After a long journey from Greece back to Italy, we arrived at our campsite near Venice late Saturday night. Yesterday we spent the entire day in the beautiful city of Venice. Venice is known for being a floating city which is believed to be slowly sinking. Venice consists of over 100 islands with bridges connecting the islands, it does not have any roads, you can get around on foot or on the canals. Venice was definitely one of the most beautiful places we've visited. The streets were impeccably clean and the palaces that lined the grand canal were spectacular. The small streets of Venice were full with fancy clothing stores and stores selling Venices specialty goods such as Venetian masks, blown glass ornaments, lace and tapestries. There were also plenty of nice Italian restaurants to choose from and crazy pigeons in St Marks square.
We began the day taking the Motoscafi (water taxi) from the campsite to Venice then had a short walking tour where we learnt about the history of Venice and how the city operates today. We then enjoyed a drink and tapas at one of the canals before our tour manager took us to Suso gelato shop where we ate the best gelato there is (according to our tour manager). She was not wrong, the gelato was amazing. I got the Opera which was chocolate and Nutella and also Suso which was a caramel toffee flavour.
We then had a few hours of free time before our Gondola ride. A large group of us set off in search for masks for our masquerade party. It did not take us long to find a nice mask each and then we continued to wander through the shops until we decided it was time to stop for lunch. Being a city built on water, Venice is known for having excellent seafood. A traditional dish in Venice is squid ink pasta, which I knew I had to try. The pasta was good and the ink tasted alright but it didn't really have that much flavour, it was definitely not something to be afraid of. We then wandered some more before meeting up with the group for our Gondola ride.
The Gondola ride was incredibly peaceful and relaxing. It was strange how as soon as we were off the island and onto the canals, the city seemed almost completely still and silent. We cruised through the canals including the most famous Grand Canal before getting back into the hustle and bustle of the streets of Venice. We then had some more free time to get some dinner and another gelato before heading back on the Motoscafi for our masquerade party. So far, all of the Contiki parties have been well organised and a good time. But this party was a little disappointing as it was held at the outdoor bar at the campsite where they turned the music off early and closed the bar early before kicking the entire group out of the bar area. Nevertheless, we still had a good time and also began celebrating another 21st in the group.
This Contiki group is awesome. It was hard to tell at first what the dynamics of the group should be like and whether everyone would get along but we've all hit it off really well and it's so easy to have a conversation with anyone in the group. Furthermore, everyone is always full of positivity and keen to have a really good time. Our tour manager has told us that she's really happy with the group because there hasn't been much drama or fighting and everyone looks out for each other and we always own the dance floor compared to other Contiki groups. We are now up to day 18 of our 29 day tour and despite the fact that the majority of the group (including myself) is battling the dreaded "Contiki cough" everyone is looking forward to plenty more exciting days ahead.
We are now saying Ciao to Italy for good this time and heading to Austria, first stop is Vienna.
Grand canal
Bridge of sighs
We began the day taking the Motoscafi (water taxi) from the campsite to Venice then had a short walking tour where we learnt about the history of Venice and how the city operates today. We then enjoyed a drink and tapas at one of the canals before our tour manager took us to Suso gelato shop where we ate the best gelato there is (according to our tour manager). She was not wrong, the gelato was amazing. I got the Opera which was chocolate and Nutella and also Suso which was a caramel toffee flavour.
We then had a few hours of free time before our Gondola ride. A large group of us set off in search for masks for our masquerade party. It did not take us long to find a nice mask each and then we continued to wander through the shops until we decided it was time to stop for lunch. Being a city built on water, Venice is known for having excellent seafood. A traditional dish in Venice is squid ink pasta, which I knew I had to try. The pasta was good and the ink tasted alright but it didn't really have that much flavour, it was definitely not something to be afraid of. We then wandered some more before meeting up with the group for our Gondola ride.
Tucking into squid ink pasta
The Gondola ride was incredibly peaceful and relaxing. It was strange how as soon as we were off the island and onto the canals, the city seemed almost completely still and silent. We cruised through the canals including the most famous Grand Canal before getting back into the hustle and bustle of the streets of Venice. We then had some more free time to get some dinner and another gelato before heading back on the Motoscafi for our masquerade party. So far, all of the Contiki parties have been well organised and a good time. But this party was a little disappointing as it was held at the outdoor bar at the campsite where they turned the music off early and closed the bar early before kicking the entire group out of the bar area. Nevertheless, we still had a good time and also began celebrating another 21st in the group.
The girls + Bianca enjoying the Gondola ride
St Marks square and Basilica
This Contiki group is awesome. It was hard to tell at first what the dynamics of the group should be like and whether everyone would get along but we've all hit it off really well and it's so easy to have a conversation with anyone in the group. Furthermore, everyone is always full of positivity and keen to have a really good time. Our tour manager has told us that she's really happy with the group because there hasn't been much drama or fighting and everyone looks out for each other and we always own the dance floor compared to other Contiki groups. We are now up to day 18 of our 29 day tour and despite the fact that the majority of the group (including myself) is battling the dreaded "Contiki cough" everyone is looking forward to plenty more exciting days ahead.
We are now saying Ciao to Italy for good this time and heading to Austria, first stop is Vienna.
Palace where George Clooney was married
Mask shop
Sorry you have caught the Contiki cough. You will love Vienna especially the lovely cake shops. We really loved Vienna, stayed there for about 5 days for a conference years ago
ReplyDelete