Venice

We spent 3 nights in Venice in January and figured it would be around the same temperatures as Rome which was a beautiful 17 but boy were we wrong….It got to minus 2 and even forecasted snow ! (which of course didnt happen purely as I have been waiting my whole life to be properly snowed on!) . It was so cold! My middle boy had been awfully sick for the past few days before we arrived and the cold made him so much worse. Buuuttt we still had an amazing time, Venice is such a special place.

Accommodation- We stayed at a Friendly Rental apartment I found online and it was incredible! so spacious , split level 2 bedroom apartment with kitchen 2 bathrooms washing machines and a view onto the canal. We found Venice so confusing when we got there, it was 8pm freezing raining and our water taxi dumped us in the wrong spot. ! After a whole day travelling on the train we were tired starving and cold and just wanted our apartment . Lucky for google maps we found our way down more dark alleys to our beautiful apartment. My daughter was actually quite nervous when we arrived as its such a different city, lots of narrow dark  alleyways and was eerily quiet. Once we woke up we awoke to the Venice we had seen in brochures !

 

SIGHTSEEING – We walked around almost the whole of Venice in 2 days. We did the main spots like St Marks Square, Piazza San Marco, grand canal , Rialto Bridge then spent the rest of the time wandering around, shopping, stopping for coffee and pasta and being tourists.

BURANO & MURANO ISLAND- We took a boat to the Islands of Murano and Burano. Murano Island is famous for its glass blowing factories. We went and watched a demonstration which the kids thought was amazing. Then we headed to Burano Island which is known for its colourful little buildings which are so pretty. It was incredibly cold that day, below 0 so we didn’t stay too long , just a quick look around and lunch then headed back. But both islands I think are worth a visit.

FOOD – The food in Venice was amazing – I became a tad obsessed with prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella cheese, yummm. The prices were fairly average and there are lots of options – a lot of pizza and pasta of course but all really nice restaurants. There are also plenty of little grocery stores where you can get everything from fruit veges to laundry powder.

We never got around to going on a Gondola Ride purely because we were absolutely freezing but maybe one day we will head back in Summer 🙂