Venice is a city made up of about 118 islands and about 150 canals. Because of this, the only means of transportation is by boat or by foot. We didn't see one car between leaving the airport (where we left by boat) and arriving back there. The Grand Canal is the largest canal, and it pretty much runs through the center of the city. In order to cross it, you have to use one of the three bridges (the Rialto being the most famous) or take a gondola. Pretty cool huh?
We had such a great time in the city. The town was still covered in confetti from Carnival the week before. It must have been amazing during that time, but everything was completely booked hotel-wise so we chose to go the week after. The city was also much quieter than normal, I would imagine anyway, which was nice. There weren't too many tourists all over the place. The hotel we stayed in was amazing. A foot away from the Grand Canal, 100m from the Rialto bridge, had the nicest reception, amazing rooms, and breakfast all for a low cost! Couldn't beat that!
We probably ate our weight in pizza (including calzones and pizza rolls), pasta, and gelatto. This holiday was definitely all about the food. Can you tell? At one restaurant, the chef looked like he belonged in a commercial advertising spaghetti or something. He had long dark hair, a mustache, and wore an Italian chef outfit. He was also just highly entertaining to watch. LOL.
Most of our time was spent just wandering around (often in the rain)... getting lost amongst the tiny streets and canals. And with my freakish memory when it comes to sights, we were always able to get back somewhere. It's very difficult to follow a map in Venice. There's just too many tiny streets and canals. It's best to just know the general area where you want to head and then sort of weave in and out of the different alleyways to get there. We also saw and visited the palace and San Marco's Basilica. Both were very cool! And we didn't forget about getting surveillant C. a keychain! It was on our minds the entire time until we found one we liked for him. We also bought one for Sn. so as not to make him feel left out when we give one to C.
We had a little scare the morning we left, because the airport boat was not running through our stop (even though we had asked the day before about where to take it from when we bought tickets). This resulted in a run across the island in the rain to get it from another stop. We literally ran for about 40 minutes. By the time we arrived at the stop (with about ten minutes to spare), we were soaked to the bone. We could have gotten on easily at San Marco, but that line wouldn't have got us to the airport in time.
Venice photos. And for those of you on Facebook, I'm also tagged in a bunch of Paul's and Natasha's photos.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Venice as a place to visit while in Europe. You won't be disappointed!
When I went to Venice (summer 2001) it was pretty dirty, but no dirtier than say Paris. There were pigeons everywhere which pretty much grossed me out. And we were told by our tour guide that the water is such a nice shade of blue-green because it is SUPER polluted. I still liked it, glad I went :)
ReplyDeleteI had just heard that it was expensive, since it's so very popular. But that doesn't mean I don't want to go, especially after seeing your pictures! Ben is still in a funk about Italy every since World Cup 2006 so it'll take a bit of convincing first, lol.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures! My boyfriend and I are planning a Venice trip in tourist congested July. What's the name of the hotel you stayed at? Good location and cheap breakfast sounds good to me :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, the pigeons were definitely everywhere (well, actually more so just in the Square than anywhere else), but they seem to be in every big European city!
ReplyDeleteAndromeda, food and transportation are the most expensive things there! If you want to eat in a restaurant, be ready to pay around 15 euros once you factor in a drink, service, and the cover charge. We walked everywhere instead of boating it around the island, but transport to and from the airport (and we flew into the main one!) is expensive.
Emu, we stayed at Locanda Armizo (http://www.locandaarmizo.com/). We booked it off hostelworld and paid 75 euros a night for a triple (very reasonable for staying in the actual city... some hostels had dorms that cost more!). It'll probably be more than that in the summer though.