After the first cicchetti stop, we lost ourselves in the canals of Venice to find another. If you’re ever in Venice, lose yourself. I know a lot of people (most people) that think they’re going to hate Venice because it is so touristy, muggy, and hot- yet every single one of them leave in love with it, because there’s something so magical about losing yourself in the maze of old buildings and tight canals. In Venice, you don’t really resurface until you leave the place for good.
(This experience is hard to have on a cruise ship- there’s a large anti-cruise-ship movement in Venice, reminiscent of the one in Charleston, and it’s at least true across all sides of the argument that you can’t really experience the magic in one day. Moral of the story- try to go not on a cruise ship, unless you must).
As the sun sets over Venice, the canals become channels of quicksilver.
And of course we stopped for gelato on the way. Because Venice.
We ran into a quite exhausted William Shakespeare.
We peeked down canals until we found another place, this time opting for Venice’s famous sprizters instead of wine.
Eating along the canal as the sun set.
A quick word about gondolas. Venice is packed with them, and sometimes it seems like Venice is one large bumper-boats-meets-lazy-river-carnival-ride. We knew that gondolas were expensive, but they average 100 euros during the day for a 30 minute ride, and 150 euros a night for a 30 minute ride. In Venice it would be wildly uncomfortable (for this easily-burns-redhead) to sit in a hot gondola on a canal in the middle of the day for half an hour, avoiding other gondolas. Neither of us were prepared to drop so much money, however, for a 30 minute boat ride, when it’s cheaper for me to decorate my canoe at the family lakehouse at home and get my brother to paddle me around while wearing a striped shirt.
If you do feel comfortable paying that much money (if you’re in a group it’s easier because you can split the cost), I highly recommend a ride- preferably at night or, most ideally, at sunset. I’m sure it’s a great experience. For those not comfortable paying that much money, you can take a water taxi for a fraction of the price.
I call the Water Taxi the Peasant Gondola, and that was our preferred mode of transportation until we go back when we’re rich.
The next morning we woke up early with goals of heading to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum (for me), and the beach (for Justin). First, though, we stopped for breakfast. The bakery we had wanted to try was closed for the day, unfortunately, so we stopped at a cafe in the square and ordered assorted pastries and cappuccinos to go.
A thing about Venice (and other places in Europe)- they charge table service, so you can either sit at a table and pay 8 euros for a coffee, or you can pay 1.5 euros for a coffee and sit somewhere else.
Which is what we opted for- a seat under the awning of the Doge.
(Holy macarons Batman!)
My computer is spazzing out with the volume of pictures, though, so I’ll finish Venice next time.
-Kristina
Traveler at the Edge 