Venice, Italy

The city is charming, beautiful, old and slightly crumbling but truly amazing, a strange combination of modern life amid ancient streets and canals.

Venice is quite literally a maze. It’s full to the brim with tourists walking around with map in hand trying to figure out where they are but they say that getting lost is an essential part of the experience. We managed to find our hotel in reasonable time but I think it was more good luck than good management! Good walking shoes and no time limits (in true Italian style) are the best approach.

The main tourist area of San Marco can be very crowded and early mornings or the evenings are best for viewing. It’s free to visit the spectacular Basilica di San Marco and well worth the queues. However no backpacks are allowed - we got all the way to the front of the queue and then only one of us could go in.

The other main tourist attractions are beautiful, crowded and worth the visit although Rialto Bridge was quite commercialised which was disappointing.

There are little shops and cafes everywhere and prices vary widely. We’d been advised to eat a few streets back from the main tourist areas, where the locals eat, but didn’t heed that advice and paid top price for an average meal and drinks. We had an excellent bakery near our hotel and sampled lots of very delicious gelato.

Using the vaporetti was a little daunting at first but we soon got the idea. There are two main vaporetti lines, Alilaguna is private and ATVO public owned. They can get rather crowded but people just keep piling on. If you’re there for a few days purchase a three day pass (other lengths available). The islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello are only a vaporetti trip away, Murano is a little touristy and Burano is full of beautifully coloured houses. We didn’t get to Torcello as we started out late and spent considerable time wandering the other two. You could do all three in a day though.

The shops are full of beautiful fashion, leather goods, jewellery, glass and linens. One could do some serious damage! No chain stores, only H & M. Lots of souvenir shops and stands with varying prices for the same things line the streets and canals.

As there are no roads everything is done by boat and it was strange at first to see barges collecting garbage, providing other services, transporting fruit and ambulance boats. The canals are crowded with boats of all shapes and sizes bobbing up and down and it seems about to collided at any minute but it all works out in the end!

We stayed on Venice Island which was a bit expensive (everything here is) but worth it for the true Venetian experience including OTT bedroom suite and balcony overlooking Campo Santo Stefano. However it’s not advisable if you wish to watch the grand final of a world cup event as the TV does not seem to be reliable!

I kind of regret that we didn’t take a gondola ride. Rides start at 80 Euros for a short trip but in hindsight it would have been worth it. We did travel the 50 minutes to the airport by boat which was a fitting farewell to an amazing few days. I can’t wait to go back.