Trieste and Venice - Matts Birthday! 🎈

We headed just over the border to Trieste, our first stop in Italy, just for one night basically on the way to Venice. We arrived early so still had pretty much a full day to explore the city. So I was straight online again for a self-lead walking tour, to show us the highlights. It took us from the Canal Grande, to the Unity of Italy Square, then up to Castle and Catherderal.  On the seafront we spotted a huge yacht out at sea which, with a bit of research from Matt, turned out to be Sailing Yacht A, the world's largest sail-assisted yacht. Its Russian, as was seized by Italy in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. Its apparently costing the Italian government quite a bit for its upkeep!



The next day, Venice! We hadn't initially been to bothered about Venice, but am I glad we included it. We got the waterbus from the bus station towards our accommodation which saved us a lot of energy but was pricey, we also thought we probably wouldn't do another boat ride, so it was an experience too. We then got there with plenty of time to have a wander on the evening, and get lost down some of the small narrow streets.




The next day, and Matts Birthday! So we were up and out doing the touristy things, seeing the Rialto Bridge, Doge's Palace, Saint Marks Basilica, the Bridge of Sighs and more endless walking.





We stopped for lunch at a Cicchetti bar, which is a bit of baguette with different toppings on and you pick a selection of how many you want, paired lovely with an Aperol spritz, which everyone is drinking everywhere!

They have got a strict rules about sitting down, or eating, in the streets, which seems crazy as there's so many places that serve food to take away. There's hardly any benches anywhere which was similar in Trieste as well, which is so different to all the places we've been so far where there has been endless opportunities to rest in the heat and take a swig of water. They must employ people full time to tell people to get up, this happened to us in St Marks Square.

That aside,  we really loved Venice and I am so happy we didn't miss it out. Yes, it's very busy, but like anywhere if you walk a couple of streets away from the Grand Canal you can be completely alone in a sunlit square. I do feel like the whole place is like beautiful maze but it doesn't matter that you're lost 😊

We're back on a coach now, heading to our next Italian stops!
Lots of love,
Lisa and Matt 💕 

Matt wanted me to add that we didn't see a car for the whole day, which is odd to think when was the last whold where day you didn't see a single car? 

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