Postcards from Venice | A Sunny Part Two

After last week’s rain soaked postcards from Venice, all moody streets and grey skies, you’d be forgiven for thinking that today’s images, all bright blue skies and colourful buildings, were from a different trip on a different date. In reality however, both sets of pictures were only taken two days apart. I’ve since learned that Venice has a habit of being pretty interchangeable with the weather, but at the time it was amazing to find that after four days there we could still be surprised by the city’s beauty, purely thanks to a little sunshine.

It was our final day and, after a rather brisk and blustery trip to Florence the day before, we awoke to the most glorious of sunshine. Not just sunshine in fact, but a heatwave. Luckily our flight back to London wasn’t scheduled until late in the evening so thankfully we still had a full day in front of us to soak up the heat and indulge in a few final holiday pastimes. Seeing as I’d already fallen for Venice’s charm, pretty hard in fact, amongst those rainy and windy days beforehand I wasn’t expecting the sun to uncover anything particularly new. As we jumped on the local bus from our apartment into the central hub, I was simply looking forward to doing a few of the things that the weather hadn’t allowed previously, such as eating gelato and dining alfresco. But as soon as we walked over the bridge and into those streets once again I was very aware that everything looked completely different. Not necessarily better or worse, but just different. I felt like I’d been transported back to that first day in the city, seeing all of the sights again as if for the first time. Taking in those new colours that only the sun brought out, that new glimmer on the water that came only with blue skies, and the new atmosphere of the bars and streets that only a warm day could warrant.

We took the opportunity to do a few of the tourist activities we’d opted out of previously, such as taking the elevator to the top of the Bell Tower, an activity I’m endlessly glad we left until this day as the views couldn’t have been clearer, and the merge of blue waters and blue skies made the whole landscape look picture perfect. Seeing Venice from above is a fantastic way to further admire the beautiful architecture the city prides itself on, and a sea of gorgeous burnt orange and peachy pink rooftops awaited us that didn’t look a million miles away from somewhere like Santorini in Greece. We also finally managed to treat ourselves to an Italian gelato, something I was pretty peeved it hadn’t been warm enough to do up until that point, and even though the sun had started to set by then we enjoyed our final meal alfresco in an adorable square surrounded by pretty houses and filled with friendly dogs. An aperol spritz drank outside in a friendly bar ended the whole trip on the perfect note.

I can’t possibly say which version of Venice I prefer. I mean my cold and wet self that had to retreat back to our apartment after a day of torrential rain was no doubt glad of the warm sun on my back that final day, but I’m also secretly glad I got to see the city under that murky cloud as there’s no denying it added a certain mystique to surroundings. I like to think each set of snapshots show a different side of Venice’s personality, the gritty and mysterious and the buzzy and fun. If I ever visit again, hopefully I’ll get to remind myself of both.

I’d love to hear which set of postcards you have preferred? Next week, I’ll share our day trip to Florence!