A knock on the door at 8am brought breakfast to us in the room and we met Annalisa for the first time.

Good coffee and various Italian breakfast bits were consumed and then we set off out to explore the watery wonderland of Venice.

A 10 minute stroll brought us to St. Mark’s square which was fairly quiet but had a good crowd of pigeons already looking for tourists.

The Basilica is partially scaffolded, as usual, which prevents a decent photo from being taken so I improvised somewhat.

Continuing on to the front along the Grand Canal, we stopped on the Bridge of Sighs and then checked out each of the waterfront bars and restaurants that we passed, eventually grabbing a seat at Bella Vista, a simple bar at the base of one of the bridges.

Sat here, we waited for the mist to disperse and enjoyed a drink, whilst people watching and commenting on the multitude of fashions passing us by.

Strolling randomly through the back streets we passed a non-descript restaurant that appeared to have a garden at the back. It was, surprisingly, called Gardienette (or similar). It also had spider crab on the menu, so in we marched.

We acquired a table in a lovely courtyard garden setting and proceeded to order lots of seafood-based goodness.

The food was sensational, the company wonderful and I would happily repeat the experience any time.

After lunch we decided to find the Rialto Bridge, a famous landmark crossing the Grand Canal.

We found it easily enough and enjoyed the views while crossing it. The battery on the camera decided to die at this point.

Just One Cornetto

From the fish market we then took a gondola across the canal and caught a vaporetto (water taxi) along the canal back to El Giglio and wandered back to one of the squares where I enjoyed a couple of 1 litre beers while we watched the crowds throng past.

Off to Taverna Maurizio again for dinner which was once again gorgeous, then my lovely wife shepherded me back to our room and put me to bed.