Venice

Our train was a 7 hour ride so we decided (a while ago) that the overnight one would be a good idea. We booked Couchette’s for each of us – which little narrow beds assembled in triple bunks. Our room had six but no one else was there so we got it all to ourselves.

We arrived in Venice around 6:30 am Monday. We were all really excited to got to Venice as it was our first stop of four in Italy. It really is an incredible city. Just about wherever you go, there is an opportunity for a good picture. It was a lot older than I thought it would be and a lot busier. There were tons of people, especially during the day as Venice is a common spot for Cruises to stop. We started off by taking the Vaparezzo (the boats that carry people like buses) down the Grand Canal because we knew it would bring us close to our hostel. As we cruised the Grand Canal we read aloud Rick Steves Canal Tour to learn more about the history of the place.
We finished the Vaperezzo at San Marco Square (the most famous place in Venice) and then got on another boat across the bay to Guidecca – the island with our hostel on it. Our hostel was one of the only hostels in Venice and overall it was pretty good. It is directly across the bay from San Marco, which was cool and right on the ocean. It is a male/female dorm so we couldn’t sleep with our wives and it didn’t really have air conditioning but luckily it had open windows to allow the ocean breeze to come in.
We took off towards San Marco Square and wandered around the back streets of Venice to get some food. We wanted to see some of the main sights but mostly we just wanted to explore Venice – as the city itself is its greatest sight.


Rick Steves had suggested getting away from the main touristy places like San Marco and getting lost in the back streets – and we did that…a lot. We found throughout the two days we had in Venice that we were constantly getting lost – maps actually don’t help you because most of the streets don’t have names, and if they do, they have a couple (sometimes 3 or 4).

Also, directions that people give you actually don’t help either – they would usually tell us to ‘go straight, take a left, and go and you will see it’ (with Italian accent) and we would get lost again. While fun at first, it actually got a little frustrating. Also, out of all the places we have been thus far, the people in Venice have been the least nice. It could be because of all the tourists but whatever the reason, they haven’t been has helpful and kind as those in Austria and London.
In the afternoon we decided to take a break from walking (we walked by far the most in Venice compared to London and Salzburg – even though it was the smallest of the three) and went to the island of Lido and hung out at the beach for a couple hours.

It felt so nice to swim and cool off – even though it was a bit ‘surprising’ (if you know what I mean) being at my first European beach.



After showering we returned back to the main part of Venice (it was around 8:30 - the picture here at night on the water is right in front or our hostel) and found a street that a couple people had said was the ‘best food in Venice’ – and they were spot on. We found a small restaurant that seemed family owned and it was hidden in a little backyard/square in the middle of some buildings. There were lots of plants and string lights hanging above. We had some Bufalo (the cheese, not the mammal) pizza and the BEST pesto pasta we had ever had-honestly. The dinner as a whole was incredible – the food, the ambiance, everything. We had read that Venice was best late at night or early in the morning and it was true, I liked it so much more. It was cooler and there were not as many people. Of course we toped of our meal with some Gelato. We pretty much get Gelato at least once a day – but promised ourselves that we would never get the same flavor twice.