71 Bridges Later...

In our 2-night stay in Venice, Italy we managed to cross over 71 bridges! Yes, we counted. This city was beautiful, and there are literally canals everywhere you look.  Since there were canals everywhere connecting the 118 islands, there are bridges everywhere as well.  It is said that the city of Venice has the most bridges in the world. It was pretty amazing. Another little fact is there are zero vehicles on the roads of Venice due to all the canals.  All the transportation is done via boats.  They have water taxis, large public transportation boats, shipping boats, gondolas, and even the postal service!

You can see how many little (and big) canals run through the island(s). 

Now, let's see...we got in fairly late to Venice, so we decided to get a good night's rest and wake up early to explore the city.  We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel on one of the larger canals. It was neat watching all of the different types of boats pass by and enjoying our breakfast.  We then started our walk along the bridges to get to the  Teatro la Fenice (Opera House).  We were able to get free audio guides during our time in the theatre to learn a little more about the histroy.  The main stage area was my favorite as it was impressive to see all of the box seats.  We even sat in the royalty section for a while. 

One side of the theatre's box seats.  

The view from the royal section. 

We traveled to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) to see the area and then visit St. Mark's Basilica.  It was amazing how much flooding was everywhere.  The entrance of the basilica was flooded, so they had to put risers up so we could walk over the water.  The risers were actually spread out around the city in areas that tend to flood more often.  Jeff and I were sad to see so much water inside the church entrance, as we know it will eventually ruin the marble floors.  After visiting inside (no pictures), we came out and the street where we stood in line was completely under water now (ankle deep).  People had their shoes off, and were cooling off in the water.  Not sure where it was coming from, as we were not near a canal at that point.  

If you look closely, you can see the flooding.  We were standing in this area 30 minutes before the whole area was under water. 

Before we found a spot for lunch, we visited Doge's Palace.  We were unsure about our visit, as they were a little pricey...but we were glad we did as the palace was great.  Jeff and I enjoyed seeing a Palace outside of the UK.  It has a different feel, and obviously different history.  It was a lot larger than expected, and the rooms were massive.  We were even allowed to travel down into the prisons which was really interesting to see.  

 On the palace grounds

There were two large old globes inside the palace. 

 The picture doesn't do the size of this room justice.  This large room was beautiful. 

In the prison cell

We went off to enjoy our first (of many) pizzas in Italy.  There are pretty large in size, and we both ate them all! We traveled over a few more bridges to get to the Basilica of Santa Maria. We traveled around the seaside to enjoy the lovely weather.  We grabbed some yummy gelato, and  enjoyed the city.  Jeff and I watched part of the sunset, and went on our gondola ride.

Basilica of Santa Maria

 

Canal leading to the sea at sunset. Pretty amazing!

Jeff's great photography skills in action. 

Our ride was 30 minutes long, and we traveled out on some of the larger canals, as well as the small intimate ones as well.  Our gondola guide didn't sing, although he was very knowledgeable about the city.  We also learned that you have to have a license and take a course to become a guide.  He had done the job for 30 years, but admitted he no longer lived in the city because housing has become too expensive.  It was interesting to hear those types of things about the city, rather than just the tourist type things. We grabbed dinner, and headed back to the hotel.  We had to take a couple trains to get to our next destination....Sorry you'll have to wait for the next post to find out where! 

 On the ride!

 Not the best picture, but we were struggling with the flash and wanted to get a picture of our gondola "driver"

One of my favorite things we did in Italy, and so glad I checked it off my bucket list!

Onto the next adventure...   

We Bought a Flat in Barcelona!

....Just kidding, although if I had to pick a place to own a vacation home...Barcelona would be the spot! We had an amazing time.  This city was the best of both worlds, great history & architecture as well as the beach.  We took advantage of both!

We got to Barcelona around dinner time on Wednesday, well I should say America's dinner time (6 pm).  We found out dinner time in Barcelona is from 9-11 pm! We actually were able to eat around that time due to being so busy throughout the day and evenings.  On Wednesday night, we were able to grab our first round of tapas: patatas bravas (potatoes with a cheese sauce), peppers, & chicken.  It was great! 

