Venice

Bongiorno! We are going from one city by the sea to another. From Istanbul to Venice!

A view from venice

It is a city in northern Italy. I guess everybody heard at least once in his life about Venice. Even you didn’t visit; you should know it from the movies. Or you should have heard about it from the people who visited. It is mostly associated with love. They say it is a love city. I should admit that Venice is a really romantic city. But I can´t say that I was fully romantic and felt wonderful in Venice. The people living and working in Venice destroy the romanticism of the city somehow… I will tell about it later. But first let´s learn about the beautiful parts of Venice…

Gondola!

 

It is up to you how to go to Venice. If you are coming from another country you should fly to Venice Marco Polo Airport. It is not very far from the Venice city center. Then you can go to the main bus station with a bus. Bus services are very good and cheap in northern parts. I can´t tell anything about southern parts because I wasn´t there. But I guess it is same in the whole country.  For instance for an hour trip we had paid around 3 euros. When you come to the bus station then you have to get a boat. 

Travel by sea

 

San Marco

There are no vehicles inside Venice. You can go everywhere only by sea. If you want to start from the center, your stop is San Marco.

To go to the  St. Mark's Square you should get out of the boat here

 

San Marco lies in the heart of the city. There are many famous sights to see. For instance St. Mark's Square, Saint Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the La Fenice theatre and the churches of San Beneto, San Fantin, Santa Maria del Giglio, San Maurizio are the most famous ones.

St. Mark's Square

The architecture of the buildings is fabulous. But especially in summer time it is very crowded. To enter a museum or church, you should wait at least 20-30 minutes in queue.

No food!

Here comes the negative parts. First it is not allowed to eat in St. Mark's Square. Yes, you heard correctly. There are police everywhere and they don’t let you sit somewhere in the middle of the square, in front of any building and eat something. I don’t know the reason but I guess they want to force you to eat in the restaurants.  But I admit that I ate my cookies secretly in the St. Mark's Square!

A romantic or a commercial city?

 

Screaming children and the toilet problem

And secondly the people are sometimes or most often very rude. It is not allowed to use the toilets in the cafes or restaurants unless you are a customer. First you should eat or drink something and then you can use the toilette. It is written everywhere. And there is only one or two public toilettes and they are extraordinarily expensive. That is also another way of forcing people to sit and eat something I guess. I admit that I did it as well a few times. We drank something and then used the toilet. But we lived unpleasant things too. Once we entered a café and ordered a drink. And I wanted to use the toilette but we didn’t get our drink yet. When I moved courage sly towards the toilet, a Japanese waiter screamed at me! Yes, he did. He said I am not allowed to use the toilette and made strange gestures. I was afraid that he would start making charade soon.  I told him that I was a guest there and ordered something already. Then he looked around and allowed me after a few minutes thinking. Thanks god! Somehow that Japanese guy had become more Venetian than the real Venetians! So if you have little children, it might be an unpleasant experience for you. Think you have a child who cry and says “Mama, I want to go to toilet.” And your answer: ”Wait, my child, first we have to drink something and then you can pee”…  Such kind of things you will meet everywhere in Venice and these are things that kills the romanticism of the city as I mentioned at the beginning. Everything was turned into a commercial good and all the people wandering around are seen as potential customers, money givers… 

As ambulance or each other institution in Venice, finance office also uses boats to go from somewhere to somewhere. May be they were after tax invaders!

Boat of the finance office

Gondolas!

As I said sometimes we lived unpleasant things but of course it was a nice trip in general. Especially the gondolas! They are the symbols and the most important feature of Venice. And although it is very expensive, wandering around or inside Venice with a gondola is an unforgettable experience. There are so many gondola services around Venice. They cost between 80-120 euro.

A gondola service seen far away

Of course the charge changes between the night and the evening. During the day it is cheaper.

But it is nicer to get a gondola service in the evening. If you don’t want to pay so much get a gondola service during the day for a cheaper price and get a normal boat (public transportation) for a few euros during the evening. So you can see almost the same places with the boat too during the evening. 

The advantage of the gondola is that you can pass through the very narrow streets which the boats cannot go. If you want you can get a singer service too in your gondola. I guess it doubles the charge. They mostly sing classical music and opera music!

Passing under a bridge with a gondola

Each gondola service has its own men. I mean gondola drivers. I don´t know if they have a speacial name. There are different gondola companies. That was our driver. He was a nice guy but was talking so much. He was guiding us thorugh the city and at the same time chatting with the other gondola drivers around. And very loud:)

Our driver

The Rialto Bridge

In Venice there are so many bridges but the most famous one is the Rialto Bridge. The building of the bridge was completed in 1591. The two ramps of the bridge lead up to a central place. On both side there are rows of shops.  And there are also some cafes under the bridge where you can sit and drink something with a nice view in front of your eyes.

Rialto Bridge

Venice during the night

Here are some views from Venice during the night...

 

Cuisine

Seafood is one of the characteristics of Venice cuisine. Risotto is also famous. But while it is an Italian city, of course you can find everywhere each type of macaroni and pizza. Or in Italian ”Pasta e Pizza!” 

Famous Burano cookies

                              

But what I want to mention is the cookies! Especially in the islands close to Venice there are little bakeries which sell delicious cookies. For instance golden and oval shaped cookies which is called baicoli, cookies with almonds and pistachios… And the island Burano is famous with its S shaped butter biscuits…

Shopping

Venice is a little bit expensive for shopping. There you can find many famous expensive international brands. In the streets also there are stands that sell souvenirs such as magnets or other things that remind Venice. In Venice masks are very famous too.

            

Carnival masks

                              
Many of the fashion boutiques and jewelry shops are located in the Rialto Bridge and the St Marks´s Square.

Nearby

If you want to see other cities around Venice, trains are a good option.  For instance Rome is 3.5 hours, Milan over two and a half hours and Treviso is thirty-five minutes away from Venice. Florence is also between Rome and Venice.

Loves from venice too

Our next stop will be the islands close to Venice...