Italy Adventures - Venice

Happy Italy Tuesday! Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy. Today, we are heading to Venice. 

Founded by refugees escaping invasions from the Huns, Venice has been around since the 4th century. It is built on wooden piles which were pounded deep into the mud where they were protected from oxygen and the decay that it can bring. 

As soon as we arrived in Venice we boarded Water Taxis for a tour of the Grand Canal.

We saw beautiful churches, amazing architecture....

...and the most beautiful bridges I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Above is the Rialto Bridge, the oldest bridge spanning the Grand Canal.

Here is the Basilica Di Santa Maria Della Salute.

I so enjoyed the baroque style architecture found throughout Venice.

After our Water Taxi tour, we boarded a Gondola to see the quieter canals of the city.

There are only about 400 Gondoliers (Gondola operators) in Venice, it is a coveted and very well paid profession.

In such a tourist intensive city, it was nice to escape into the more peaceful areas of Venice.

We did get to explore the non-water streets of Venice. Did you know Venice is made up of over 100 islands all connected by bridges? There are no cars allowed on most of the islands.

With Venice sinking 1-2 millimeters a year, while sea levels rise, the area is prone to flooding. Taller structures are starting to lean a bit like the church tower above.

One of the most beautiful sights are the reflections you find in the canals.

Venice was one of my more "photo/video" intensive cities, so the video is a bit long:

I'll be back on Friday to show you Lido, the island of Venice where we stayed!

Thanks for tagging along!

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Happy Tuesday Blog Hop this week!