We, well I should say, I, woke up on a mission on Thursday.  This was the first trip that I really prepped for and did my research.  It helped that a few of our friends over here gave some suggestions, so from that I made an itinerary.  I know what you're thinking...poor Jeff. I eventually calmed down once we checked a few things off of our "to dos".  We were able to see this place called Casa Calvet, and to be honest we could barely find it because the building didn't really stand out from the rest.  Jeff laughed that I even had it on the "must sees". If you're reading this, and planning on going to Barcelona, you can definitely leave this one off of your list. I'm not going to even waste blog space by putting a picture up! hehe

We headed towards La Monumental (former bull fighting stadium), which was fantastic.  There were not many people there, so we were able to take advantage of the stadium and even stand in the middle of the bull ring.  La Monumental no longer does bull fights, which completely bummed Jeff out. We ended up getting some great pictures and really enjoyed our time there.  This was one of Jeff's favorite places we went while in Barcelona.  He has his eye on attending a live bull fight at some point. Yikes!

The outside of the stadium.  The blue & white parts of the building are made of small tiles.  Amazing!

Jeff inside the bull ring.  

Thanks, Sis for letting us buy the camera.  We took advantage of the self-timer & new settings.  We love it! 

After the stadium, we attempted to go to a flea market, but it wasn't open...so we headed onto the next destination which was Arco del Triunfo.  This was a beautiful monument in the city that we snapped a few photos of before heading into a park.  Grabbing lunch was up on the agenda, so we heading through the Gothic Quarter  and stopping at a local market to grab something for lunch.  The markets were amazing & everything was fresh.  The fish were a little too fresh, if you know what I mean.  Because it was so crowded, Jeff and I made a plan to meet outside with our items of choice if we got separated.  Good thing we said this, because the minute I smelled the fish...I quickly moved away from that area.  I think Jeff ended up with some sort of meat & pepper skewer and breaded spinach.  I came out with a chicken & cheese pastry and a strawberry juice.  We ended up heading back through to get some more fruit.

 Well this is a first...just a peacock walking around the city.  The zoo was close by, so I was convinced it escaped...

Now, do you see why I ran? This AND the smell...not cool. 

Can you believe I'm still only talking about Thursday? We accomplished so much at this point! We headed back towards the hotel to get some sun at our rooftop pool! Before the pool, we saw Casa Batllo, which was so creative! This building has to be one of the best pieces of architecture in the city.  We opted out and didn't go inside, but I'm sure when we live there we will have time to do that. Am I right?  The pool was so relaxing, and definitely a great way to unwind after a long day of walking the city.  We got cleaned up and headed out for, yet another, round of tapas. We tried a few other types including some sort of pork, grilled vegetables, patatas bravas (Yes, again!), guacamole, and Pa amb tomaquet. Pa amb tomaquet was a Catalan specialty.  You were given bread, tomato, garlic, and olive oil.  You rubbed the garlic and tomato on the bread and drizzled olive oil on top. Really yummy!  

 Casa Batllo...one of the many Gaudi pieces of "art" throughout the city. 

 Pool time!

Our little oasis! 

Now...Friday. 

So, since I "planned ahead" I obviously checked the weather before we left for Barcelona.  Planning a beach day didn't seem odd at all as all 5 days were in the mid 80's with zero clouds.  Little did I know, the forecast changed and we woke up to the sounds of thunder and rain.  After getting ready and eating breakfast the rained stopped, so we started our trek to the beach.  We walked through the city, stopping in/out of a few shops, markets...and feeling a few rain drops here and there.  At the time, it wasn't looking pretty for our beach-filled day.  We got to the beach, with dark clouds overhead, and just enjoyed the fact that we were sitting beach-side.  The rain came back, and within a half an hour...beautiful skies again.  We really lucked out because due to the hiccup in our morning, the rest of the day was beautiful and the beach wasn't that crowded. We got some sun, enjoyed some reading, had a few beers, and played around in the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Before...

 After...

