It takes 6 hours by train to travel from Rome to Venice, so we had to leave early. We could have stopped by Florence which is on the way (it’s three hours from Rome), but with only 6 days allotted in Italy for our Euro trip, we had to skip it. That’s another reason to come back to Italy I guess.

It was a long ass train ride, but I managed to sleep through half of it. When I woke up, I just stayed at the dining area after having a light breakfast. The view from the window was amazing. Even if i didn’t sleep, I could have just admired the view for 6 hours. I don’t think I’d get tired of it.

We arrived in Venice at around 1 in the afternoon. First thing you’d notice? Man, the place was crowded. Yes, it is a tourist trap. Yes, everything is overpriced because of it. But you can clearly see a reason for that. Venice is such a unique destination, it would be a mistake to skip it. No matter how little time you have, you need to make room for it.

And about those rumors that the water in the canals stink? That’s hogwash. I’m not sure if it’s the same case at all times, but when we went there last summer i couldn’t smell anything bad in any area.

Here’s a tip for anyone planning to visit Venice: learn to pack light. You have to pass by many bridges unless you pick a hotel right by the train station. Some of those bridges are really high with multiple steps, I saw a lot of tourists having trouble carrying and pulling their huge luggage. i would have helped several old ladies carry theirs, but I already had my hands full with three luggages— two belonged to my friends. it was a long walk to our hotel, but once we got there, the long walk was worth it. We stayed at B&B Casanova ai Tolentini. It looked real shitty on the outside… a really old dilapidated building. But once we got inside—

Man oh man, what a beauty.

So after checking in we had lunch. There are lots of restaurants right by the main street, but we tried to go as far as possible to find less touristy restaurants— ie. cheaper places. haha.  But our stomachs were rumbling so we didn’t get too far. We ate at the first decent looking restaurant we saw— and then we found out that the owner was Chinese. We wondered how the food would taste like lol.

You can’t really go wrong with Italian food in Italy, but we’ve had better. And the price? About 25% higher than the food in Rome. Obviously we didn’t walk far enough.

So what do most tourists do when they visit Venice? Ride the gondola of course! I wasn’t too keen on doing something so blatantly and unabashedly touristy, but you can’t say you’ve been to Venice but didn’t ride the Gondola, right? it was still early in the afternoon so we got a cheaper rate. So there we were, riding the Gondola, proudly proclaiming to the whole of Venice that we were tourists lol. I would say it was worth it though. The ride was relaxing, and we passed through quiet parts of the neighborhood, away from the crowds. The gondolier we had was very friendly, dropping bits of Venetian trivia every now and then. He didn’t sing a song though, to the dismay of my friends. haha. We passed by famous attractions such as the Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs. The ride was a bit short, but there are still a lot of places that we wanted to see, so we declined the offer to have it extended.

We walked toward Piazza San Marco. The place looked awesome even if it was very crowded. All those pigeons contributed to the ambiance. Such a bummer that St. Marks Basilica was being fixed at that time. It seems that we picked the wrong time to visit Italy with all the restorations and renovations going on. We were able to see the Doge’s Palace though. The architecture was breathtaking.

We still had time to walk around, and we just sat down to admire the view during sunset. Venice is such a beautiful place. I wouldn’t recommend staying for a long time because of the cost, but it’s a place that shouldn’t be missed if you ever travel to Italy. Three days should be enough to see everything. It may be costly, but the experience of setting foot in such a beautiful city makes it all worth it.