Vibrant, Venerable Venice

I hadn't been to Venice since I was seven when I can just about remember eating ice creams in St Mark's Square and a Gondola ride. I'd always wanted to visit again as an adult, but Bro didn't really want to go having been three times already, so he was on dog sitting duties while a friend and I had two nights away.

One of our lovely tour operators treated us to a suite upgrade complete with champagne on ice, at our hotel the lovely Londra Palace, two minutes from St Mark's Square. After an early flight, we had a very James Bond style private water taxi arrival (again, courtesy of said tour operator), dropped our bags off and spent the afternoon wandering all through the main and back streets, loving all the little artisan shops. That evening we enjoyed a complimentary three course dinner courtesy of the hotel this time, which was absolutely delicious.

The next day we took the hotel's courtesy water taxi to Murano to visit the glass factory and wandered the tiny streets browsing the glass shops (yes, I did buy a couple of pieces!) then it was on to Burano, famous for its lace and brightly coloured houses, where we enjoyed an al fresco lunch and a glass of chilled, crisp Italian wine.

That afternoon was spent in the Doge's Palace (we had free tickets as part of our little package) which was stunning, but I found the prison more interesting; crossing the Bridge of Sighs and roaming the dark, narrow passages and peering into all the cells was fascinating.

On our final day we took a water bus the full length of the Grand Canal to the fruit and fish markets and walked all the way back to St Mark's Square, where we joined a pre-booked tour, a lovely generous present from my friend, to go into the secret passages and hidden parts of the Doge's Palace which was amazing!

We visited the medieval prison, the torture room, went up into the roof, saw Casanova's cell and heard all about his escape (I have subsequently read his book which I would thoroughly recommend) and explored the secret passages leading from the prison and the administrative offices to the grand rooms of the palace, where we literally popped out of a cupboard at the end of the tour. We loved it!!

Venice is so beautiful, so unique and so precious and I'm so pleased and thankful to have been able to visit again.