Incredible Venice

After we visited Athens it was time to head back to Italy.  We took a ferry from Patras, Greece to Venice, Italy.  The ferry crossing was rough and we were all feeling seasick.  Yuk!  But after we arrived what a treat--Venice is so beautiful.

Do you see the water taxi, water ambulance, gondola and the va

Do you know about Venice?  It is a city that doesn't have any roads, it is all built on the water so you travel by boat or by walking on the little streets.  There is a big canal that runs through the centre of Venice.  It is called the Grand Canal.  This canal is busy with all kinds of boats.  There are vaporetto which are water buses.  There are water taxis which are beautiful wooden boats, and there are gondola which are historic, beautiful, old boats that are steered and propelled by a gondolier.  We were lucky enough to travel by all three of those types of boats.  The gondola was my favourite, it is actually asymmetrical which makes it easy for the gondolier to stand on one side at the back of the boat.  The gondolas used to be working boats that carried goods all around Venice.  Now they are just for tourism.  

Gondolas "parked" 

The Grand Canal is lined with all sorts of amazing buildings--most of them were once palaces.  Venice has an incredible history for such a small place.  The bridges that are in the city are beautiful too.  We spent several days just wandering around the city and enjoying its charm.  The hot chocolate and pastries in Venice are so good--we took lots of breaks to try them out at different cafes.  


My daughters are reading a book that takes place in Venice.  It might be a bit challenging, but if you are interested it is called "The Thief Lord" and the author is Cornelia Funke.  

The Rialto Bridge in Venice

We have since moved on from Venice and now we are using a different type of gondola.  Can you guess what we are doing now?????