Romance at last

Day 17

Slovenia to Italy, lake Isao via Venice

When Steve announced that today allowed time for a diversion into Venice our jaws dropped. We hadn't expected this or even considered it. Of course there was no doubt in our minds that a few hours in Venice was a must. We had chosen an odd honeymoon with little of the usual honeymoon romance so Steve had given us the perfect destination to rectify things in the most romantic of cities. 

We had a stow away with us and had traded our tent and kitchen kit for one of team Trigger (Tash). Neither Nik, I, Craig or Tash had been to Venice. Sam and Robin, Tash's parents and owners of Trigger had been to Venice before so a plan had been hatched the evening before for Tash to become an honorary member of Team Newlywed. While Sam and Robin headed up to the lakes.

The top tip was to park at the airport and jump on a water bus. €28 for an open return, can't be bad. Nothing like a bus back home. Nice wooden cabin with comfy seats and all to ourselves. The "bus" lane was busy. Boats shuttling backwards and forwards of all sorts with some nice speed boats tearing through the water. It was a great way to see Venice as we approached. We were all armed with cameras taking pictures as we headed along the main canal as  Katy, Nik's sis and our personal travel advisor had suggested. The architecture was beautiful and had a feel of real history and although many tourists flock to Venice  the impact seemed to almost blend in. The old sat snugly alongside the new. I loved the shapes and lines of the windows. The buildings differed in colour and from the canal you could see branches off under low bridges to narrow waterways between the tall buildings. Water buses, water taxis, speed boats and Gondolas wound past each other along the main canal. We jumped off at the bus stop at the Rialto bridge which was lined with hoards of tourists. Along the canal were cafe's and pizzerias with people sat waterside enjoying the whole Venice experience. Both Katy and Lucy had given us suggestions of where to head to get a feel for Venice in the limited time we had. Saint Marks square was a must. Kate had said that we would need a mortgage to have lunch anywhere surrounding Saint Marks square so we knew to look else where. It didn't take long in our meandering to have our first Gelato. We were not disappointed, they were gorgeous. We all swapped flavours and none were a disappointment. 

It was strange in the sense that there were many tourists and there was almost a feeling of being in an interactive "museum" but with real life intertwined amongst it. There were shops selling masks and Gondolas alongside hard wear shops. Tourists with their cameras clicking amongst business men in suits. Saint Marks square wasn't as busy as I had expected and was a large open space compared to the narrow lanes over shadowed by the tall buildings. We could see day light. Lots of pictures were taken but some of the beautiful architecture was masked by subtle swathes of hanging advertisements to cover some restoration work. We headed off to find some lunch, wanting to of course taste the Italian pizza from Venice. 

We had spotted some reasonable priced places and hunted for one off the main drag where we could eat without people shuttling past. We found a lovely place and considering where we were €60 between 4 was not bad including wine and beer. Just past the restaurant we stood and watched the coming and going of the Gondolas,exactly as you would expect them to be. A Gondola trip for 30 mins was €30 but we decided to save this for another time when we were not rushing about as much. There was still some time to sneak in a little shopping and one more Gelato before we left, 4 new flavours to try between us. that's 8 Gelato flavours in 3 hours, not bad going! 

We took the river bus back and found the cost of our parking only to be €9. All in all not as expensive as we thought today might be especially as we were in Venice although the €1.50 to use the wc nearly broke the bank.

We camped on lake Iseo in the same area as the more famous Lake Garda and Lake Como. The sight was compact and not all the teams had managed to get a space but Team trigger had pitched our tent. We ran into the lake for a late swim and we were not sure this was a good move as it was not so warm!

On our adventure the opportunity to visit one of the most romantic cities reminded us that  this was in fact our honeymoon. We made a great choice choosing the Windy 500 over 2 weeks sat on a beach. Camping on a mountain in the eye of a storm, photographing an stunningly beautiful national park, visiting an evocative example of our history and visiting the most romantic of cities and there are still 6 more days to go!

Tomorrow we head to.......................