Venice

From our campsite we walked a short way to catch the boat to Venice. We didn’t realize there were 2 terminals, so ended up taking a less direct route that first went to the island of Burano. This turned out to be a happy accident, as Burano was a wonderful little island with colorful houses, a leaning tower, canals, and few tourists when we arrived before most of the shops were open.

After a short exploration of Burano, we caught the next boat on to Venice. This boat arrived on the less crowded side of Venice, letting us explore the smaller alleys and canals on our way across to the grand canal and crowds of tourists.

The grand canal and main plaza were impressive with ornate architecture, but hot in the full sun. We made our way to a less crowded plaza and enjoyed another authentic Italian meal. We ordered ‘grande’ beers, which were so big it was an effort to lift the full glass.

After lunch the California Larimores wandered back through small alleys where there were no tourists, back to the dock where we came in, while the rest of the clan took a boat back to the campground. We took another boat to the island of Murano, famous for glass artisans. Every shop sold glass sculptures. We wandered through the canals and explored the local glass art museum before taking a boat back to our campground.

That night we experienced the most violent heavy rain and thunderstorm ever. Chase endured for a few hours in his tent before retreating into the van. Our camper awning almost collapsed under the weight of the water that started pooling in the middle of the night.

The next day we had a nice trip to the local beach on the Adriatic Sea and enjoyed cooling off from the heat. We had a delicious dinner that night at the neighboring restaurant where there were many locals eating great Italian food. Linsey and Mike discovered a local beer that was the most delicious golden ale we have had! It was sealed with a cork, cap, and foil like a bottle of wine.