Venice 2023

A last minute decision when browsing the EasyJet ‘inspire me’ options was to go to Venice for 3 days.  The journey involved a short flight from Bristol airport (which is only 15 minutes from my home,) a waterbus transfer after landing in Venice, and very necessary step by step directions from the AirBnB host, as without doubt, everyone gets lost there!  There is also no doubt that Venice gets VERY crowded in the main tourist areas, but it is not hard to get away from those and wander the streets at leisure.   Sat Nav does not work due to the high buildings and narrow streets, so it really is a case of following your nose and ascertaining your location occasionally when in an open square.

Even if you can see where you want to head for, you have to zigzag your way there, due to all the canals ‘getting in the way’ 🙂

There are many interesting door knockers/handles/bells on houses, with lions definitely being the most popular.

Venice can be described as ‘shabby chic’.  The peeling paint and rough walls have a certain appeal there!

I liked the fact that the drinking water is safe there, and there are water fountains all over Venice where you can refill your water bottle.  The middle bottom image below is just one of them.

I mostly prefer colour photos, but this grand old building benefitted from the B&W treatment.

This tower really was leaning at quite an angle!

Away from the tourist areas many homes had washing hanging above the streets.

I’m always drawn to photographing doors and windows.

The Grand Canal is a busy waterway.

Getting lost and exploring is the best way of experiencing Venice.  You can find many lovely places. Despite what many people’s idea of Venice is, it is not smelly or dirty.  An army of street sweepers work in the early mornings and do a very good job of keeping the litter down.  The only big negative and surprise for me was the amount of people who are smokers 🙁

Although I’ve been to Venice before, I had never visited the colourful island of Burano and it was definitely worth the ferry ride.

Despite having a very early start to come home the following morning, I was keen to photograph the ‘blue hour’, and was pleased with my images.  Here’s that leaning tower again:)

3 whole days in Venice was just the right amount of time.  The sun shone every day which was a bonus as it had been so grey and rainy in England. I’m off to Vietnam next weekend!