My trips around Italy from north to south. Venice

I think I've been to Venice a hundred times, at least. On vacation or weekend. I was visiting some family friends. When I wasn't with them, they went down to Rome, so we were together all the time. One thing I really liked, in the winter in Venice, to walk in the fog at the end of January and the first two weeks of February, until the beginning of the carnival. It was a strange feeling to walk without seeing in front of my eyes ... Most of the time I was staying at my friends' house, but sometimes we were too many, and then I liked to stay in a small hotel or rent an apartment. Just like this time.
So on Friday night, I was already in Piazzale Roma, Venice and looking for the Casa Sant’Andrea hotel. A hotel arranged in a former monastery from the 15th century. XVI. The facilities did not impress us, instead the location and history conquered us. The next day our real vacation began. Equipped with two subscriptions to public transport (20 euros per person) we set off by vaporetto on the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco, the heart of Venice. The first stop, we enjoyed panoramic views from a height of 98 meters from Campanila. And I saw the city from above, from all four cardinal points. The current tower dates from 1902, rebuilt exactly according to the shape of the one that had collapsed.
The trip continued with a visit to San Marco. Just knowing that the church is almost 1,000 years old, that the Pala d'Oro dates back to 976, that we are in a sacred place with hundreds of years of history, coronations, funerals and sumptuous processions, all this makes you shiver and rejoice that you see them.

The next destination, of course, was the Doge's Palace. I admit that I was disturbed by the 20 euro entrance ticket, but it's worth every penny. Everything impresses here, from the facade, the inner courtyard to the Great Council Hall, the Senate Hall, the Golden Stairs, the Weapons Hall and the Shield Hall. The tour lasts a little over an hour, but I insist it's worth it. For lovers of history, architecture, painting, art is a real find. We decided to rest our feet in the vaporetto on the way to the island of Murano. The road lasted about 40 minutes, we arrived at our destination and the first thing we ordered was a big pizza, we were hungry like the lion of Venice. We walked a bit through Murano, we went through the shops, unfortunately we didn't see any demonstration of any craftsman. Besides, I didn't insist too much. We returned for accommodation, hotel Ca ‘dei Dogi, and until it was well into the evening, I walked alone through the fog around the hotel, we passed Santa Maria della Salute to the Academy Galleries. Any alley full of art stores, if you didn't know where to look. Not for paintings, not for scarves, not for glass decorations and so on. From time to time I took some pictures.

The next day at the hotel they pampered us with a hearty breakfast and we went to visit the Naval Museum, Museo Storico Navale. We chose to go to this museum because the weather was bad, it was raining, so we hid inside. We especially liked the barn behind the museum, where we saw some life-size ships.

Venice in winter, general impressions:

A very clean city, expensive transportation, but well organized. A vaporetto trip 7.5 euros. One subscription per day 20 euros
Accommodation and food seemed expensive to me. For example, 12 euros for Bolognese pasta, 6-7 euros for a sandwich,
but anyway there are small markets with normal prices, where you can buy everything you want.
Regarding the hotel, I recommend Ca ‘dei Dogi, our room was small but clean, warm and comfortable, located right behind the Doge's Palace
The weather was perfect because it didn't rain, especially the dry central market.
Of course we saw a small part of everything that could be seen, one more reason to go
Another time I would stay away from the center, to meet another Venice
I'm sorry we didn't make it in time to visit the island of Burano, but as I said, another reason to get there.