Venice!
On the way to Venice from Ljubljana, we stopped by Trieste and took a quick 20-minute walk to the beach to catch the scarlet sunset. We hopped on our connecting train, saw a couple megayachts in the water, and reached Venice late at night. Josh and I were starving, so we stopped at the nearby Trattoria Alle Lance. The food was great, and the service was from an old Italian lady that treated everyone like her own grandchildren, urging them to eat and order more. Before it got too late, though, we bought our water bus tickets and took a water taxi to Lido Island, and checked into our Airbnb room for the night.
After our 3-country adventure the day before (Zagreb, Ljubljana, Venice), we were exhausted and barely made it out the door the next morning around 11 AM. I, of course, forgot my water bus card and had to go back to get it. We finally made it to the famous canal city of Venice and explored the streets while looking for Maarten. On the way, we got hungry and got some delicious cannolis, and took in the vibe of the city. Soon, we found our Dutch friend and together we grabbed a pasta lunch at Osteria Ristorante No 1. The olive oil was delicious, which I found is a commonality at most restaurants in Italy and France. For dessert, we walked around and grabbed another cannoli, but this one wasn’t as good because it was way too sweet to the point where it gave us headaches. Next, we took a water bus to the northern parts of the city which were less populated than the others.
Oh yeah, this is a good place to note this, but the tourism in this city has gotten out of hand. Every street and canal was stuffed with tourists to the point where you couldn’t enjoy the vibes of the city from the main areas. Even the shops were all touristified, with all of them being souvenir stands or overpriced gelato stands. I really have no room to say anything, since I was a tourist buying gelato too, but still, it really took away from the experience compared to the less-popular cities like Ljubljana.
Anyways, back to Venezia. After a quick stroll around what seemed like an abandoned city (some streets were completely empty and lined with dilapidated apartments), we approached the train station and dropped Maarten off. After all that walking, including over a futuristic bridge, we sat in Giardini Papadopoli Park and relaxed a little. But, not for long, since we had more stuff to do (and to eat!). We walked back to the city center to the Rialto Bridge and grabbed some gelato on the way. I got amaretto and mint, and I must say, I have a newfound appreciation for amaretto-flavored desserts after living in Europe because every single one is so delicious. Josh and I took in the sights of the city on the bridge while trying not to get pushed into the water by the sea of people on the bridge. It was a good, relaxing experience nonetheless, and we soon headed back toward our water bus stop.
On the way, we walked through Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, and wanted to visit the famous St. Mark’s Basilica. However, given the touristy nature of the city, it’s no surprise that the line for it was nearly half a kilometer long (1500 feet for all you freedom-loving Americans). So, we gave up, pledged to come back tomorrow, and headed home on our water bus to Lido Island. Josh and I unwinded a little at home, exhausted from our 10-day journey. We also decided to be responsible young men and did some long-overdue homework (I had like 3 assignments due that upcoming Monday). Before long, it was time for dinner.
We walked around the main area of Lido, or at least the area that Google described as a “Busy Area”. Spoiler alert: it was not that busy. There were tons of Italian restaurants, so we figured they’d be the same and arbitrarily chose one. This would prove to be a grave mistake, as you’ll come soon to find out. I got a pretty decent eggplant parmigiana and I remember the lid to the olive oil popping off and embarrassingly rolling underneath someone else’s table. After a full day of walking and Italian food, we returned to our Airbnb and fell asleep immediately.
Again, Josh and I woke up and barely made it out of the house and to the main island by noon. Just in time for lunch! We got Trattoria Pizzeria Da Roberto and spent some time just walking around the city some more. Eventually, we made out way to St. Mark’s Square and tried to go to the Basilica. However, either it wasn’t open or we were blind because we couldn’t see the line to get in and somehow got into the line for the nearby Doge’s Palace. Given it wasn’t that expensive with a student discount, we decided to check out the palace instead. The palace had rooms with incredibly high ceilings and ornate decorations, including full-wall murals that must have spanned 30 meters/100 feet. It was also cool to check out the armory with its suits of armor and medieval weaponry.
