Continuing our train-tripping travel series in Italy, after visiting Florence and Bologna, we went to Venice.
Once our train left the main-land and was riding through the water to Venice island, I was full of excitement and couldn’t wait for us to arrive in one of the most praised cities in the world.
Of course, when planning our travel itinerary in Italy, we read a lot about the places we wanted to visit and Venice was one of them. From all the reviews, it was clear that people who’ve been there, either loves it or hates it.
Some people wrote it’s the most astonishing place they’ve ever been to and others wrote it’s incredibly crowded and impossible to enjoy. Our curiosity took over and we bought train tickets to this city. We both had no expectations and simply wanted to visit the famous city before it’s drowned.
Once we got out of the train station and saw the canal in front of us, crowds of people and all the hustle, I was in love. But Pavelas weren’t.
We had no plan for Venice, just knew we needed to see the San Marco Basilica and get lost in the labyrinth on Venice. And I also wanted to take a river bus.
During our first day there, we walked and walked, and walked. Getting lost in the labyrinth of narrow streets and canals for sure is the most pleasant activity to do in Venice. You never know where it will lead and what you’re going to find there.
Also, we visited the San Marco Basilica. At the end of the day, the queue to it was quite short and the entrance was free so we couldn’t miss this opportunity. The Basilica was incredible. So spacious and majestic, full of pieces of art and enchanting. A must-see sight in Venice.
One more lovely place we visited was the Libreria Alta Acqua. I accidentally found it on Foursquare when looking for a place to eat and gladly I checked the pics from there. It’s an incredible bookstore full of new and old books, cats and other pretty things. But it’s special because of how low and close to the canal it is. Lovely place, recommend to visit it!
And so the first day went by. When we were back at our hotel, on Instagram I saw posts from Venice Art Biennale. For some reason, I completely forgot about this event. Gladly, we still had one more day. Which all was spent at appreciating artworks.
Early in the morning, we got ready and went to the Art Biennale. The way from our hotel, Locanda Ca Formosa, to the main location of Art Biennale was a bit further from the main routes and surprisingly, those streets were empty. Only cats, elder ladies, kids, and laundry hanging above could be seen there. That’s when Pavelas also fell in love with Venice. So calm, peaceful and cozy it was.
Speaking of the Art Biennale, we didn’t know what to expect there. We just read that some people go to Venice specifically to visit this event and dedicate two or even three days for that. We thought it was exaggerated. Well, it wasn’t. We spent the whole day in the Art Biennale and didn’t manage to see it all. Not to mention the last few hours we were truly rushing to see as much as possible. Most of the artworks were very interesting and we were incredibly happy about coming there.
Well, but the evening came and we had to leave… Gladly, there was one more thrilling experience waiting for us, the river bus! One of the Art Biennale locations took place in the garden further from the heart of Venice and as our feet were already aching, we took the river bus to Rialto bridge. The journey was lovely, we took lots of pictures, saw many gorgeous buildings, and simply had a great time there.
One and a half days in Venice passed incredibly quickly but our time there was surreal. We both were sad to leave it and wished for at least one more day but Como was calling us and we had to go. However, there’s a high chance we’ll come back there for the upcoming Venice Art Biennale.
In case you missed previous Italy travel-series posts, catch up with them there: train-tripping, Florence, Bologna.