10/8/2019, Venice

"Best Western Plus Hotel Bologna" is a hotel chain.
This one is located on the Venetian mainland, just opposite the Mestre train station,
very convenient for coming and going by train or by airport express bus.
We were assigned a corner room on the top floor.
 

We did not take a picture of our room, but our 279 sq ft superior-double
was similar to this picture from booking.com's website.
It was very nice to walk on wood floor for a change.
The spacious bathroom came with plenty of counter-top space.
 

Piazzale Roma, the square where all the buses end and vaporetti begin.
 

 
Electronic boards listing when a bus would leave from which bus platform, and
separate electronic boards listing when a vaporetto line would leave from which dock.
We took vaporetto # 2 to Rialto Bridge.
 

This is the Santa Lucia train station on the Venetian islands, one vaporetto stop from Piazzale Roma.
 

Ca' d'Oro (golden house),
one of the best surviving palazzo in Venetian Gothic architecture.
 

a gondola.
 

Rialto bridge, one of the 4 bridges crossing the Grand Canal.
 

From Rialto bridge, we could see the hotel "Locanda Sturion" where we stayed in 1997.
It is the 2nd building from the left (with flags on the balcony) on this photo.
The hotel was listed in Rick Steves' Italy guidebook back then (but no longer, he has other newer recommendations.)
 

Our lunch restaurant at the foot of the Rialto bridge
where we had a mediocre meal.
 

Our lunch bill.
A spaghetti with tomato sauce, a fried mixed seafood, and a bottle of water.
We knew that we were paying for the location, not for the food.
 

We hopped on another vaporetto to Piazza San Marco.
 

Campanile, the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice.
 

Doge's palace on the right, and St. Mark's Basilica straight ahead.
 

St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.
Its Eastern-style architecture underlines Venice's connection with Byzantium.
 

The upper facade of St. Mark's Basilica.
Above the gable is a statue of Venice's patron saint, St. Mark with angels.
Below that is a winged lion, the symbol of the saint and of Venice.
On the loggia above the porch are replica of the 4 bronze horses sacked from Constantinople (the originals are in the museum.)

 

The Scalzi bridge crossing the Grand Canal near Santa Lucia train station.
Bye Bye Venice, it could be a long time before we come visit again.