Ciao Venezia!!
Blue skies and boats
Since we can't get enough traveling, I was lucky enough to join Jess and her parents for a lovely weekend in Venice to celebrate her mom's birthday. Despite the very early start, Saturday cooperated with us and produced some very awesome weather. We dropped out bags off our great airbnb, which happened to be located on one of the narrowest streets in the city (so we were told) and set off walking to start exploring the city for the day.
Our apartment on our tiny street
After much walking, Jess and I decided to do a free walking tour to get even more walking in. It was a great way to learn some fun facts and see some of the less touristy sites. If you're ever there and want to check it out, just go to Venice Free Walking Tour. After the tour, we stopped off a great little place, La Bottiglia, for some post walking drinks before dinner. Note: If you're ever in Venice and stumble on a place you want to return to, mark it down on a map!! The had a nice location with some open space on the canal with come good wine and some antipasti that looked delicious but we passed as we couldn't spoil the homecooked meal we had waiting for us. Would definitely recommend checking it out if you are looking for a pre-dinner drink.
After some much needed sleep, we were ready to attack the city again on Sunday. The weather wasn't quite as nice as Saturday, but still a great day to be out and about. We left behind the tourists as best we could and made it a vaporetto day. Those are the boat taxis which shuttle you around between the different islands as well as the airport. It's an interesting experience when your airport transportation is a boat. We headed out to Burano, as it was recommended over Murano by our airbnb host. Burano is a small island, but very unique. Supposedly known for it's lace, it's probably more well known for the colorful houses which occupy the island
A view down the street showing the colorful houses of Burano
After Burano, we took the vaporetto around the main island to catch some sights. The Venice marathon happened to be going on that day. They actually had to build a portable bridge for part of the route. As we passed the finish line, most everyone had gone but we still saw a few people running. Even those struggling were still getting a great reception from those watching and those just passing by! Our vaporetto eventually made it's way over to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore which is home to a beautiful church by the same name. If you hate crowds and steps, this is an amazing alternative for views for the city. For 6 euros, no line and an elevator, you can be whisked to the top of the bell tower for views on par with those you'll get from the Campanille in St. Marks!
View from San Giorgio across the water to St. Mark's
The number one rule any guide or book will tell you about Venice is to get lost in it. Well, remember La Bottiglia from yesterday? Jess and I thought it would be a great place to take her parents for some happy hour drinks and snacks. The problem was that I was trying to find the place from memory. Definitely not recommended in Venice. After about 30 minutes of truly being lost in Venice, we had to abandon our plan due to hunger. We found a nice place for dinner in one of the squares close to our airbnb instead and gave up on my navigation skills. We ended the evening with a lovely night vaporetto ride down the grand canal to see the sights of Venice at night and St. Mark's did not disappoint.
St. Mark's at night
After two long days, we had to say goodbye to Venice, but will definitely be back again at some point. There's not really another city quite like it. I need to make it back to La Bottiglia and get lost again on some new streets!
-Nick
