Venice is supposedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has it's own beauty and it's own culture. Come Summer, and it really starts to stink.
There are no roads in Venice
After Switzerland, we were off to a bad start in Venice. Given that they're piazzas and squares, we were under the assumption that there'd be some form of roads, but sadly we were wrong. We were misguided about taking a water taxi and carried our suitcases for about a kilometer or more. With the help of a magazine vendor, we figured a water bus that'd take us to Casa Dei Conti.
We again had to walk in a maze, and frankly none of us were impressed. We have a lot of villages like Venice in India - and yeah we never bothered visiting them.
Our Stay At Casa dei Conti
A very difficult hotel to reach after being lost in Venice, the hotel is divided into the old wing and the new. Our suite, was in the new wing, and the decor was truly Venetian. We had a living room and a huge bedroom and bathroom. While we were happy, it was obviously too big for 2 people. The breakfast had enough to choose from: cereal, toast, eggs, fruits, cakes and coffee.
Enjoy long walks in the morning
Seeing how the sun catches up with you by afternoon, an early start can help you explore Venice. There are water buses but the best way to explore Venice is by foot. We started by walking around our hotel square, taking pictures, and eating some delicious pasta we forgot to take pictures of.
Walking Tour and Gondola Ride
Just like any other tourist, we too had tickets to the Walk around Venice tour, a group of 10-15 people with faulty headphones as usual. Again, this helped us figure out the mazes of Venice, helped us find Gucci, and some Pasta Al Dente.
The Gondola ride was really short, so if you're going there for the Gondola rides, make sure you book/buy a longer one, and also avoid afternoons!
Murano, Burano and Torcello Tour
A lot of tourists go to the three islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello: they are known for glassmaking, vintage lace and a visit to a museum as well as cathedral. Since this was our last afternoon, we opted out for it. If you're not a fan of going to islands, I suggest you hire a motorboat/yacht and spend an afternoon chilling with a bottle of wine.
Souvenir Shopping in Venice Spend sometime in San Marco Square
There are a lot of affordable items like showpieces and masks (inspired by the Venetian carnival), handmade stationery and murano glass artifacts and jewellery. I am not gonna recommend any shops, just go to any square or keeping walking on San Marco Square. We bought a lot of things for our friends from Venice, except the lace, because even a simple, white lace dress was very expensive. Maybe that's something to go back for. Feel free to bargain -we did, and we loved it.
Spend sometime in San Marco Square
A favourite amongst tourists, it has a lot of hustle-bustle till 8 pm (that's when Venice shuts down). So we decided to make the most of it with more pictures, pizzas and wine. PS: There is a huge underground partying scene in Italy.
We hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed sharing our experience. Do share your feedback in the comments' section.
This blog was originally published on Be For Beauty.