This past weekend was our first official travel weekend. My friends and I decided to visit the beautiful city of Venice! Everyone told me Venice was a must-see and they could not have been more right. From the moment we stepped off the train in Venice, I was constantly in awe of all the city’s beauty.
Getting to Venice was extremely easy, as it was only a 45-minute train ride away. This was my first experience with the trains and I was shocked at how easy they are to navigate. Such an easy way to travel. Finding a place to stay was the hardest part. This past weekend is considered one of the busiest travel weekends in Italy, and all of Venice was booked. We were lucky enough to find a place at a hostel (Hotel Casa Linger, to be exact). Staying in a hostel is something I thought I would NEVER do, but it ended up being amazing! We had a private room, so it felt just like a hotel. The location was in the heart of Venice and only a five-minute walk to St. Mark’s Square. There were so many cute cafes and restaurants around us too. We became locals at one of the cafes next to us as we visited it multiple times a day and became friends with the workers.
One of my favorite parts about Venice is that there are no cars or roads at all. You either walk or water taxi everywhere. Walking was the absolute best way to explore Venice and I felt like I saw everything that way. We spent a lot of time walking down the random alleyways and going into cute shops. We didn’t have plans most of the time, so we would just wander around the city and would come across some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen.
Another amazing thing about Venice is the food! I never had a bad meal at all during my time here. Whether it was a fancy restaurant on the water or pizza from a stand on the street- it was all amazing. One of my favorite meals was at a restaurant called Ombra del Leone, which I would highly recommend. It had a beautiful view of the water and everyone loved the food. Our favorite cafe where we got morning coffee was called Baraonda Cafe. My group spent a lot of time just sitting at a restaurant on the water enjoying the view and talking. It’s also so easy to find places to eat in Venice. Restaurants are basically door to door and you can usually walk in and get a table right away, which was nice. And we cannot forget all the delicious gelato. Not a day went by that we did not get some.
We also spent a lot of time around St. Mark’s Square. There were so many beautiful sights in this area. There was also some really good shopping, which we all enjoyed (maybe a little too much). One night there was a classic Italian band playing, so we sat outside at a restaurant and enjoyed that for a while. They even asked us where we were from and played a song just for us!
On our last day, we did the classic gondola tour. You cannot go to Venice without going in a gondola. The tour we did walked us around the city and talked about the history of Venice for a little bit before we got on the gondola. Weaving in and out of the canals was breathtaking. I had never experienced anything like it. I recommend going on some type of gondola tour if you ever visit Venice. You can typically just walk on one, but we found it was cheaper to book one in advance!
My favorite memory from my weekend in Venice was ironically getting lost. Since there are so many alleyways and plazas it is easy to get lost or take a wrong turn. However, this is what made it so fun. Every alleyway we went down offered us a different view and showed a different part of Venice. One night our walk home was supposed to only be twenty minutes and it took us an hour. We had so much fun though and came across the most famous bridge in Venice during all of it!
Being in Venice felt surreal. I kept looking around and asking myself if I was really here. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever and probably will ever see. I will definitely be taking all my family back someday and I cannot wait to show everyone all the pictures I took.
Ciao!