Our journey to Venice was very similar to our journey to Split. It was another 24 hour journey with a long layover in the middle of the night in Villach, Austria. I posted some pictures of the train travels. It first started with a six hour bus from Split to Zagreb. It was the most beautiful and scenic ride through the mountains and diverse landscapes of Croatia. We had a few hours to explore Zagreb before our second leg of the journey. It was comical being in the buckled in bunk beds on the trains and waiting for hours in a cold station for the next train.

We arrived in Venice early yesterday morning and was instantly in love. The canals, bridges, boats, alley ways, the color of the water, the sounds and smells were "Bella Bella!"

The B&B we stayed at was Bellisimo! It was five minutes from the train station, but because of the alley ways, bridges and canals it took us about an hour to find it to then discover it was right in front of us the whole time. At least we got to see a lot of Venice before we even checked in! The B&B is owned by a sweet older couple who also own a restaurant on the canal. Our room was so nice, our sheets were ironed, we had an espresso machine, a private bathroom and it was very clean. From the outside it just looks like a darling Venice house with green shutters just steps from the canal.

Our first task was lunch! After looking around and going into just about every bakery and pizza place we found the perfect place right on the water. We ordered Margarita pizzas with a glass of wine (water isn't free!) The pizza was DELICIOUS! We continued our walk to the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Basilica stopping along the way for tiramisu gelato and crime filled pastries. The shops along the way were also fun to go in and out of, everything is just so pretty in Venice!

Instead of walking back, we took the water taxi and got to see Venice from the water, Bellisimo!

We had dinner on the canal at the B&B's restaurant. The pesto pasta was delish! We sat along the canal taking in everything that is Venice. We even saw a wedding on one of the many bridges! We then walked around more of course to find some canolis and gelato. Manga manga!

Exploring and eating our way through Venice was so fun, next stops are Florence and Rome!

Ciao!
Al

PS. If you've lost track we have visited:
13 cities in 7 countries on 20 trains.