After arriving into Venice on time at 0835, Friday 6 March, we walked down from the station to find a decent coffee shop before checking into the Hotel Guerrini, Cannaregio, off a busy street with view from our room onto a quiet courtyard. It’s close to the station in a residential area and avoids dragging luggage over the canal bridge. After leaving our bags with the most helpful receptionist, Giacomo, we spent the day exploring and finding local specialities for drinks and food.
After lunch in a restaurant on a small canal just over the bridge from the hotel, Giacomo called to say our room was ready so we returned and settled in before going out again to get a 48-hour pass for the water taxis. We had a great afternoon pottering around Venice almost 20 years to the day since our last visit, managing to negotiate bridges, streets and canals with a few diversions and help from locals who say it’s complicated for everyone. Rather than take a €90 gondola ride, we took the only remaining ferry across to St Mark’s Square for just €2 each. We watched the sun go down across the lagoon, getting a taste for spritz and enjoying weather that’s unseasonably bright, sunny and warm.
