Milan to Venice by the non-toll road, easy ride through through towns and villages mainly flat farmland. It took 40 min of slow traffic to put the city behind me with the odd accident here and there not helping matters, Sunday drivers. Being a Sunday all the Gas stations were closed, I stopped at one for a break and they had one pump with a payment machine attached but my credit card was rejected, I could have paid cash but I had enough petrol to get to my destination.

There is no parking in Venice so I stayed at a place a 30 min train ride away in a small town. Venice itself is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways, make sure your phone is charged and your GPS working or you will be going around in circles. Once you get off the train everything is within easy walking distance. Public transport is by boat a single ride costs 7.50 euro and an all day pass is 20 euro. The Hop on/off boat also costs 20 euro for 24 hours. There are roughly 462,061 bridges in this place and I must have walked over half of them and people come here with suitcases and prams. Which is why they have porters with carts and they have to shove them up and down the bridges. A very unique place.

I decided the best way to visit the islands of Lido (Beaches) and Murano (Glass) was to use the City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off Boat. Having been on similar services in various cities I knew that the published timetable was only a guideline dependant on traffic conditions. Amazingly these boats were punctual to the minute and I realised why, they don’t have to deal with red lights and traffic jams.