First full day in Venice and we decided to just go explore - I was keen to "get lost" in Venice, after reading The Londoner blog - who said "You haven't truly been to Venice unless you've got lost in Venice" - we are hoping to go to a restaurant recommended by Rosie too - on Burano Island, we went to a restaurant she had been to in Santorini and it was amazing - just like she'd said - so I'm sure this one will be just as fabulous.

 We bought a 3-day ticket for the Vaporetto (can't remember how much it cost) - you can get a water taxi or, of course, a gondola, but we really weren't too fussed about spending £80 for half hour in a gondola - we bought the 3-day one as although we wanted to do lots of walking we did also want to go to other islands.  The Vaporetto was great, sometimes really busy but it was fine.  We took our first trip and the first stop was the Rialto Bridge.  I have to say that I had read a lot of blogs and was quite worried that Venice was going to be so crowded (and smelly) but although there were loads of tourists it never felt overcrowded - and definitely not smelly.  As you can see from the picture below of the Rialto Bridge there was plenty of room - again I was surprised after being warned that we would have to be pushing our way through to get a selfie on the bridge!

 The obligatory selfie on the Rialto Bridge

Wow - I absolutely love Venice - it's amazing - I've wanted to come here for so long and it's everything I hoped it would be - and we only arrived yesterday

 Lunchtime!  I'd found a cafe on TripAdvisor (also on Facebook if you want to have a look) that served local street food and was highly recommended called La Bottiglia, so off we went in search of it.  It was amazing - they will make up a sandwich for you - loads to choose from - or we decided on a plate of ham and cheese - accompanied by a beer (or two) and a bottle of white! Oh - and an Aperol Spritz (Campari Spritz for Paul) - can't get enough of these.   I can't recommended it enough - lovely people and great to sit outside and watch the world go by.

 Fab - lunch done - time to wander again - we definitely succeeded in getting lost once or twice  but it really didn't matter - that's all part of the enjoyment.

We weren't planning on going to St Marks Square but we literally stumbled across it - again - wow.  Going to come back here tomorrow.

Bridge of Sighs

 It's so hard to choose photos to put on here - think I must have taken thousands!!  Everywhere is just so beautiful - especially my husband!!!!  Hahaha - love him - he wasn't  as bothered about coming to Venice as me but he absolutely loves it.

Few pics taken from on the Vaporetto -

We had planned on going back to the hotel but time was getting on and we found a restaurant recommended to us by our gorgeous niece called Cantina do Spade - that's the name of the restaurant - not my niece!!  We should have booked a table - but they said we could return in about an hour and pointed out a little bar nearby that is mainly frequented by the locals - so off we went - time for another Aperol/Campari spritz - would be rude not to.

 Love this little bar - I think this may be our regular!

Anyway back to the restaurant - it was amazing - we had seafood - now I do like fish but I'm not very adventurous - but tonight I had stuffed squid (my daughter will not believe it!) and all sorts of other seafood - and I loved every bit of it!  The service was fantastic, lovely atmosphere - another restaurant I would highly recommend.

Look at that bad boy!

Had such an amazing day - tiring - we've walked miles - but brilliant.  Off back to our lovely little hotel now - which also has a nice little rooftop terrace

View from our rooftop terrace

Thanks for looking at my blog xx