HK Independent Traveller Blog

Venice itself is islands in a lagoon.   The islands I am going to detail refer to other key islands with some distance.  They are Murano, Bruano and Torcello.  Each has its own characteristics. Murano ,the closest one from Venice.  One can start the 10-minute boat trip from Fondamenta Nuove.  The island is famous for its glass work.  You can see signs of glass factory everywhere on the island.  We window-shopped.  Most of them look identical and not artistic.  This orchestra the only one look unique. Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato was built in 8th century.  The most striking piece of art is Vergine Orante, a splendid mosaics of Virgin Mary.  The mosaics floor is beautiful.  Don't miss it out.  Burano can be reached from Fondamenta Nuove or from Murano Faro stop. It is the prettiest island in the lagoon. All houses are painted in bright colours. No one next to each other has the same colour....

Venice, a charming city, always remains on my mind. The Grand Canal and Gondola are unique. One can find churches, beautiful architecture of different styles elsewhere but can never find a place with a big canal dotted with palaces, beautiful and torne buildings originated in different periods.  Here you can see the golden palace Ca' D'oro, the palace of an art institute next to the Accademia Bridge, the area of Rialto Bridge, Santa Croce near the railway station, etc.  Of course, you won't miss the sight of a gondola. Basilica San Marco, Campanile, Torre dell'Orologio, Palazzo Ducale No one will object if these key buildings are the landmarks for Venice.  Here is the most popular place for tourists from all over the world.  It is the place for the carnival, the centre and a must see place for anyone visiting Venice.  My companion led me to a number of off beaten tracks.  One of them is the opposite shore from the San Marco Sq...

If you are interested in church art and architecture, Venice Chorus Pass is for you. It costs 10 Euro, allows you to visit 16 churches within one year's time.   It costs 3 Euro to visit one church.  If you visit 4, you will fully cover the cost.  We visited 15 in four days!  A real achievement!   All participating churches are light up.  It enables visitors to admire the beauty of the paintings and interior.  Churches beyond the group often has no illumination.  Some may charge entrance fee and offer no light.  You have to pay additionally to light up the painting you wish to see.  The 10 Euro is worthwhile.   You also get a guide in your preferred language.  Er, perhaps no Chinese yet.  I asked for English all the way :) It is a good will to contribute a little money to help restore churches full of history and masterpieces by famous artists like Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo Robusti (Tintoretto), Giamba...

We had four meals in our 4-day stay in Venice.  It's not wrong.  It's three dinners and one lunch.  Time was short.  We could not afford the time for lunch in the first three days.  Among all the meals, the first dinner is the best and most memorable.  The restaurant is called Alla Zucca.  Zucca means pumpkin, one of the food I like most.  It is located in Santa Croce 1762, ponte del Megio. First came the bread.   As a rule of thumb, if the bread is good, the food will be good.   Our theory proved to be right again. We order baked pumpkin and gorgonzola pistachio pasta as the first dishes.   The pumpkin had a creamy texture.  We loved it.  The match of gorgonzola and pistachio is wonderful.  The sauce is just right, not watery nor too dry.  Our rucola mushroom salad was fresh. The main dishes were Venetian style veal liver served with polenta and pork cooked in prune sauce with rice ....

We got into Venice on 8 February, Monday.  This year's Carnival started on 6 February.  Tourists with mask and costumes were mostly seen in the St. Marco Square , elsewhere they were scarce.   They were delighted / proud to be taken photos, be it in the square, or in the famous Caffe Florian .  Just looked through the window, I felt the inside either as shooting a film or I witnessed the Venetian society centuries ago. Our hotel is very near to the railway station.  It was clean and quiet.  It's good value from otel.com.  The first day was blessed with sunshine.  We started from the region Cannaregio, visited the first few of 16 churches included in a church visit pass, the Ghetto, wandered through canals and bridges with signs of gondola and slowly strolled towards the Rialto Bridge and St Marco Square.

Hu hu!  I am going to Milan and Venice in 10 days.  This trip is mainly a visit trip plus a few days to participate in the annual Carnival in Venice .  It's a magical, fancy and mysterious event.  With a long craving, I will be there finally.  Luckily I can get a redemption ticket, hopping from Hong Kong to London and subsequently to Milan on 3rd Feburary.  Not yet sure what will be the good sightseeing points in the groomy cold winter.  But it will be nice to expose to world class designs and gourmet food.   My friend and I will go to Venice for a few days.  I must tell you I've unveiled a good site for value-added hotel, http://www.otel.com/ We book a little nice Venetian hotel for 3 nights at 198 Euro.  If you book directly from the hotel, 540 Euro will slip away from your wallet.  Let us try it out and validate. My first visit to Venice took place in 1991.  It was summer.  I visited...

In the 5th morning we visited the temple of Jupita (Baptistery), Meštrović museum and hiked up to Mt Marjan.  The baptistery is for total immersion.  It is beautifully crafted.  Next to it is a statue of Saint John the Baptist.  Meštrović museum is detailed in another section.  Please refer to Day 5 Split - Ivan Mestrovic We started the climb of Mt. Marjan around midday.  The sun was high.  The ascend was quite steep.  But the view over the town was spendid.  The path was barren.  We hardly saw any people, perhaps one workman who was on duty.  There were some Romanesque churches along the way.  The first one looked bright white under the sun.  It's beautiful.   Continued on the white 'sandy' path, second and third churches came into view.  Hu hu, destination reached!  For a while the sky turned cloudy.  It did not rain, fortunately.  We went to a public swimming place to...