Travel Tuesday - Icons of Venice

Ah, Venice. Possibly my favourite city I've visited in all my time in Europe. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, I think its a combination of location, history, and the fact that Venice is a city on water. Truly a a place that I would recommend to anyone visiting Europe....so much so that I'm heading back for my third visit later this year!

For today, I wanted to share some of my photos of that most classic of Venice icons, the gondola:

linking up with Found Love. Now What? and A Compass Rose for Travel Tuesday

Story behind the photo - Venice

Venice. Ah, Venice. Even just typing the city name brings a big grin to my face. My mum had visited Venice as part of a trip to Europe a few years previously, and had raved about it. I had high expectations for our day here, and, I'm pleased to say, the city didn't disappoint.

We were staying on the mainland bit of Venice, so it was an early start to the day to take a boat across to the islands. I can still remember the first sight of the city from the boat....it took my breath away. And it was the start of me having an ear-to-ear grin on my face for the entire day. I remember thinking, 'I can't believe I'm here, I'm in Venice, in a city on water.....WOW' (or something to that effect, anyway)

This photo was taken while we were on a gondola ride around part of the city. It was one of the 'optional excursions' you could elect to do, as part of the tour through Europe I was on. A gondola ride in Venice - totally touristy, totally cliche, but TOTALLY worth it. The 30 minutes weren't long enough......and watching our gondolier texting on his mobile phone made the experience kind of funny too.....At the end of probably my favourite day on tour, I knew one thing - I would be back to Venice at least once while living in Europe