The city of Venice is an absolute dream. I went to Venice for a short weekend trip (arriving Saturday morning and leaving Sunday night). The trip came after a long and tiring week working in the Elie Saab showroom and the trip was just what I needed. Although I was walking and on my feet pretty much the whole time, there was something so relaxing about it. I don't know if it was just the feel of the city or the fact that we didn't have an itinerary to follow that made it so relaxing. I have always heard that sometimes the best way to travel is to have no agenda and to just wander and I finally am able to say I absolutely agree.
On Saturday I got up super early to catch my flight. I thought it was a great idea to book the earliest flight I could get but turns out that wasn't the best idea since the train to the airport doesn't run that early. I ended up having to take a very expensive taxi to the airport. But it was worth it to be able to spend pretty much the full day in Venice. I got on my plane and I had one of those moments where you realize how small our world can be. Sitting next to me on the plane was a guy wearing a Colorado Rockies hat. Being from Colorado myself I of course said "Go Rockies" which sparked a conversation and turns out he is from my hometown. I find it so crazy the odds that two people that grew up in the same place are seated next to each other on a flight on the other end of the world.
Once I arrived in Venice I took the bus onto the island. It was super easy and cheap which was nice. Once I arrived, I walked to meet up with my friend, Kayla, who was meeting me here for the weekend. We made our way to our airbnb which was in a neighborhood not super far from the train and bus station. It was a cute place and the owner was very nice and showed us a map of the city and places to go.
We spent pretty much the whole day just wandering around seeing the beautiful city and doing some shopping. We somehow just walked and ended up at all the places we wanted to see without looking at a map. We made our way along the canals to Rialto Bridge, Saint Mark's Square and to the end of the Island where there is an amazing view. Seeing all of these landmarks felt like I was in a movie (or in Vegas). I love all of the architecture and the statues in the city.
For lunch we of course had to get some pizza so we found a little shop that had huge pieces of pizza that were super good!
The only thing we did actually have planned today was a gondola ride with some girls that Kayla met at her hostel the night before. This was such a great way to do a gondola. Normally, they are priced by the boat, not by person so with just two people it can be kind of pricey. The gondolas fit up to 6 people so it was perfect to split with more than just the two of us. We did the gondola ride right around sunset (aka golden hour) which was perfect. The lighting of the city was so beautiful. Another pro tip for gondolas: ask if they will do smaller canals as opposed to the big ones. When we were walking to meet up I saw so many people just stopped in a line on the main canals in gondolas and it was super crowded. We went on smaller canals and it was pretty much just us on them. This made the experience super cool and relaxing. Our Airbnb guy told us that a gondola ride is just something you have to do once in your life and that the city looks completely different from the water than it does walking around. I totally agree.
After the gondola we walked around for a while as it got dark. We went towards the edge of the island as the sun was setting and it was gorgeous. At one point we were wandering around at night and heard a woman singing opera in her apartment. Is that not just the most Italy thing ever?? We also went into a mask shop that had tons of hand made beautiful detailed masks. For dinner we headed back towards our airbnb and found an Italian place of course. I got a creamy mushroom tortelloni that was delicious. We also ordered Aperol Spritz which are bright orange drinks that we had seen all over the whole day. I knew they were popular in Italy but not this popular.
The next day we walked around the Jewish Ghetto in the morning. It was really cool seeing all of the culture and artwork in that area. After this we went towards the other side of the island. It was a cool to see the city from the other side. We also happened upon a ceremony for a boat race. It was cool to see some of the locals and how they spend their Sunday's. For lunch we went to a place that we stumbled upon the day before call Dal Moro's that had fresh pasta to-go. It was a super cool place with amazing pasta. It was super cool because you could see the pasta being made in the window so you knew it was fresh. I would definitely recommend stopping in her for some fast and fresh food! We ended our day by hanging out in St. Mark's Square for a while and doing some last shopping. The sun was shining and we just hung out taking in the beautiful views.
Something about Venice feels so magical to me. I don't know if it's all of the masks, or the water, or all art and statues with wings and stars but there's something. I am so glad I got the chance to visit this magical city in my time abroad.
