Venice

Well gentle reader - first an apology. I've been very lazy this year and have got terribly behind with my blogging. I'm going to try hard to catch up in the next few days.

We entered the lagoon at Chioggia far too early to find a berth so we decided to press on to venice. The early morning run across the lagoon just under the barrier islands was beautiful and after a couple hours, Venice itself came into view.Coming into Venice on our own yacht was a real thrill if a little hair-raising. We went in as close as we dared to Piazza San Marco then turned to starboard and skirted the city up to the military area of the Arsenale. There is nowhere that a small yacht can land so we dawdled through small channels to Burano.

Our initial plan was to anchor near It and then dinghy in each day and take the Vaporetto into the city. It didn't work! We got away with it the first night but the wash of passing boats made it uncomfortable, it was exposed to wind and tide with only mediocre holding. I wouldn't have been happy to leave the boat even if it wasn't illegal and there was somewhere good to leave the dinghy on Burano - neither of which were true. We tried to anchor behind Torcello and ran aground big-time a rarity for us. Took us two hours and a rising tide to kedge ourselves off. 

Despair set in after the first night as we thought our long slog from Crete was going to be for nothing.  We couldn't afford more than a week at the sort of prices we had seen for the very small number of available marinas. 

Marina Vento di Venezia to the rescue! We called them in desperation expecting a huge price but they did us a great deal and only charged us €530 for a month. We also got Vaporetto tickets for a month for only €30 plus a card that lasts 5 years and costs €40. The marina is quiet and peaceful, the staff are friendly the laundrette is excellent and the vaporetto connection to the city is fast and frequent. It is a long walk from the Vaporetto jetty to the boat but you get used to it. Lucifer loved it as he was allowed free reign in the woods all day, chasing lizards, terrorising the local cat population and the occasional small dog. He came to an armed truce with the golden lab who lived on a small boat at the root of the pontoon.

With a whole month to play with, we could take our time getting to know the city and finding many of its quirkier spots and eateries. We could also take our time on the major sights, doing just one in a day so we approached each one afresh. The city is so amazing that it is difficult to pick out the highlights but here are just a few...

Just wandering around and seeing beautiful little cameos everywhere

The Arsenale - at its peak completing more than 1 ship per day

The trip down the Grand Canal at the front of Vaporetto line 1 or 2

The Rialto area

 * The view from the campanile of St. Georgio Magiore,

The view from the campanile of St. Georgio Maggiore

The church of St. Zaccaria where Vivaldi did much of his work

And the great man himself

Beautiful little Burano

Our son and his fiancé joined us for the last few days and we left the heavy sight seeing until then - Doge's palace, Basilica San Marco, etc. 

With some regret we left the marina and headed out to sea in the direction of Trieste passing a huge floating block of flats bringing 1000s more tourists into the city.