I woke up to my alarm at 5;45 this morning. I quickly packed up my things and headed to the ferry terminal. I boarded the boat with a sea of German tourists. We were headed for the biggest tourist trap in Europe: Veince. I ate the remainder of the groceries I had bought the day before for breakfast: some olives and yogurt. After eating, the rocking motion of the boat quickly put me to sleep, and I woke up about half way through the boat trip. Eventually, the sardiene can of a ferry boat made it to port at Venice. I stepped off, and saw a cycling tourist. He was the first person I had seen with a setup similar to mine: gravel bike with ultralight bikepacking gear, He said he started in Cologne, and had ridden to Pula. He was half way through his 3000km trip. He seemed like he was in a rush to get going, so I wished him safe travels and headed into the city.

Venice left a strong first impression on me: this place is the real deal. Every building is incredibly old. This isn't a Disneyland ride. I made my way through the narrow winding alleyways to San Marcos square. Here I waited in line for a while to get into San Marcos Basilica. Upon entering, I was shocked at the level of detail present in every part of the building. Every wall, railing, floor tile, and inch of calling had some sort of artwork present. I had read about the famous mosaic artworks at this basilica, and when I first walked in, I was puzzled. Where are the mosaics? I wondered to myself. However, when I looked more closely at the walls and ceiling, I realized that what I thought had been paintings, were actually ornate tile mosaics spanning the entire interior of the cathedral. I was shocked. Each mosaic tile was tiny, maybe half a centimeter square. The amount of time it must have taken to build was inconceivable.

When I exited the basilica, I saw that the square outside had started to flood with seawater. It was an unusually windy day, so maybe that had something to do with the abnormally high tide. I then went across the square to an art museum. They had many impressive displays with greek statues and old oil paintings. There was even an Egyptian mummy sarcophagus on display.. 

After touring through the museum, I got hungry. I stopped at a nearby pizza restaraunt and ordered a pizza. To be honest, it was pretty mediocre, but it hit the spot since I was hungry.

I then took a ferry over to Merano. The island famous for its glass blowing tradition. By the time I got there, all the glass blowing factories were closed, so I didn't get to see it live in action, but I did see all the ornate glasswork displayed in the shop windows. I got a gelato cone, and headed back on the ferry. 

The ferry ride to my hostel (The Generator) took almost an hour. The hostel seems nice so far.