Venice - A floating city

 ‘’A realist, in Venice would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him’’   - Arthur Simons

Unparalleled in its splendor, winding streets, coloured buildings, impeccable history, Venetian folk music and Pizza - Venice is one of the most visited cities in the world.

Your Venice experience will greatly depend on your taste of music, history and spirit of wandering. I loved the city because I was on foot, completely lost, enjoying the colours, listening to ‘Volare’, riding the gondola and sipping my coffee.

When thinking of coffee, it's not surprising for the Italians to think about expresso. In Italy, when you order a coffee, cafe, they will automatically serve you an expresso unless you inform them otherwise.
Over the centuries, Italians have created a variety of alterations to your strong shot of coffee. I'll write up an exclusive post on the variations - stay tuned!  

There’s really no must-see’s, things to do that I have to share with you, because you have the liberty to create your own experience.

If you do decide to walk around the not-so-big city, you’ll end up covering the famous touristy places anyway. Gondola's,  the long oar-powered vessels can be used to go from one end to another, across bridges etc. But you'll strangely notice that gondolas across the city are propelled by men. Venice did not witness a female gondolier untill 2010. Surprising!

There’s the ‘’Piazza San Marco’’ which is the famous piazza in Venice, usually crowded and touristy. The Basilica is the third building on its spot on the Piazza.

My personal recommendation is visiting the near-by islands. My favorite is the Burano Island, but there’s also Murano, Torcello and Lido for you to explore.

Go explore Burano – Burano Island is an island of picturesque canals lined with colorful houses. There are cafes serving fresh pasta and risotto overlooking the water-side and colors. Famous for artisan lace, you can buy lace products in many of the shops (but check to see that it's handmade and not mass-produced) or visit the Lace Museum to find out more about the tradition of lace making.

Murano – Among tourists, Murano Island is the top island visited in Venice. It is home to the famous glass blowers of the Murano glass. Although the island is filled with expensive souvenirs (avoid buying anything on the island!), it can still be an educational and fun afternoon learning and watching how the glass is blown.

Visit the Lido – Lido is an island between Venice and allows you to rent cabanas, chill on the beach and relax.

Getting to these islands - From Fondamenta Nove. Tickets are available over the counter

Again, there are many tours available to help you cover these islands, but take my advice, and just go by yourself and chill around.

In addition to the islands, you’ll see a lot of hawkers with mini trucks offering a variety of cocktails. You can customize your own blends and sit on the road/ stools/ tables and enjoy the view. Don’t miss this.

Lastly, if you get a chance plan your trip around the Venice Carnival Festival - It's a 10 days massive party and one of their oldest traditions to have the festival and attend the masquerade ball.

TYPICAL COSTS:

• Stay: There are no cheap hotels in the city. A good budgeted trip would only allow you to pick the hostels or air bnb’s. Shared rooms on AirBnb start from approximately 20-25 Euros per night and hotels at approximately 45-60 euros.

• Food: Average cost of food per meal is also expensive if you decide to have a sit-down lunch/dinner at any of the fine dines. But, there are multiple take-away joints, pizza and roll boutiques that you can alternate your meals with.

• Transportation costs – Venice is a pedestrian’s city. Unless you’re taking water taxis or floating buses, you’ll be walking. You can cross the canals by foot using bridges or you can take a “traghetto” (a gondola) for 2 EUR. If you need to get to places that are a bit further or your feet need a break, the floating buses, or “vaporetto,” cost 7.50 EUR for a one way, one hour trip. A 1-day ticket is 20 EUR and a 7-day pass is 60 EUR. 

MONEY SAVING TIPS:

Walk and get lost – Venice is a small island with hidden tiny lanes and bridges. You can get from one end of the island to the other easily by foot. Walk through the churches, artistes, buildings, lanes and discover the city taking breaks with no agenda or itinerary.

The best tip I can give you is to try and keep a sense of what direction you need to move. Eventually you'll get somewhere, because it's really not that big. And in the tourist heavy areas will often have signs/ arrows pointing to "Rialto Bridge" or other big landmarks

Drink the tap water – Water is expensive in Venice (in fact all over Europe). So you can choose to survive on wine, which is also not a bad idea, or mention that you want tap water to avoid the restaurant’s bill you a huge amount on water. There are drinking fountains available all over the city, so you can easily re-fill your bottles.

Buy lots of wine – You can buy a great bottle of wine for 4 EUR.

Discount bus tickets – If you are staying for a longer period of time, consider purchasing a discount card for the floating bus, or vaperatto, services. You can potentially save 25% on a seven-day pass by going through VeniceConnected.com

Yes, the city is touristy, and it’s very old and historic, but it’s beautiful. I wouldn’t miss it for the world if I got a chance to visit it again.

Explore, Dream, Discover!