Italy - Venice

Well, the vacation that I spent the better part of 2.5 years dreaming of and planning has come and gone. In the blink of an eye. We were thrown smack dab back into the middle of a blazing hot Texas summer, and while I love Texas, I already miss the Italian sun, the smell of jasmine everywhere, the sound of tiny espresso cups clinking against porcelain saucers, and the promise of gelato around every corner :) Oh Italy, how I love you so!

I’ve had many requests to share the details of our incredible two week trip through Italy and quite honestly, I don’t even know where to start! I feel that I am just about a walking thesaurus on planning a trip to Italy so if you have any questions after reading everything, please feel free to ask! If there’s anything I love talking about more than food and fitness…it’s Italy :)

I think the best way to tackle this and share all the deets is to break it down by each location. That way you can easily have all the good info divided up by location for your own planning purposes! In this segment, I want to talk all about mysterious Venice!

Venice

How to get there - since we were continuing on to Venice from the Dolomites, we had our rental car. We drove the car down to Venice and returned it to the parking garage near the train station. It wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be! You can also arrive by train like most cities in Italy and there is a major airport that you can fly into as well.

Where to stay - we stayed in the Castello neighborhood, which was not smack in the middle of the tourist center, but was an easy 10-12 minute walk from St. Mark’s Square. We enjoyed the location and didn’t have any issues! Here is the link to our AirBnB. It was very spacious! The kitchen wasn’t as clean as we would have preferred but everything else was and we didn’t have any other issues.

What to do -

• Doge’s Palace - get timed entrance tickets ahead of time. We got entry tickets only and then paid 5 euros a person to get the museum’s official audio tour when we entered. We thought this was the best option and was cheaper than paying for a guided tour!

• Campanile di San Marco - bell tower with views over Venice. Fun fact: Galileo demonstrated his telescope from up there.

• Visit Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica). When we were there, entering cost €3 or €5 to schedule a time to skip the line. We waited too late and all of the skip-the-line options were sold out, so we arrived 30 minutes prior to opening and stood in line for probably about 45 minutes. The line moved fairly quickly and the sun wasn’t too hot yet, so if you don’t get to skip the line, make sure to arrive and line up early! Please note that you have to have your knees and shoulders covered to enter. We saw some very disappointed people being turned away after waiting in line for almost an hour. I don’t know if this is true, but I heard that if you check a bag in with security on the left side of the basilica, they let you enter right away without waiting in line. It’s worth a shot if you’re there!

• Libreria Acqua Alta. It’s a bookstore with a gondola full of books, two cool little outdoor areas, and some interesting book finds.

• Burano and Murano are both very popular and aren’t hard to get to from the main island. Burano is known for having super colorful buildings and for lace making, while Murano is known for glass blowing. If you have a second day in Venice, we highly recommend going to one of the islands for the day! - around $30 per person maybe?

• Gondola ride - €80 for 40 minutes. The fee is regulated by the city and is a flat rate no matter which gondolier you choose. I believe they also fit up to 5 or 6 people for the same rate.

Where to eat - Venice is known for its cicchetti, which are small slices of bread or toast with various toppings. It’s common to stop in a Chiccetti bar between lunch and dinner, have a few as a snack, and move on with your day. They range in price but are generally €1,5 - €4 depending on the toppings and the place. The other specialty in Venice is seafood, obviously! I highly encourage you to indulge in both while there! I’m STILL dreaming of the best fried cod….actually the BEST FISH I’ve ever tasted…that I had on our first night in Venice.

For Chicceti:

• ENOTECA AL VOLTO

• OSTARIA DAI ZEMEI - the sardine one was our adventurous risk but was really good! Bryan loved the bacala

• BAR ALL'ARCO

• AL MERCÀ - this place had what were more like little sliders on buns. We had one that had a spicy salami with a creamy cheese and OH MAN. It was tasty.

• OSTERIA AL SQUERO - must go, can stand outside and watch gondoliers repair boats across the canal. Just a tip, don’t go 30 minutes before closing or they will very likely be sold out and you will leave feeling really sad…learn from our mistake!

Restaurants:

• Al Vecio Calice - we actually went here for dinner on the first night and it was delicious and very popular with the locals! We loved everything we tasted which included aperol spritz, fried zucchini flower, fried cod (drooling), and pizza (it had a spicy salami and was really really good)

• Dal Moro’s - quick, to-go pasta. Like fast food but better, because it’s fresh pasta in Italy :) we took it around the corner and ate it along the canals! We had the bolognese and the Roman (carbonara) both with parmesan added. It was great! They have signs posted in the restaurant that tell you to eat it right away or it’s not as good.

• Al Vecio Marangon - we stumbled upon this place after our Plan A fell through but it ended up being a really great experience! The owner/host/waiter was rushing around making sure everyone was taken care of and the atmosphere was so dreamy! Get the shrimp lasagna, it was so good!

Gelato:

• Gelatoteca Suso - likely to be a line but it moves fast and they have lots of cool flavor combos to choose from!

• Gelato at Gelateria Ca' d'Oro

• Gelateria il Doge

Venice was definitely the most crowded of all the places we went to, but if you can get up early to walk around and see the major sites, you can avoid the heavy crowds! It really is like being in a story book and it was so mysterious in a way! Just go into it knowing you will be there with thousands of your closest friends from around the world :)