10D7N Italy | Venice here we come!

 Today we are visiting romantic Venice!

Everytime I think of Venice, I will remember Italo Calvino's Invisible cities... now on hindsight, I probably should have reread that book again before I visited Venice. Invisible Cities is a metafictional guide to Venice, an elegy to a succession of exotic and remote cities that are all versions of Venice, according to the Venetian traveller Marco Polo – who in Calvino's book describes them to the emperor Kublai Khan.

Visiting Venice this time round was so much more memorable because I'm visiting Venice once more with hubs. And it was my first time on a gondola too!

 on our private water taxi, setting out to Venice - built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. It has no roads, just canal and the only means of transport is by sea.

First stop, our guide brought us for lunch - squid ink pasta and fish and chips but here in Italy, squid prawns are also known as "fish" because they are found in the sea!!!

 above: Our Fish and Chips without any fish inside. How ironic.

above:The central square, Piazza San Marco, contains St. Mark’s Basilica, which is tiled with Byzantine mosaics, and the Campanile bell tower offering views of the city’s red roofs.

 and YES! we are on our gondola ride now.

above: Photos taken by our tour guide (Rin) who was very helpful and initiative.

After our gondola ride, it was free and easy time. Both of us settled down in a little quaint cafe and had our cup of cafe latte. Once refueled and recharged, it was time for shopping!!!

 above: Group photo - 29 members!

can't wait to visit PISA tomorrow.