My Last Stop: Venice, Italy

I was completely ill prepared for my last 3 nights in Venice. I had not done one minute of research on anything! Not what to see, what to do, best restaurants, off the beaten path cool, quirky things to visit, nothing. I had booked my Airbnb when I was still in Montenegro which felt like ages ago and was sucked into living each day as it came. And so here I was.

I had dropped off my fancy Audi A3 in Trieste (I learned that it would be the cars final rental, it was going to be sold. Would be a great upgrade to my 2000 RAV4 at home!) and quickly grabbed a taxi to the Monfalcone train station nearby for a quick 1.5 hour journey to the Santa Lucia station in Venice. I was becoming accustomed to the higher price tickets and wasn’t all that shocked that my ticket would be €22 for such a quick trip. After a quick switch of trains at the Venice Mestre station, I was on my way out to the islands. Before going to any hostel/inn/Airbnb I stay, I screenshot the directions and maps as best as I can and keep my phone wifi on so GoogleMaps can find me as I walk. Some locations worked better than others which is why I always made sure to take shots of the maps and could ask for directions when/if I got confused. I was staying in the Cannaregio district which is a nice, quiet residential area just a 15-20 minute walk away from the train station. I love nothing more than when the place I’m staying at gives perfect walking directions! It was super easy to find and tucked away on a quiet side alley. If a place like that sounds good to you too, I would totally recommend staying here!

After the fantastic staff marked up a map of places to see and things to do, I was on my way out to explore! There are 6 districts; San Marco, Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo and Santa Croce among the 118 islands. As you probably know, separated by canals of varying size, the districts are all connected by roughly 400 bridges. Some really big bridges like Ponte di Rialto over the Grand Canal and other teeny tiny ones including private bridges into peoples homes. I wish I had activated my Map My Hike app to see how much territory I actually covered and what new place I should go to explore. Next time I’ll totally do that. By the end of my 3 night stay I walked 29.5 miles! Not too shabby!

I asked my host if she suggested I just start walking and get lost and she said “YES!”. Perfect, I couldn’t get too lost, I’m on a bunch of islands. I’ll figure it out. And that’s just what I did. Back and forth through alleys, dead-ends, turning this way and that. Up and over bridges time and time again my camera was non-stop going. I felt like I was taking a photo every time I moved my head a new direction! I couldn’t stop! The thing that I was most surprised about was the number of large boats in the canals. I didn’t expect there to be so many big boats. Water taxi’s and water buses, ambulances, DHL, courier boats transporting goods, boats carrying construction equipment, garbage collection boats, boats for everything. I mean, it makes sense I just hadn’t thought of it that way. I guess I was imagining larger islands where there would still be vehicles of some kind doing those jobs. Nope, not here. It was really cool to see! The cool thing I learned is that since the canals are only about 2 meters deep, for boats to go through canals they must be flat bottom boats. There are very few speedboats like what I am used to, they just end up bottoming out either in the canals or in the lagoon (also incredibly shallow to keep away enemies from the islands).

Mixed in with all of those boats are also tourists in gondolas. So many gondolas! There are about 400 gondolas currently in use. Gondolas are built specifically for their gondolier and cost about €35,000–50,000. Gondoliers must pass a 400 hour exam within 6 months that focuses on Venetian history and culture, foreign language skills and boat/canal handling skills. After the exam they must complete an apprenticeship fine tuning their abilities and skills. There is a maximum number of 400 gondolier licenses and they are passed down through families. The first female gondolier came to the scene in 2010. I was told there are now 3 females working, I hope the growth continues!

My first day was really about getting a lay of the land and checking out the area. As I was crossing a bridge, I saw a kayaking tour going down a canal and asked them about it. They said it was great! Sold. I signed up immediately for the next day! THIS is how I want to experience Venice! I’m so glad I did, it was awesome. I learned a lot about the history, architecture, secret places to check out and why things were the way they were. For example, nearly every island has it’s own church. We also talked about increasing water levels and how each island is being affected differently based on the actual height of the island. Did you know that homes in Venice can only have shades of brown or green shutters on their houses? And the color of houses can only be one of 21 different colors? Neither did I and I thought that was pretty cool. Wandering around I also found a fun Baroque Opera  that I was interested in and bought a ticket. It was fantastic! Much more casual than I expected, the performance featured a baritone, tenor and soprano alongside an 8-piece orchestra. A variety of pieces were performed from different shows including La Traviata, La Boheme, Tosca and more.

