Its Friday and the weekend is almost here! This weeks Confessions of a Traveling Stampers topic is all about Venice! My husband had Monday off due to working a ton these past two weeks because of some stuff on base and we were able to explore a little! We hadn’t been to Venice yet and we thought this would be the perfect time to go!
We live about an hour North of Venice and the train station is about 10 minutes from our house. We took the train there (each way only costing about 14 dollars total for us). It was wonderful to see the Italian countryside and not have to worry about finding a place to park (since Venice is on the water, there really is NO where to park since there aren’t any cars!)
Venice is unrealistic. Of course I have only seen it in pictures before, but that is what makes it so weird. Finally visiting a place that I have only seen in a book or online was amazing. As soon as you get off the train, you are literally right on the water!
We arrived around 1pm and wanted to stop at a cafe and have something to eat. Now if you ever to go Venice DO NOT (I can’t emphasis this enough!) DO NOT eat in San Marco Square (which is the main square in Venice). They charge you CRAZY prices for items (about $7 per person JUST for music) and they know how to rip tourists off. Since we know a little bit of Italian, we ate at a restaurant far enough away from the square to be able to enjoy Venice, order in Italian, and not get ripped off too much.
After lunch, we visited the infamous San Marco Square. This is where the Basilica is and was SO pretty! We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside (although quite a few people apparently couldn’t read) but I did get some pictures of the outside and it was breathtaking. Inside, we were able to see some saints relics, go behind the alter and view some jewels, and take in the amazing ceiling which was hand painted and done in individual tiles as well.
After viewing the church we walked around Venice some more, did some shopping, ate some cantaloupe gelato (which didn’t taste very good!), and stopped in a cafe and had some coffee drinks. We had a great time in this beautiful city and I can’t wait to go back and explore some more!
It looks like you had a WONDERFUL time!