Water Bussing it in Venice

Locations

See Venice and die, the saying goes. Yes, see Venice and die of old age waiting for your flight at the Marco Polo Airport is the origin of the phrase, I believe. The phrase is actually “See Naples and die”, and the frustration of going through the Venice airport is a hefty but comparatively small price to pay for such a beautiful city – in our case they couldn’t take us to the plane because they ran out of busses. 

The first of many obligatory photos of a gondoliere

We went to the top of San Marco Campanile or St. Mark’s Tower on the main square at sunset on the first night, one of the must-do’s when visiting Venice. 

Sunset from San Marco Campanile Piazza San Marco at Dusk

The city is a labyrinth of narrow walkways and bridges and after one day of almost only walking we figured out the best way to get around is by water bus, water ferry or vaporetto – also known as the poor man’s gondola, as no one calls it. The network is quite extensive like public transport for any other city, and you can get around quite easily for a fair price. 

Inside a Water Bus

You can even use the ferries to go to outlying islands. We went to a group of islands called Murano famous for glassmaking.

A House on the Murano Islands The master at work. What’s it going to be? It’s a horsey!

Back in the city, we saw some of the main attractions around Piazza San Marco, which is gondola-turf as well. 

Gondolas starting near Doge’s Palace

Walking about in the main square and going to the top of the Campanile is nice, but from San Giorgio, a small islet just south of the main attractions, you have the better view of the city and it is less crowded. 

San Giorgio island and church in the distance San Marco Campanile from a different perspective Self-portrait San Giorgio Campanile bell tower View of San Marco and Doge’s Palace from San Giorgio Garden of San Giorgio Statue in San Giorgio Night time, is the right time

I think this post is the longest in terms of the number of photos, I have more I’d like to share, a result of the fact that it’s really hard to take a bad photo in Venice. You almost have too much you’d like to photograph that it’s hard to concentrate. But I made an effort also just to enjoy it and not try to document everything – Christina was patient and supportive the entire time. I still have about 400 photos to go through, and I’m actually thinking of when I can go back…

Self-portrait while waiting for a water bus