Day 4 Venice – Today was my last day in Venice and it was also the best.

It started early up at 5am and the great thing about that was I had St Mark’s Square all to myself.  That meant I could get some good wide shots without any people in them.  It also gave me the opportunity to just take in the beautiful designs on the buildings and think about the history that was attached to them.  As the sun came up it gave everything a subtle glow.  Such a contrast between when the place is full of tourists and when it is empty.  I’ll take the empty option anyday.

After that I headed back to my hotel for breakfast.  I put down the camera, went and bought myself a one day vaporetto (ferry) pass and just went  around all of Venice exploring.  I took on the attitude of if I see any ferry (and it’s not on its side) just jump aboard and go where it takes me.  I strolled through different areas including fresh fruit and fish markets, the old Jewish settlement area and basically anywhere I felt like stopping.  Was great fun.

In the evening I went for a 1 hour gondola ride around the central canals.  Got some great wide angle shots.  It was the perfect way to end my time here in Venice.

* Please note – if you ever want to have some fun in Venice, just hold a flag on a stick and walk through St Mark’s Square.  You’ll find by the time you get to the other end you’ll have a hundred tourists following you.

Day 3 Venice –  Today was the best day I have had with the camera in Venice.  I stumbled upon this pretty cool spot where they keep all the gondolas overnight.  Captured some pretty good angles and had no one around to bother me as it was early.

Then I headed off to the small island of Burano about 40 mins out of San Marco.  This place was amazing!  It had bright multi coloured houses and buildings which made for some great shots.  Accompanied by beautiful little gardens everywhere Burano seemed surreal.  Like a little paradise away from everything.

Night shots tonight, hopefully capture some creative canal shots.

Day 2 Venice – Today was slightly better as it was not as crowded in Venice like yesterday.  I started off by getting away from the main area and headed to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.  I went into the church there which was pretty impressive and took the lift to the belfry.  From there you can get 360 degree views of Venice, got some great shots and panoramas.

After that I headed back to the main island where I saw colourful street characters and learnt that it is best to avoid the area around St Mark’s Square.  It is a tourist mecca filled to the brim with Japanese and Amercian tourists/groups and Sudanese hockers with their authentic Versace $10 bags!  So I headed west and that is where I saw a more “truer” interpretation of Venice.  This is where the locals live, no tourists, just people going about their business hanging out washing and going to work.  This is where I got better shots of canals and dwellings.

Funniest thing I saw today was when I was coming back to my hotel late in the afternoon through St Mark’s Square.  There are a LOT of pidgeons there.  A man was feeding a heap of them from both hands.  Smiling away, he had pideons on his head, shoulders, hands and arms.  His wife snapping off pics as fast as she could.  Like in unison the pidgeons counted 1,2,3 – DUMP!  All down his back and neck.

Day 1 Venice –  It’s ok I won’t hit you with any, “who left the tap running” jokes.  I have arrived in Venice.  Had a good trip from Lake Como but was sad to say good bye to Jennine and Luca.  The train journey was quite good and I got to take in a lot of the Italian countryside.  Unfortunately it appears I timed my run into Venice at the same time there was some rowing regatta on with hundreds of rowers choking the canals.  This of course threw the transport system into chaos and it did take some time to get to my hotel.  The ferry was so packed I thought the next stop was Christmas Island!

I have ventured around Venice this afternoon.  So have only scraped the surface of what it has to offer.  Today being Sunday there were quite a lot of tourists (in fact thousands) around which made the feel of the place quite tacky.  More like Disneyland or Wally World with gondola rides and stereotypical “o sole mio” singing operators.  But I will go adventuring none the less and try to get away from the crowds into quieter areas for some shots. I have asked the locals here about some locations and they have advised me of some good “out of the way” areas.  Shall go see those tomorrow.