Venezia

Originally posted on my Tumblr travel blog, A Roman Spring with IES, in 2008.

I’m sorry for the delay in this post. The events I am describing happened two weekends ago, but I didn’t have time to write about them last week. So I will do my best to remember what happened.

I traveled with my friends Sarah and Molly, and Sarah’s friend. Our flight was super early in the morning and we all had to get to Termini around 4 AM to catch the bus to the airport. We were all very tired because we decided that since we had to be up so early, the best thing to do was to stay at the bar until after 1 AM. Not the best idea we have had, but it worked.

We took the lowcost airline RyanAir to Venice. Now, this is truly an experience in itself. Some flight can go as cheap as 99 euro cents (before tax). However, these flights are quite different that what a normal flight would be. For starters, to keep costs down, you have to pay for everything. If you want to check a bag, it will cost you. If you want to check in at the airport, it will cost you. If you want food or drinks on the airplane, it will cost you. My favorite part is that there are no assigned seatings. Basically, it is a mad rush to the plane to get the desired spots. Everyone has a spot on the plane, but you can’t be picky on where you want to sit on the plane because you will most likely not get it. Oh, also, the plane’s interior is painted yellow and blue, the airlines colors. But hey, it gets you to where you want to go.

We arrived in Venice around 830 AM and began looking for our hostel. It was really quite interesting because everybody was just starting their day, but it felt like I had been up for hours already (which I had).

After checking into our hostel, we got breakfast and walked around. The city is a really great for a stroll. No cars means that the only thing blocking the streets are pedestrians. And trust me, the streets are not made for the massive amounts of tourists that enter the city daily. It becomes so crowded that sometimes the canals seems like a good place to get around, even if it means swimming. That afternoon we visited Piazza San Marco, the biggest piazza in Venice. It also hosts the famous St Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s Palace, and a ton of friendly pigeons. That’s right, those gross little rats with wings. There are hundreds of them that fly around the square and get fed by stupid tourists. There are lots people that buy feed and put it in their hand and let the birds sit on their hand and eat from it. I just don’t understand what could possess someone to do that. Oh, we also saw a pigeon head, just the head, in one of the corners of the piazza. A really disturbing experience.

We ended up going into Doge’s Palace which is now a museum. It was ridiculous because we paid something like 15 euro to get in, and it wasn’t even that good. The only thing that was really of interest was a room that housed this huge canvas painting of the apocalypse. We also walked over the bridge of sighs, which is famous because it was a bridge used for prisoners crossing over from the courtroom to the prison just over the canal. That night, we got pizza and called it an early night because we were so tired from our travels.

The next day we went to the glass-blowing island of Murano just off the main island of Venice. This place is famous because they are known to make some of the best hand-blown glass in the world. We saw a demonstration of someone making a cup, which was very neat. Then we did a bunch of shopping in the shops. They have massive amounts of glass and the whole time I was just afraid that I would turn around wrong and break the glass and have to pay for it, which I probably wouldn’t have been able to because they are so expensive.

After we went back to the mainland and went to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, the biggest art gallery in Venice. Sarah and I decided that we had had enough of paying for things in Venice so we wondered around the city instead. At this point in the trip, I had spent 150 euros in just a day and a half, something I have never done before. And it wasn’t my fault, it was Venice. It is probably the most expensive place I have ever been to. It truly is a tourist trap. I paid 14 euro just for a public transport boat to and from Murano! I loved Venice’s beauty, art, and architecture; but I couldn’t forgive the city for what it forces the tourists to pay.

That afternoon, we searched for a gondola ride. We had heard from some IES people that had come to Venice earlier, to get the gondolier named Fabio. Apparently he was good looking, funny, and sang. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find him and had to settle for a guy that was kinda funny but didn’t sing. I really enjoyed the ride. We started in the busy Grand Canal, but then veered off into a smaller quiet canal. It is so peaceful in those small side canals and I would have stayed there all day if I could have.

That night, since we couldn’t afford anything else, we bought two bottles of wine and a huge pizza and ate it down by the canal. This is definitely my fondest memory of Venice. It was great to just eat, drink, and chat with my friends, in a truly one of the most beautiful place in Italy.

Sarah and her friend left early the next morning, so Molly and I decided to just do a bit of walking around in Venice with the time we had left. Since I didn’t want to spend anymore money, I made sure that we didn’t do anything touristy. We saw some church, but none of really great importance. After, we hopped on a bus and flew back to Rome.

I did like Venice, but the busy-ness from all the tourist and the high-prices really tested my patience with the small city. By no means does it represent Italy’s true beauty, culture, or food. For these reasons, it it by far my least favorite Italian city I have visited thus far. Who knows, perhaps it will be a lot better if I return with a lover to enjoy all the romantic scenery.

Photos

Every year, Venice celebrates Carnevale where everyone dresses up in costumes and masks. So, mask making is a big business in Venice. Some of them are very elaborate.

Every year, Venice celebrates Carnevale where everyone dresses up in costumes and masks. So, mask making is a big business in Venice. Some of them are very elaborate.

A canal in Venice.