We arrived late in Venice, but managed to work out buying a 36 hour transportation card allowing us to use the boats and buses freely during our visit.
Our hotel was the Rio Alto, which was conveniently located near the famous Rioalto bridge. Once we checked in, which was a bit of a strange process, we settled in for the night and planned the next day’s events since we only really had one full day there.
In the morning, we took the number two boat to the Piazza San Marco, which is the main thing to see. Although we could have walked a mere 10 minutes from our hotel, the best way to see things is on the Grand Canal.
The Piazza San Marco is another impressive sight to see and is quite beautiful at night if you are able to go both times.
From the Piazza, we hopped onto the 41 boat to get to Murano island. Murano and Burano are two islands that many people visit from Venice. Murano is famous for glassworks and Burano for lacework. We just decided to do Murano since we were both pretty tired out by this point of our trip. Murano was pretty and we found a few gifts there for people. We relaxed with a nice lunch and then went back for a nap.
By the time we woke up, it was pretty late, so we walked around to find something to eat for dinner, but most places were closing up and we just took in the night views instead. We did not do the gondola rides, though we heard the gondoliers singing in the canals from our hotel. It was a bit pricey for our limited budget trip, but I think we experienced Venice nicely!
It is perhaps my favorite stop in Italy because the water was relaxing and seemed to add a touch of something more to the atmosphere. Also, it’s easy to walk around exploring without getting too lost. I’d go back for a few days to just chill out there, so I highly recommend a stop in Venice someday. 🙂
Our Italy trip ends in Milan – coming up next!
-T