We didn't leave the beach until around 6:30 or so.  We headed to the Flea Market to look around.  They had this club-type atmosphere at the very top of the multi-teared market.  Jeff grabbed a piece of pizza and a beer. I think he needed that to get himself through the flea market with me.  Poor guy. After the market, we got cleaned up and went to a Flamenco Show.  This is something I really wanted to go see, and once again Jeff was a trooper and went with me.  It was an hour long show where local performers would dance and sing.  I loved it!  Their costumes were amazing as well as their level of speed when moving their feet.  It was definitely a different experience for us, as we don't normally take advantage of shows and things like that while on holiday.  

It wasn't just an ordinary flea market. This place was huge! 

 Palacio del Flamenco   

Look out for another blog post to summarize Saturday and Sunday. Phew, I'm tired. 

Corfu 5-Star Hotel ≠ American 5-Star Hotel

Well, we definitely had an interesting Day 1 in Corfu, Greece.

• 1AM: Woke up to drive to London
• 4AM: Arrive at car park and head to airport
• 6AM: Fly to Corfu, Greece
• (7 hour time difference from US, 2 hour time difference from UK)
• 11AM: Head to our resort

As you can tell, the morning really flew by and we were exhausted. We were excited to get unpacked, but were quickly disappointed by the room seeing flaws all over the place. (Warning: the snobs in us are coming out) The problem was by the 5-Star Hotel description we were expecting more of a resort-style feel. Our current room had a few spiders that we had to kill, cobwebs, and dust everywhere. We went straight to the pool to get out of there and a little disappointed in the place. Jeff decided to go and talk to the hotel management. So this happened:

 

So we got this seaside suite instead! Although it still wasn't up to the Mexico or American 5-Star Resorts we have been to or heard about, it definitely changed our moods and we were extremely content again. I mean, no one should have to spend a good amount of money and have spiders crawling on the ceiling. Ew.



The resort had a lot of great amenities: pool,  beach, 4 restaurants, bowling alley, among many other things. We were really risking the weather given the time of year we chose Greece, but we really lucked out! Each day it was at least in the mid-60's, but our last full-day there it had to have been a lot hotter as we were sweating on the beach.

The hotel had an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea. During some parts of the day, there was a smog effect out into the ocean, so you were unable to see the mountains in the background. As for the beach, it was filled with small pebbles and rocks instead of fine grained sand.

Our first day, we just lounged around the pool enjoying the warm weather. It was nice to get away from the Non-UK, windy, rainy weather. As I type this...it is raining here. 

We were able to enjoy some really great dishes at the restaurants and some really cheap wine! Although, I think Jeff loved his meal so much on Dinner #1 that he ordered the same thing for the rest of our time there. 

We ventured out into the town of Corfu on the second day. It was cloudy and a bit on the colder-side. We walked around, realizing that the city was not in the best condition. It was really interesting to experience a city that wasn't necessarily made for tourists like many other beach cities. One of my favorite experiences of the trip was my fish pedicure. I am not sure how many Bachelor fans there are reading this right now, but it was something very similar to what they did on one of their international dates in Seoul. 

Anyway, there were tiny little fish (without teeth) who would nibble/suck on all the dead skin on my feet. It freaked me out at first, and then quickly began to tickle (especially in between my toes)! I soaked my feet and the fish were hard at work for about 15 minutes. My feet felt fairly smooth and relaxed after it was over. I don't think the fish worked as hard as a person giving a normal pedicure, but it was a really cool once in a lifetime experience. 

After the fish had a great meal, we explored the city a little more. There were not many tourist attractions, so we were just roaming around. Most of the houses and buildings were not in the best condition. There were lots of broken items, stains, and junk on the balconies on most the places we saw.  It was amazing how many people were able to speak English, especially being such a small secluded island. 

We were able to enjoy some street food for lunch: gyros. They were fantastic. I think I could go for another one right about now! We ate in a small little area, filled with pigeons, grabbed some desserts for Mr. Sweet Tooth, and headed back to the resort on the bus. 

 

 

 

The island is pretty neat in the sense that all the buildings are up on the side of mountains. Because of that, we had to take a small tram down to the beach. The beach was much more peaceful, and less windy as well. We spent all day on Saturday laying on the beach, reading, and enjoying the wonderful weather.

We had a wonderful and relaxing long weekend in Greece. Not sure we would go back to the same resort, but I would definitely visit another part of Greece again.

I leave you with a sign that speaks for itself. Do you feel at least a little bad for us?