3 Days in Venice

St.Marks

Venice, one of our very favorite cities in Italy. The tiny streets, quiet canals, and picturesque bridges…it’s easy to see why this city is renowned as one of the most romantic in the world. This city is made to be explored, so don’t just check the major sites off your list. We chose to have 1 day for tours and spend the rest of our time simply wandering.

Day 1

We arrived on a fast train from Verona, which took a little over an hour, and began to make our way through the cobbled streets of the floating town. We found the apartment we were renting easily enough, but in hindsight we would recommend splurging to get a decent hotel. While the apartment was functional, it was tiny, dated, and I could barely stand in the shower. Venice was definitely one of the most expensive cities that we visited, so we were on the hunt for a deal.

But in the end we would have been better off to spend a few extra bucks and stayed in something a little nicer. After we checked in to the apartment and got ourselves settled in, we decided to begin our exploration. One of our favorite parts about Venice was the fact that anywhere in the city was reachable by foot. Plus if we did get lost, which we did frequently and I would highly recommend, it isn’t like you can walk out of the city! We spent most of our afternoon getting acquainted with the city whilst sipping the heavenly nectar of bottled Bellini’s (peach juice and champagne) and “ohhh-ing” and “ahhh-ing” over the shops filled with beautiful Venetian masks and blown glass. Spending time strolling through the back streets of Venice is the best way to see it so be sure to leave yourself enough time to simply “stroll”. Be sure to hunt for the Libreria Acqua Alta., a gorgeous and charming bookstore where the books seem to be part of the foundation.

Day 2

Doge’s Palace

Our second day in Venice was a full one. We went with a full tour of Venice and it was very much worth it. This tour included a skip-the-line tour of the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Cathedral, a walking tour of the city, and an hour long water taxi ride. We had fantastic tour guides and the convenience of having all of the tours we wanted rolled into one package was great. The tour of the Doge’s Palace was very detailed with plenty of information and famous works of art. This included a guided tour, with a fantastic tour guide, inside the public chambers and old prison.

Altogether this part of the tour took about 2 hours. Next on the list was a visit to St. Mark’s and a walking tour of the city. The visit to St. Mark’s only took about 15 minutes to walk through since they were trying to keep people moving, but the walking tour of Venice was very informative and gave us a very unique and historic perspective of the city. We walked through the streets learning about Marco Polo, Casanova, and the infamous Doge’s. The last item on the list was an hour long water taxi ride. Since we had previously decided that we didn’t want to spend 80 Euros on a gondola ride (that is the rate with all gondoliers in case you were wondering), the water taxi tour was a good alternative. Now we weren’t sitting on colorful, plush pillows being pushed around by a man in a striped shirt, but we still got to see the city from the water and even get down some of the back canals.

After the tours were over, we just continued exploring. There are hidden gems all over the city, so don’t get caught up in the main plazas. While those are wonderful too, the heart of the city is in its back streets.

For dinner we went full Venetian and tried the “cicchetti” experience. Cicchetti is basically a wine bar crawl, stopping at various restaurants and bars to have a glass of wine and a snack. Most places don’t have an actual menu of the snacks they are serving since its different every night (depending on what’s fresh that day). Literally we just had to order 2 glasses of wine, gesture to the thing we wanted and say “Volio che prega” (I want that please). You pay upfront and then most people will stand outside and consume their goodies before moving on to the next bar. General rule of thumb is that everything tastes amazing. I didn’t ask what was in it, I just ordered what other people were ordering. I mean if a Venetian is ordering it, I will trust them :).

Day 3

Our third day in Venice was really only a morning since we had to catch our train to Rome, but we made sure to get up early to catch a rare glimpse of an empty St.Mark’s square. We picked up some cappuccino and brioche to go and sat in the square just enjoying the quiet early morning before we had to leave.

Venice was jaw-dropping and breathtakingly beautiful. I wish that we could have spent more time here so we could explore the islands and areas surrounding the lagoon, but alas we did not have time. I suppose we will just have to revisit someday :). We adored the city on the water and can’t wait to return. If you’ve been, what was your favorite part?