Venice

We got into Venice about 5pm and were confronted with masses of people as soon as we got off the train, it was early evening but this place was still really alive. It was a good 10min walk to our hostel down narrow streets, weaving through people and crossing bridges. We had written down directions to our hostel which got us the the right location but told us to look right, when actually we should have been looking left so that sent us around the houses a bit. Another thing was that this place was just a green door. No signs, no name, no mention of a hostel at all it was rather strange. We rang the bell and were buzzed in to be confronted with a huge pile of mattresses, old motor boat engines and various other bits and bobs, which didn't give the best impression.

It didn't get particularly better from then on. Once we got up the stairs there was a guy in shorts sat at the dinner table with a laptop - did he work here? He was actually the owner, we said we had a reservation and he said we were supposed to be there at 11am..........errrr well were here now? I'm not sure what the point was in him saying that but we paid and he showed us to our room which was just off the main communal area. This was the most expensive hostel and probably the worst.

The only good thing going for it was that it was small and everybody hung out in the main room, so it was good to meet people. Everyone was heading out to find a bar in the evening so we joined them, not that Venice is renouned for it's night life and it was a Sunday to add to that so it turned out to be pretty poor. We ended up in a square which looked like a market could be held on it sitting on a water fountain where there were bags of litter strewn around the place and dogs using the area as a big toilet -- we didn't stay long.

Bloody mosquitos got me in the night!! I'd survived up until now and was feeling like i'd escaped, the bites are soo damn itchy. After putting on some cream we went out to explore. Venice is a really stunning place just because it is so unique with all the small paths, old building and canals around every corner. The only thing was the place was packed with tourists which took away some of the beauty of the place which is a shame. We didn't have a map so just walked until we came across St. Marks Square, which is a big open space where you find St. Marks Catherdral and lots of other big impressive looking buildings. The restaurants nearby were charging €10 for a beer haha €10 euro what a joke.

We decided to walk out of the main toursit area and see what the residential areas were like and I'm really glad we did as everywhere was so calm and quiet it made a good walk and got us away from all the mayhem. Later we got the water bus around to look at the sights down the main canal, we didn't get on to go anywhere in particular. On our journey we met up with this Korean guy who was staying in our room and he joined us to go and get something to eat. I had an awesome pizza and a really cool dessert which is apparently a speciality in Silcily - I know this is quite far away from where we were but I'm going to assume one of the chef's was Silcilian, it was good anyway.

In the morning we had to get up early to catch our train and I think this is probably the best time to be out and about in Venice as the place is a lot quieter as all the tourists are snoozing in there beds.