Venice day 1

We didn't have anything  pre-booked for our time in Venice, just a short bucket list of things we  wanted to see.  Number  1 on that list was St Mark’s.   Our hotel  is very close to St Mark’s  Square so we walked over and had coffee  in a small café just off the Square. 

After that we made our way over to the Basilica.  It's a beautiful  building  with ornate  floors and ceilings. 

After  touring the basilica we walked around the side of the Doge's palace to get a good  view of the bridge of sighs and out over the lagoon. 

Then we decided  to go and see the Rialto  bridge.  There are signs everywhere,  so we followed them.  I think they took us the long way round, but we got to see lots of very interesting shops.

It had been a  cloudy morning  but the sun came out on our way to the Rialto so we stopped  in a small cafe near the bridge for lunch.  

By this time we were exhausted  so it was back to the hotel for a few hours  rest before our evening meal.  We were booked into  a restaurant at 7pm.  We had a couple  of hours going spare and another item on the bucket list was to have a drink at the Hotel  Danieli,  which is the poshest hotel  in Venice, just next door to the  Doge's palace. 

Our evening meal was at the Cantina Canaletto, where we had an outside table.  Denise had the most amazing  fish soup. I wish I'd taken a photo of it.