The Sinking City - VENICE

We arrived in Venice for a long weekend away as a graduation gift from Ray to Alex. We didn't have a clue of what to expect other than it was the sinking city and we most certainly wanted to go on a Gondala.

Landing in the airport made us realise we really should of done our research we walked outside to be greeted by a queue of people waiting for a taxi boat queue......Yes there are hardly any roads and you have to get a boat taxi to your hotel. This just made the weekend even more interesting and a experience we wouldnt forget.

Our first day (very tired after being awake since 2am for our flight) we decided to do a little exploring around the main square and side streets. Every road or path you walk down was just more colourful and interesting buildings as well as beautiful canals. You can even look on the walls to see how high the water actually comes some days (definately the sinking city) but I must warn you now YOU WILL GET LOST IN VENICE! Every street looks the same as another but all more interesting than the last.

If your someone that worrys about the food when your away, they may not have any fast food restaurants like McDonalds close by to the square but don't worry they do have a Hard Rock Cafe here. Which is your trypical English/American style food. We had to go here for a drink of course as me, my sisters and my Mum collect all the tshirts from different countries.

In terms of money, truthfully Venice is expensive but probably what you expect to pay in cities, if you went out in London for drinks it would be preety much similar (but not as much as Dublin, Ireland).

Gondola's are a must, you cannot go to Venice and not experience a Gondola ride. The guy singing while you go around the streets, with different route options available to varying between 50euros to a 130 euros depending on if you want a 15 minute tour or a 40 minute tour. We went for a 30 minute ride, it wasnt to short and wasnt too long but was such a romantic experience. If i had thought ahead though id definaly recommend a long skirt or shorts, me I only brought nice summery dresses and didnt think people may see my knickers while they watch us sitting enjoying the views in our gondolas. I dont know if our guide was correct or not but alot of the buildings used to be Palaces, as literally every building was a palace, unless he just wanted to make it sound better for us well it definitely did.

We stayed in the Hilton in Venice and everything was superb there. The rooms, the comfiness of the bed, the cleanliness of the place as well as the outside restaurant and bar. There are alot of cheaper destinations around to stay in, our hotel was across the main river however the Hilton do a free boat service taking you back and forth to the main square which was perfect. It was nice and quiet at night but it was free to go and explore. In terms of exploring......Wear comfy shoes, you walk and walk and walk.

Must sees's and do's in Venice:

- Grand Canal (Beautiful when it is all lit up at night also)

- The Cathedral - Saint Mark's Basilica (Although the queue was hours to long for us so we didnt have time to queue and go inside, definiately need a few hours of queueing and if you go in hot weather be prepared theres no shade when queueing. But its beautiful from the outside too)

- Piazza San Marco (Main Square)

- Rialto Bridge

- Sab Marco Campanile

- Bridge of Sighs

- Bridge of locks (We left our love lock there, If you go look for us, Alex & Ray, July 2014)

Venice was such a beautiful city and would highly recommend everyone goes here, not as cheap as other European cities but such a romantic and beautiful place. Oh and people warned us before we went that it smells bad but other than one time, the rest of the time we couldnt smell anything so dont worry to much :) x