I figured I’d start my 3 part trip experience in the order of the cities we visited, however Venice was our first and our last stop being a total of 8 days there. It also happens to be my favorite of the 3 cities. I really fell in love with Venice because it’s so unique and truly more different from any of our cities here in the US. We also “stumbled” upon some very incredible moments in Venice that was completely unexpected.
Instead of boring anyone with the details, I’ll write the funnier and more memorable moments and try to convey the uniqueness of this city. The first true experience in Venice proper was us trying to book a ticket on the water bus to get to our hotel room. Now, in Florence and especially in Rome, many people speak English (or are willing to speak it), but in Venice people just don’t. I highly doubt it was true they didn’t in many cases, but they refused to speak it so I was still stuck trying to use a combination of Spanish and English with a few Italian words sprinkled in to get my point across. At any rate, the attendant at the ticket booth tells me it’s only a 10 minute walk so just walk there. I ask “where exactly?” and he points in the direction I need to go to get to the San Toma’ area. Ok, fine, we’ll walk then with our 4 suitcases right? Well, what he forgot to mention was the number of bridges we’d have to carry our suitcases over. Yes, bridges, 7 total if I counted right and 3 of which were big ones. Oh, the joy and Welcome to Venice! Did I mention there’s no such thing as getting from point A to point B in a straight line? Yep, imagine how easily those 10 minutes turned into 45 minutes or so. Lesson learned! Of course, when we arrived back in Venice a few days before our flight left to come back home the waterbuses were on strike and we had to repeat history against our will. Ugh!
My first thoughts were that the streets weren’t as cobbled as I expected. Yes they are cobblestones but they were more even than I imagined they’d be. That was a great discovery; however, I still was only crazy enough to wear high heels there once and that was plenty. I loved looking around at all the little stores even though most were closed since we arrived after 7:30pm local time. One of the other funny things was asking for directions several times and one of the times these kids (with better English than most adults feigned to not speak) got a real kick out of us and even snuck a picture in of us and our luggage with map in hand LOL. We did discover that even the smallest alleyways can be main streets!
Two events were truly cherished moments for us. The first was during our first visit to Venice where we were waiting on a bench in a Piazza until we could be seated at a restaurant (one of the few with actually good food) and we had about an hour or so to wait and decided to stay put and relax (soooo much walking under our belts already!). About a half hour later this woman starts setting up these speakers and sound system in the Piazza and we start wondering whether she was going to start singing or whatnot when couples start to arrive and women start trading their flats for high heels and suddenly people start dancing tango in the square! Completely different couples of different skill levels enjoying the evening by dancing in this square. It was incredible, romantic, and just very special to us. The second event was the night before we left for home again (last Sunday) when we were coming back to our room after dinner and a church we always passed during the day had the side doors opened and selling entry to a classical concert they were going to hold in there that started 10 minutes from the time we were passing by. I personally don’t like classical music but my husband does and where else can you truly experience a classical concert with chorus and all in a 500 plus year old church on an island? Why pass it up right? It was a great experience, and no I still don’t like classical music LOL.
Other Highlights:• How all the bridges were unique! Usually different materials used on them from wood, metal, concrete, solid walls, open walls, and any combination thereof.
• We did go to the
Rialto Bridge and
Saint Mark’s square (way too crowded and touristy for our taste) because we couldn’t just skip it when it’s right there. It was a great experience since we went before the sunrise so we’d have the square to ourselves and watched the sun come up and had our own makeshift breakfast before all the craziness and crowding started.
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Murano, an island off of Venice known for glass-making, was a pretty place but not as impressive as we imagined it would be. I saw better glass pieces made in Murano in other parts of Italy, go figure! However, I did take a picture of a particularly ugly, yet elaborate piece there LOL.
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Burano, another island known for its lace work, was really colorful and enchanted me for that reason. Again the products weren’t anything I found particularly interesting, but I loved the cheerful colors of the place.
• This is where I want to buy my veggies!!!
More Venice Pictures:
