Florida Day Eight: Discovering The Quaint Beach Town Of Venice
Until I booked my hotel room at the Inn at the Beach I had never heard of the town of Venice in Florida. While finishing a cup of coffee on Tuesday morning in Key Largo I decided it might be a good place to spend a night on my way to Tampa. Spring Training was cancelled and my flight did not leave until Thursday morning. Located on the Gulf of Mexico Venice is about a 1 1/2 mile drive south of Tampa. 
After exiting Interstate 75 I drove a few miles and came to the beautiful tree-lined main street of downtown Venice. I immediately fell in love with this quaint little town, and there was yet so much to discover. The Inn at the Beach was properly named. It was located right across from the scenic beach on the Gulf of Mexico. 
I was pleased to find my room was available and had a pleasant conversation with the charming elderly woman at the desk about the hotel and town. It didn’t take me long to get my luggage settled in my room and I was soon walking across the dunes that led to the expansive beach. 
The beach was not too crowded. The news reports of the corona virus had reached this part of Florida. In the Keys it seems like it did not even exit as folks went on their daily routines unaffected by the news.
I walked along the beach looking for sea shells and shark teeth. Yep, shark teeth, this beach is famous of the many prehistoric fossilized that wash up on its shores. As I searched for the shark teeth and sea shells I had to make my way past flocks of sea gulls and royal terns. 
The birds lined up along the shore waiting for the waves to wash in some chow.
In addition to the sea-gulls and royal terns,
here were also a few of these birds scampering ahead of the incoming waves, a semipalmated sandpiper. 
I walked along the beach watching the shore birds and looking for shark teeth. I found a lot of interesting sea shells but no shark teeth. 
It was now mid afternoon and I decided to walk into the town along the main tree-lined street I drove on my arrival .I learned, from sign posts, that Venice was once home to a large Air Force base. Lot of history here. 
And it didn’t take me long to love this quaint little town even more. I have never heard of it in the morning and now I loved its beach, it downtown and soon its interesting history. . There was a long narrow park between the two lanes of the main street. In the park where large, old trees which spread out their branches and provided shade for the trails below. 
Sculptures and flower gardens could be found at almost every street intersection. 
In addition to some residents walking under the shade of the trees I also saw some local critters who enjoyed the shade.
I left the park after about a mile and walked along the sidewalks. I came to the beautiful City Hall. 
Like in most sea-side towns it was lined with small specialty shops,
as wells as restaurants. It was St. Patrick’s day and the restaurants were crowded despite the corona virus fears. 
I walked to the end of the main street and walked the sidewalks on the other side, again passing shops, restaurants and some smaller parks. 
There was a lot of green space in this seaside town.And that is always a good thing. 
And a lot of history too. Historical markers along the trails noted many of the events in the towns past.
It was late afternoon but the Florida sun was hot and I was thirsty and tired so I headed back to my hotel passing some beautiful and
interesting sculptures along the way. Here is a link to a gallery on my website with more photographs from my hikes through Venice Florida Day Eight beach and town hikes March 17 2020 
After cooling off in my room I worked on editing some photographs and enjoyed the air conditioning. By late afternoon I was getting hungry. I had planned to eat at the Crow’s Nest recommended by a friend on social media. However, I still had the bowl of conch chowder leftover from lunch. It was delicious and quite filling. I also enjoyed a couple of pistachio muffins from the lobby of the hotel. After this snack I decided not to eat dinner. I was stuffed. It was late and the sun setting so I walked over to the beach.
I watched the sun sink, slowly , over the Gulf of Mexico and out of sight. 
As I always do I reflected on the folks on the other side of our planet were watching it rise. All of you reading this post, and all of us sharing the air on this tiny speck of rock and water floating in this universe at this time are connected. It was another good day to be alive and able to share the beauty of south Florida. Here is a link to some more photographs of my sunset walk along the beach. Florida Day Eight: Sunset march 17 2020
Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war. Loren Eiseley
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