Morning when I first arrived to Venice, I forgot to buy a Pass for water taxi (vaporetti), then when the long walk with a heavy camera bag had tired me, especially under the unexpected northern heat...I almost gave up...until one visitor from France kindly remind "why don't you get a Pass", I was in hurry to look for the kiosk where I could get it. I got 2 day Pass as I thought I might come back next day, but in fact I decided not to. Anyway with the Pass, you can take any water taxi to any stops along the Grand Canal - the most famous, most busy part of Venice and even to further island like Murano.
You may notice the big crowd on the bridge in the photo. In order to get a shot, standing on this bridge, I had to queue in, to move slowly steps by steps until I got a good place where I was able to take some photos, but just for a moment, I kept moving as someone always waiting behind me, to take over my place. I even saw how people did their selfie photo with their baby's pram risen up to their chest.
Venice is surely the only largest free-car city in Europe where you can either walk or get a boat, no any cars, trucks or motorbikes. The boats responsible for everything: tourist, wedding, funeral, goods carriage..
To get an hour ride on this traditional gondola, with a fancy velvet seat, good looking gondolier, especially if he could sing a traditional love song in Venetian dialect, the damage will be between 80-90 Euro. It's quite a lot, compare to my 60 Euro to get a Mercedes van in Blois for a whole day or 79 Euro for 9-hour tour in Nice, so I even didn't think about it.
It would be not fair if I didn't mention about the Venetian masks. Everywhere. All prices - from 15 Euro, right on the street or expensive hundreds of Euro in the luxury shops, like the one in the photo. The Venetian masks have a hundred-year tradition when people worn during the Carnival, to hide their identity, social status, in order to act more freely. I used to dream to get one, but I'm sure my current travel will definitely damage it, so better not!
Later in the afternoon, when my legs were almost betrayed me, I got a Pass and spent most time sitting in the water taxi, I stopped at every stations, even went to another island in Venetian Lagoon - Murano, famous for their glass products.
Almost lunch time - there was not many restaurants in Murano, but it would be a smart choice to have a good meal here, next to the canal in quiet atmosphere, absolutely no crowds around, lovely sunshine, gentle lagoon breeze...the feeling was way better than in Venice where I had a salmon salad in a tiny eatery, my seat was not far from the restroom...and I remembered the incident happened to me there, a sudden power blackout, I was in total darkness, stuck in the restroom for few seconds until someone opened the door from the outside.
Murano was so quiet in the afternoon - I met only visitors walking along the canal, but in some park, like backyard, behind the buildings - absolutely no soul, the clothes in the photo, probably, the only sign telling me people really living here.
I felt a bit boring in Murano, so I decided to go back to Venice, it around 15-20' ride on the water taxi due to several stops along the way, and waiting for people in and out. I got a very good seat, right in front of the boat. Time to sit back, I did enjoy the ride and the sunset in Venice, but it was a bit windy, I felt not really well, luckily it was quickly over.
The sun sat down, the last sunbeam gradually disappeared behind the horizon, most people probably rushed back home, the atmosphere in the lagoon seemed deserted and it made me feel a bit of tiredness, a bit of sadness...after a whole day of wandering around Venice and Murano. In that moment, I realised that I didn't want to go back here tomorrow. I don't know why!
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