It took me a while but I finally made it to St. Mark’s Square. It was so much bigger than I imagined it would be! Even in the off-season (it was an Italian holiday weekend though), the crowds were exactly what I expected, big. My second day was my longest walking day with just over 13 miles. Phew, I was exhausted by the time I went to bed.

My last day was also the day of the time change and I had planned on getting up for sunrise to go back to St. Mark’s and also to Basilica Santa Maria. My goal was to try to take some photos without the hordes of people. For the most part, I was pretty successful. I also include success by being whacked in the face by a flying pigeon at St. Mark’s Square! I passed the Peggy Guggenheim museum (too early to check out), walked across the Ponte delle Accademia, ate pastries at little cafes along the way, checked out the famous Mercato di Rialto fish market and finally met up with the Free Walking Tour. I had already walked over 7 miles by the time the tour began! It was a really interesting tour and I’m so happy I made it. There were only 2 of us with a guide which was even better since it can be catered to us and our questions. We started in the Jewish Ghetto (learn more cool info about it here) and ended at the Liberia Aqua Alta self proclaimed as the “most beautiful bookstore in the world”. It was a pretty cool bookstore – they even have books in a gondola inside! But my OCD and claustrophobia got the best of me and I couldn’t stick around too long.

My walking guide gave some great food recommendations and after all my walking, I was ready to eat! For some good local flare and fresh seafood, he recommended checking out Rosticceria Gilson. What a perfect suggestion! This was the kind of place I was hoping to find. A bustling atmosphere full of locals, a wide variety of fresh seafood, tiny tables full of people drinking wine and eating delicious food and a diner-like counter where the overflow people stood eating and drinking. I ordered a mixed seafood plate full of prawns, anchovies, squid and grilled vegetables with two glasses of wine. I knew that it would take a while to get served again and was trying to be efficient 😉 Right next-door was a gelato shop that also came recommended and I was gonna give it a shot. That too was worth the ice-cream headache that came with it! After everything was consumed, it was time for me to make my way to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi rooftop terrace for an appointment only viewing of the Grand Canal. Visits are capped in 15 minute intervals so it’s important to soak in the views, take all the photos you need and fish face as many selfies as possible before you’re kicked out and on your way.

My energy level was dwindling and my feet were starting to finally hurt. I decided to make my way back to my room and begin packing for my departure. Even though the only boat ride I took throughout my time in Venice was a kayak, I was never inspired enough to take a water taxi. I really enjoyed all the time I had walking, walking, walking that I just didn’t want to do anything differently and I was ok with that.

As much as I loved my stay in Venice, if I were to do it again, I’d end my trip in a different location. I hadn’t been to a city this busy since Dubrovnik, Croatia and it wasn’t really matching the mental state I had become acquired to. The feelings I had as I was packing up my backpack, making sure my breakables were all well padded and protected and that things were in just the right spot so they wouldn’t break during transit  made me feel more like I was going home from a business trip rather than a 2-month long adventure. I guess that’s one thing that I really appreciate about hostels, you can always find someone to share stories with and reflect on past travels with. Being in a room by myself was too sterile an ending for what this trip really deserved. I’d say that it was the one night that I actually felt the most lonely.

The next morning I left for the bus station at 6:30am to head to the airport. I hadn’t realized that it rained earlier and as I walked along the canal the sky was glowing a bright, beautiful pink. A light drizzle started falling and as I looked the other direction there was a pink rainbow lighting up the sky. I had never seen anything like it before in my life and it was beautiful! I slowed my walk, reflected on a variety things that I was thankful for during my travels and made my way to the bus. After feeling down the night before, I had a new feeling of gratitude. It’s amazing how Mother Nature can wave her magic wand and let beauty shine so brightly!

It was time to go home.