Today was my last day in Venice but I wasn't flying home until later. Thank goodness for that, as the tide was low today, the sun was out, and I spent a very long, happy morning wandering the streets of Venice, taking photos, and just generally enjoying this most beautiful city!
I left my hotel before 8am, leaving my luggage with the front desk and hoping that the tide was going to behave as it said on the water app - I didn't want to come back to the hotel with my suitcase floating around the foyer!
The first area that I wanted to wander around was in Castello. As I'd walked through there on the way to catch the vaporetto to Burano, I'd noticed some places to come back to, so I went back there in the sunshine to have a closer look.
I had looped around back to the St Mark's area, so I braved the tourist crowds (which weren't that bad) and went to have a look at the Basilica in the glorious sunshine! It was flooding a little bit, but nothing compared to the last few days.
During this time, I noticed that the line for the Basilica was quite small, so I joined the queue. I'd never actually been inside so I thought now was as good a time as any. It was as lovely inside as you would expect from the outside... But there were no photos allowed inside so I have nothing to show you. You'll just have to believe me and go check it out for yourself!
While I was in St Mark's Square, I also decided to go up the Campanile. That's the tall, skinny tower with the greenish top that you might have seen in photos of Venice. It afforded a great view over the city, the canals, the lovely old buildings, and everything that makes Venice what it is!
On the waterfront by St Mark's Square, there were people selling prints and paintings of Venice. I saw one that I totally fell in love with but had no cash on me. So began the hunt for an ATM that worked. Because of the flooding, a lot of them had been rendered useless, as they had shorted out or otherwise been water damaged. I finally found one that was working inside a bank and hurried back to buy the painting - I managed to get it just before a man who was looking through the paintings saw it! Phew!
I wandered around a little more, then went to find somewhere for lunch and pick up my bag. I walked back through the streets to the bus stop at the edge of Venice, before boarding my bus back to the airport and my flight home.
Yes, the flooding had been awful, but the sunny days when it wasn't flooding had been perfect. It was an interesting way to see Venice...
