Its morning. Today we are going to the fishing village of Chioggia (key oh ja). Its a short and lovely boat ride. Chioggia has a modest local fish market of stuff just caught and often still twitching. Things like Scampi are 8 euro a kg. Bargain! Its a buzzing place. Bit stinky though. We were there early but as the day warmed up to 32 degrees the market ripened in the sun…….

Chioggia is a lovely place. Venice does have residents, but they get lost amongst the tourists (I think I heard 30 million a year as a figure). Chiogga is a bit more “real”. It probably deserved more time than it got.

We went up the 150 steps to the bell tower for a look and a bit of breeze (32 degrees). Its a lovely spot. Theres little historical pieces, paintings etc Im not quite sure what these paintings are about……

In the churches sometimes theres images of animals throwing up people they have eaten on the day of reckoning. Giving their dead back to god. Not so sure why the horse is eating a person……

In Venice the lagoon and the canals are roads, so everything you might see on a road is floating past.

Theres a big boating culture here. Lots of Europeans come here for summer vacation. Chioggia has a big market where clothes and food are very well priced. The first photo is of a statue of the Virgin Mary. It was caught in a fishermans nets, so he set it up in the middle of the lagoon.

On the way back we passed boats training for a race day coming up. Its a stand up style of rowing similar to a gondaleer. Theres buildings everywhere on these islands leaning and sloping. It does have a falling down feel…

And then back to the River Countess for a rest and refreshments…

Theres a lot of grand buildings. Theres a chapel dedicated to St Mark. Photos arent allowed inside, so sorry about that. Its worth a look. The story goes St Mark had a vision hed be buried in Venice. But Venice didnt exist in his lifetime. It was just a swamp. Consequently, he died in Egypt. Hundreds of years later some likely lads decided to help St Mark with his prophecy so they found him in Egypt. Hid his body from the muslim security forces by hiding him under pork products and snuck him back to Venice for re burial. Or so the story goes……..

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The gaol in Venice. Only one person ever successfully escaped, namely the still notorious latin lover Cassanova. He was imprisoned for knocking up a nun (really Cassanova? Really???) and sentenced to gaol. He bribed a guard to let him out (so, when I say escaped……) and buggered off in a gondola. He stayed away until things settled down a bit. He did return eventually and even did things like worked as a Venetian spy.

And to you Cassanova!

Walking around Venice….

First woman in the world to get a university degree. It did cause a bit of a stir at the time, but it did happen. She obtained a degree in theology snd then went on to be a nun (and no, I dont know of she joined a nunnery in the hope of meeting cassanova).

Produce at Padova. It has a similar feel to Victoria Markets in Melbourne. Beautiful displays of fish, meat, vegies…

Then, it was time for a cruise(well we are on a boat). Our butler Paul lopped the top off a bottle of Champagne to start proceedings then we went for a cruise around the Venice delta.

The rest of the day is a haze of caprioscas, prosecco, whisky and wine. At midnight there was an arguement about which country the Bee Gees are from. A clear sign its time to go to bed! PS the Bee Gees started in Redcliff in Brisbane .