Traveling to Venice & More ~ Italy Day 8

We were up early this morning so we could be on the road by 8am, to get to the Venice airport by noon to return our rental car and then go to Venice for 1 1/2 days. Venice was never really on our radar, but sine we are flying out of it, we figured we'd spend a day here and check it out. 

We enjoyed a final breakfast at the B&B in Selva Val Gardena and drove the near 4-hours to the Venice airport. Good thing Brad took a ton of photos of the rental car when we picked it up, as when the guy who took the car back commented on a scratch on the front he said wasn't there at pick-up.  Au contraire our unfriendly car-return-guy, we have proof. Brad showed him the photos, and that was that. 

We decided to take a private water taxi from the airport to Venice. It was not an inexpensive mode of transportation (150€), but we struggled to figure out another way to go that did not take a long time. It was an AMAZING way to see Venice for the first time and we are thrilled that it worked out that way. 

Here are some of the water taxis leaving the airport....

View of the water taxi docks from the water taxi....

It was a pretty rough ride at first - over the open water, but then as we approached Venice, it was a bit calmer. We had no idea of our route, but we ended up coming in via the Grand Canal. It was fascinating to see the water - literally - to the buildings. We just don't get how everything is still standing......

The Rialto Bridge

Eventually we turned onto a smaller canal....

Then an even smaller canal......

....where we were dropped off. The water level was high, so it was a big step off the boat onto dry land. 

The ride was about 30-minutes and as with much on this trip - just beyond words - super, super cool. [As a matter of fact, a gondola ride was the one thing we (really, Suzanne)  wanted to do, but after the private water taxi ride, it was no longer of interest.  The water taxi covered way more area than a 30-minute, 90€ gondola ride every could. Plus, and this is no exaggeration, we never saw one person smiling during a gondola ride - they all seemed sort of bored.]

We found our hotel (another B&B, about a minute walk from our drop-off point) and the front desk woman, Monica, was a plethora of information. She asked us some questions about our interests (walking, no museums,  few people, good food) and gave us ideas of where to go/eat/see. She also warned us about the pick-pockets: here in Venice the pick-pockets are young, attractive women, so unassuming and one doesn't feel threatened when they get close - so that was interesting.  The room is tiny - but for two nights, it'll do.

Then we went out and walked the streets, canals, and bridges of Venice. So, so many photo opportunities....

We had a late lunch and called it a night pretty early. Tomorrow is predicted  to have thunder storms in the afternoon, so we plan to be out on the early side.