When we exited, we finally saw the sprawling line to the Basilica. The thought of waiting in that line had crossed our minds, but we decided against it. While it would have been a beautiful sight no doubt, at the end of the day it was just another European church that we’d seen dozens of already. So, we walked to the nearby Park Giardini Reali where I got an Aperol spritz (an absolute must-have when in Italy). We tried to find a bench to sit on in the park, but given the crowd of people, we were unsuccessful and decided to walk toward the Rialto Bridge. From there, we grabbed a water bus to Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, also known as the Salute. This was a good substitute to the Basilica as it was still pretty large, but also free with 1/1000 of the crowd as the former. While the interior was not nearly as grand as some of the other churches that Josh and I had seen, it was still gorgeous and organized in a unique way: it was polygonal with different alters on each edge and the center was completely blocked off.
It was at this point that our mistake from the previous night started to materialize. My stomach started to hurt a little, and I spent the bumpy water bus ride back hunched over in my seat, trying to avoid the people around me smoking. When I mentioned my discomfort to Josh, he mentioned he was starting to feel the same thing. At first, we thought it was due to a dairy overload of eating Italian food for the last 3 days, but looking back, it was almost certainly the dinner we had the night before. We walked super slowly back to the Airbnb, where Josh immediately bolted for the bed and I bolted for the bathroom. For the next few hours, time slowed down as we fought to survive. You may think I’m being dramatic (you’re right, I am), but it was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Eventually, the pain subsided enough for me to enter a fitful sleep. I had to cancel my plans to visit Basílica Palladiana, the subject of my 4th grade PACE project and a 90-minute train away. In hindsight, I had no idea why I was going to spend 3 hours in a train to see a random basilica just because my 9-year-old self spent a couple days building a model of it. Instead, slept through dinner and decided to just wake up the next day to catch our train out of Venice.
I awoke the next morning at 5 AM, worried that this stomach bug was going to cause some travel issues on our long train back. Luckily we were feeling a little better and rushed to our water bus to catch our 7 AM train. At the station, I decided to try my luck and cautiously had a rice ball and berry croissant before boarding our train. There was a slight delay, which proved to be a problem for our connection in Milan. Luckily, after spending 10+ days Interrailing through Europe and 3 months dealing with the SBB app, I’d earned my Ph.D. in rail travel and figured out a series of connections to get us home by the afternoon.
Before we knew it, our 12-day, 5-country trip (Prague, Budapest, Dubrovnik/Zagreb/Plitvice, Ljubljana, Venice) had come to a close.
And I needed a nap.
Takeaways
- The canals of Venice are beautiful, but I’d heavily recommend visiting in the winter months. The crowds will be smaller and the vibe will still be there
- Maximize the Italian food consumed! Pasta for breakfast, cannolis for a snack, pizza for lunch, ice cream to tide you over, and seafood for dinner
- AVOID FOOD ON LIDO ISLAND! Higher chance of food poisoning
- Seeing St. Mark’s Basilica requires some serious planning, but there are some valid alternatives on the island. Also, valid alternatives in mainland Italy and throughout Europe
- Taking a gondola ride looks super cool, but make sure to optimize the crowds (go early in the morning!) Or, the water buses are a pretty cool, cheaper alternate
Rose-Bud-Thorn
Rose (what went well): We loved exploring the canals and this was my first experience in a canal-filled city. I’m glad I got to see it during drought season so the water wasn’t overflowing and flooding the city
Bud (what was good but could be improved on): The tourism in this city is a little bit overdone, especially on weekends. Going on a weekday in the earlier months, like February, might be the best solution here.
Thorn (what did not go well): Getting sick! I felt the most sick I had been in years, and we were both suffering heavily on our last day in Venice. It might have been a variety of things, but Josh and I are pretty sure it was the dinner in Lido we had the night before. Stick to the main island and avoid Lido food at all costs!
Rohan Chhaya 