VINO IN VENICE

Venice, the city of romance, canals, gondola's and ...pigeons.

Yep, you read that right, Venice has had colonies of pigeons form in the city but that didn't stop us jumping on a train and visiting for the day. We were both lucky enough to have visited Venice before, so we knew we were in for a treat.

Arriving around 9AM, food was first on the agenda. Venice has so many beautiful cafe's hidden amongst the winding streets, but navigating your way can be a challenge. We found a nice spot but beware, Venice is NOT cheap. If you want to save some £££ it can be done though, with lots of market stalls selling large pizza slices which can be bought for a lunch on the go.

Having savoured the Venetian coffee, we made our way to the Rialto bridge. If you've read my blog on Florence, you'll know we found a bustling bridge there too (who knew Italy had so many)! As you'd expect, people were out en mass taking pictures of the canal that Rialto stretches over. It is a sensational viewing point so we were off to a good start!

We continued on to St. Mark's Square because you can't go to Venice and not stop by this infamous piazza. There were multiple shops boasting intricately designed masks, from tasteful creations to green frogs! It is quite a sight, seeing the scary and sublime all in one window. There were also people dressed up and wearing these masks on the street which was a sight. One boy in St Marks Square looked like something out of The Purge!

Caffe Florian caught our eye in the very corner of the square but we'd have had to consider remortgaging the house to pay for a cup of tea here. Instead, we were quite content taking in the Campanile whilst one of the cafe's orchestras played in the background. It was an extremely crowded area (Venice is a tourist hotspot after all) so we then decided to do something a bit different... go to the beach!

When Venice comes up in conversation, people rarely talk about the beach. In fact, I don't think many people even know about the beach but rest assured, there are sandy plains and white foamy tides just a boat ride away. We boarded the water taxi to the Lido and within ten minutes we were barefoot on the coast. It was a very windy day so the sea was too wild for a swim but it was lovely to be on a beach all the same. The whole area here is a real hidden gem and so worth visiting. In a matter or minutes it felt as though we'd been transported from Venice to a costal town is Spain.

We ordered pizzas at a restaurant and guzzled them down (the wine from the day before had made us a little hungover but these were some first class carbs which clearly rectified that)! Our post lunch activity was definitely a highlight of the entire trip. When walking the length of this narrow Venetian island, something had caught our eye - tandem bikes. The two seats situated side by side where hugely comical and had our names written all over them. It was only €8 for an hour and with the island being small we didn't need any longer than that. We cycled past the Venice Film Festival venue and the Hotel Excelsior, both spectacular buildings. There was a large marble expanse which we managed to get the bike on to and then zoom along at what felt like breakneck speed but was probably only 5mph.

After our excursion, we were ready to hop back on to the water taxi and be taken back through the Venetian canals to the train station. The water taxi is an inspired mode of transport as it lets you see the beauty of the city in its entirety. Immense buildings rising from the water as if they had been grown from the seabed and the sun setting made floating along the sea all the more magical and a great way to spend our final hour. If you are ever contemplating getting a gondola, I would highly recommend saving your money and boarding the water taxi instead.

We got to the station with ten minutes to spare and shortly after set off for Bologna, having had another jam packed but wonderful day in a gorgeous Italian city.

Top Attractions

• Rialto Bridge

• St Mark's Square & Campanile

• Any mask shop (you won't struggle to find one)

• Water Taxi

• The Lido (beach)

**We used Trainline to get our tickets and chose a 2 hour train which was only £11.50 each way (bargain)!