Summer: Venice, Italy

Should I go to Venice?

While still planning for the trip, we had a discussion on whether we should go to Venice at all. Venice has become so popular in recent years that it is now an overcrowded city with long queues of visitors to attractions and congested canals. After some research, we decided to visit the city and stay there for a few days responsibly. I would very much like to visit this beautiful place while it was still possible. I can’t stress enough the importance of responsible travelling though. If you are thinking about visiting the city, perhaps it’s not a bad idea to do some homework and check out some of the concerns there, so you can take them into consideration.

More on this: Is tourism killing Venice? – BBC News

Welcome to Venice

Venice was the last stop of our summer vacation in 2019. We took a ferry to cross the Adriatic Sea from Split, Croatia to Ancona, Italy and then a train to Venice. I had long heard about the beautiful Venice and was very much looking forward to seeing it. The first sight out of the train station in Venice was almost instantaneously captivating. The fact that there are not so many cities living so closely with water makes it uniquely interesting and beautiful.

First sight of Venice out of the Venezia S.Lucia train station.

We took the water bus to get to our accommodation. We booked an apartment on Airbnb for the few nights we stayed. The whole city is interspersed by water and connected by boats and bridges. For boats, there are water buses and taxis as public transport options. They can be very busy and packed during peak hours. The main attractions are rather accessible by walking via the many bridges and alleyways. It could be quite warm walking around in summer though.

The water bus we took to get to the apartment. This is the local public transport in Venice.

Exploring the city

The city was very busy and packed with tourists. As we were getting around, the water buses and the narrow alleyways between the buildings were all filled with tourists. Long queues waiting outside of major attractions were commonplace. We spent some time to stroll around the city and enjoyed the nice views. The fact that most of the buildings were surrounded by water and we had to walk over numerous small bridges to get from one place to another was an uniquely interesting experience. There were plenty of shops and restaurants in the central area. They were also filled with visitors though.

Walking through Venice is uniquely interesting with nice views everywhere and most buildings are surrounded by water. You can travel from one place to another by boats such as the water buses or water taxis. The fancier gondola is a more luxurious option.

I usually try to do a free local walking tour in a new city I visit – free meaning tip-based for these tours. I like how they tell you stories about the city and give you some local recommendations on things to do and places to go. In my experience, these walking guides are usually quite good, and they kind of have to be if they get paid for their service after the tour. These walking tours have become widely popular and are readily available in all major cities I’ve been to. They can be easily searchable online. We found this Venice free walking tour online during our time there. Our guide took us through the alleyways with some histories of the city and stories of the difference buildings. She was enthusiastic and informative. She also gave us some suggestions on some local dishes that we should try.

There is no shortage of information on the major attractions in central Venice such as St. Mark’s Square and Doge’s Palace that you can easily look up on the internet. For this post, I wanted to share a little about the glass museum in Murano, which is a series of islands linked by bridges and lies about 1.5 km north of Venice. It is accessible by water buses from Venice. Murano is known for its glass making. Many of the beautiful artworks of glass sold in Venice are made in Murano. We went to the glass museum there and learnt much about the interesting history of glass making and its development over the centuries – from invention and exchange of knowledge and skills with other regions, to innovation of the various techniques and colouring. Some of the stories and the glass artworks were quite fascinating. Something to consider if you have half a day to spare in Venice.

These small pieces of clear glass with tiny pieces of glass artworks depicting different objects within them were fascinating. Displayed in the glass museum in Murano.

Cicchetti: Venetian tapas

There is plenty of nice food in Italy. For Venice, I would like to introduce cicchetti. They are typical Venetian food tapas, like small snacks or side dishes served in cicchetti bars. As described on Wikipedia, common cicchetti include tiny sandwiches, plates of olives or other vegetables, halved hard boiled eggs, small servings of a combination of one or more of seafood, meat and vegetable ingredients laid on top of a slice of bread or polenta. Good cicchetti bars have their own specialties. Cicchetti bar crawling to try out the cicchetti at different places was a lot of fun.

If I may mention one ciccehetti bar, SEPA (Sestiere San Marco 5482 Calle della Bissa in Venice) was a very nice place with reasonable prices. The place was modern with plenty of interesting and delicious ciccehetti. No wonder it was popular when we were there. Even if you have trouble looking for it, there are plenty of good ciccehetti bars in the area, so finding some nice ciccehetti should not be too difficult.

SEPA was a very nice ciccehetti bar. They have a whole selection of nice ciccehetti. Even if you have trouble looking for it, there are plenty of good ciccehetti bars in the area, so finding some nice ciccehetti should not be too difficult.

Afterthoughts

Venice was indeed a very beautiful city with its unique charm. It is well-worth seeing if you have a chance. For understandable reasons, it was also very busy and packed with tourists though. It kind of makes responsible travelling even more important. What was your experience in Venice?