An unabashed tourist and her family explore the world one holiday at a time.
Peter Ackroyd’s sumptuous book Venice: Pure City is both evocative and mesmerising. It is a masterpiece of intellectual writing that manages to entertain and inform at the same time and is a wonderful read for anyone interested in the history of the iconic lagoon city. Starting from its very origins when Venice was nothing more than a desolate marsh, Ackroyd paints...
The Doge’s Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, is one of the iconic landmarks of the Piazza San Marco in Venice. For years I’ve been appreciating its Gothic architecture from the outside, but this year Gareth and I finally toured the interior as well. If you don’t mind queuing, you...
What does wold-renowned fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones and Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci have in common? As it turns out, the church of San Barnaba in Venice, it seems. Gareth and I, film buffs that we are, wanted to find where X marks the spot in one of our favourite movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so when we had...
Most people who visit Venice also take the time to see Murano (the glass island) and Burano (the lace island), but few venture further than that. Since Gareth and I had decided to make it our mission to see a different side of the lagoon city this time, we hopped onto a vaporetto and explored a little further. ...
I’ve said many times before how much I love Venice. Not only is it a tourist’s paradise, and a shopper’s delight, but it is also a city filled with history and art and beautiful sights around every corner. So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here are my Top 10 Highlights of Venice as experienced on our last...
For a long time now, Venice has been my secret fantasy. Whenever I have a rough day at work I think to myself, let’s just pack it all up and move to Venice. I have always wanted to live there, just for a few months, just to see what the city is all about when you take away the tourist...
Venice, Italy It’s a cold winter’s day in the Piazza San Marco. I am posing for a photograph with a pigeon sitting on my head. The square is filled with people, but the bustling crowds of summer are absent. My husband and I have just had a wonderful day exploring all the little alleys of this historic city and my...