and other rubbish, That does not represent the cultural heritage of the city.
I also went into a Camera Store right in the middle of the city to try to find some ND filters but they were prepared for desperate tourists and had turned up prices so much that the only customers they had were desperate tourists with broken kits!
To be honest i had to check where i was going several times, just walking along with no particular route to follow other that the signs to the Piazza i got lost and walked in circles sometimes but that only adds to the experience. The amount of people around me also gave me and indication if i was moving in the right direction.
And as out of the fog it was there!
Unfortunatly there was some ongoing restoration work on the facade of the St Mark`s church so the picture was a bit amputated.. sorry about that!
I was lucky enough to visit Venice in beautiful sunshine and 20 degrees so the Piazza was humming like a beehive with tourists, but there was one more thing i had planned for my express tour of the famous city in the Adriatic sea…
In the film “The Tourist” from 2010 starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp they used the Hotel Danieli as a backdrop for the film, and about 300 meter from the Piazza i found it, and decided to go in and have a look.. inside there was a porter and i asked him if i could have a look and to my surprise i said yes.. the actual conversation went like this : ” M: Is this the famous Hotel Danieli – the one used the film? Porter: Si!, it is the famous hotel – and I am the famous Porter.
View from the Harbor, the boat back to where i parked the car.
Also here i was the victim of ongoing restoration work.. i wanted to capture the famous stairs used in the film but it was partially covered up by sheets of canvas.
Since it was getting a bit late and i still had about 300km to drive to my hotel i took the boat back to where i parked the car, first i qued to get on the fastest route, then i changed my mind and went on the one with the most stops.. the city skyline going back up the Grande Canal was nothing less of marvelous!
#HotelDanieli,#TheTourist#Venice,#Venezia, #StMarcusSquare,#Italy
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