St Mark Clocktower – Anne Goes to Places

APRIL 21, 2019

Our last stop in Italy! We stayed in an Airbnb near the central station of Venice as the price was much cheaper. From the Airbnb, we hopped on a bus going straight to the popular area but we woke up early to beat the crowd.

Our first order of business was supposed to be a gelateria but it was closed. So, we went to the bakery beside it – MAJER. We ordered a pizza slice and tried the arancini with prosciutto and mozzarella.

That arancina was super good that we had to order a take-out for our dinner onboard the overnight ÖBB train to Munich. 🤣 When we were done, we were surprised to see that GELATO DI NATURA was not closed for the Easter Sunday. They just opened later than usual. I ordered panna cotta and dark chocolate flavors, and both were really good.

Overall, Venice was nice but quite difficult for me to enjoy because of the insane amount of tourists during our time of visit.

We passed by RIALTO BRIDGE but we were not able to get good shots because of the crowd.

After a lot of walking, we finally saw ST. MARK’S CLOCKTOWER, which was a sign that the basilica was nearby.

We bought Skip-the-line tickets online for entry to ST. MARK’S BASILICA. At first, I was nervous if we bought legitimate tickets because we could not see any sign of the seller. We thought that maybe we were just hours early for the ticket. We decided to just explore the area first.

When it was 30 minutes before our entry time, we checked out the front of the basilica and was glad to find that the booth had been set up for those who had online pass/voucher (click here). I have no picture to place here because photography was not allowed inside the basilica. A few tourists violated this rule though.

Since the gondola price was too expensive to share between just me and my sister, we decided to ride the vaporetto (water bus) as a cheaper option to pass through the Grand Canal.

It was still quite early so before we left the area, I told my sister that I wanted to visit CHIESA DI SANTA MARIA DI NAZARETH, which was just near the central station. I was glad to find some peace and quiet in here because there were only a few people around.

If you’re in Venice, this should be a must-visit because the interior is really beautiful. It’s a small church so it will not take up too much of your time.