Venice Day Two

Today we only had until 2pm as the ship was sailing mid afternoon. We made an early start by walking back to the Vaporetto and catching a ride to Rialto. From here we walked wherever our nose took us. Firstly we found the markets were the fruit, meat and fish vendors were setting up. Highlights here were a 48kg swordfish, and a shop which I am guessing sells horse meat products.

Next we went down some quiet back streets, some of them very narrow, and watched the locals get ready for work and open their shops. We encountered a small bakery and coffee shop which was packed with people. It seems customers would order their coffee, and drink it standing at the counter before leaving. Others would be passing money over their shoulders. It seemed popular so we shared a hot chocolate and some treats to take away for later.

As we continued our walk we kept running into a guided tour group on foot, which gave us comfort we were on an interesting route. Eventually we found our way back to the Grand Canal not too far from where we started. We sat for an hour or so on the side of the canal, watching the world go by, and we managed to see all of Police, Fire and Ambulance boats go past.

We crossed the Rialto Bridge and walked for miles getting close again to St Marco Square, and by now time was becoming important to us. We walked back toward the Rialto Bridge but became disoriented and I ended up asking a local for directions. 15 minutes later, we were safely aboard a Vaporetto to get us back to our ship. It was full of people and we were lucky to get seats.

Once back on land we found a supermarket where we stocked up on drinks for our cabin, then wandered back to the ship with an hour to spare.

Venice continues to surprise and there are still areas remaining to explore should we return again.