Travelblog, Travelblog, does whatever a...
May as well take advantage of it while it continues.
From the caring arms of our hostess with the most-ess, we caught the train up to Venice. Catching a train to Venice is interesting in it self, as Venice is actually an island (or rather, 118 separate islands) off the mainland of Italy; so the rail lines extend of a fairly significant body of water. When you get out of the train station, you're immediately greeted by exactly what you expect to find in a city like Venice, canals, bridges, tourists and hawkers, ready to greet the tourists. The city extends right to the waterline in all directions and there's not space that's not built on.
We stayed close to the station (maybe a 5-10min walk) at the delightful Ai Due Leoncini, which charges hostel prices for hotel style rooms (except the WiFi is free!). With the aid of the helpful staff and the map they provided and added to, we proceeded to get quite lost in the winding maze that is Venice. We spent a lot of time walking around a relatively small area looking for a particular restaurant (which was worth it, but sadly I've forgotten the name) because the whole city is made up of winding alleyways that may or may not end in a bridge to get you where you want to go.
There are bridges literally everywhere, just connecting streets or even just going to individual people houses. Unfortunately for us, Venice's most famous bridge, The Bridge of Sighs (named for the sighs the prisoners would have made as they had their last look at the outside world as they made there way from the Doge's [read Duke's] palace to the prison), was surrounded by advertising for a car which was on the canvas covering the Doge's palace and the Prison as they were restoring the two buildings. They did leave the facade of the bridge visible but the whole effect was a bit ruined.
Anyway, in addition to our disappointing visit to the Bridge of Sighs, we had a completely undisappointing visit to Piazza San Marco, with the impressive St Mark's Basilica and all the amazing restaurant with their various band/orchestras outside trying to tempt the tourists in. There were heaps of great sights to see in Venice, with basically the city being built to capacity between the 12th-15th century and having the feel of little having changed since (barring the tourism). In addition to our sight seeing, we did the other main touristy thing and shopped. We didn't buy much but there was a lot of walking from shop to shop and comparing prices, etc. We did pick up some beautiful Carnival Masks (well I really wanted to get one and then insisted Giffy get on e too). We didn't take a gondola ride because they were ridiculously expensive and we enjoyed just walking around the city a lot anyway. We did catch a bus a few times though, and the buses are actually ferries on the major canals anyway.
This brings me to another reason that Venice was especially awesome - no Italian traffic. You could be walking down any street and you didn't have to fear for your life amongst aggressive drives on inadequate roads. No cars at all in the main city of Venice. Truly bliss.
We also caught a ride out to the islands surrounding Venice, Murano, Burano and Torcello. They each had their individual charm and are well worth visiting (we didn't go to the Lido, because it's charm mostly lies in beaches and is wasn't a very nice day). Murano is, of course, famous for it glassware, and we spent a lot of time going from shop to shop, seeing a little glass blowing and a lot of different glass. Burano is famous for its lace, but is also cool because of the tendency to have incredibly colourful houses, all painted different, very bright colours. Torcello was nice as well, mostly just to walk around a enjoy its 1st (admittedly added to a lot in the 10th/11th century) cathedral and it's plentiful trees and greenery, which is something that's hard to find in Venice.
All in all, Venice was another great destination. On the down side of it, it was very expensive (even compared to Rome) and walking around the city you do get the feeling that anyone who actually lives there full time must be in the service/tourist industry. Not a lot of room for regular life peoples. With that said, the reason that the city is so touristy is that it's a beautiful, fascinating city so don't let the tourists put you off. Also, it may or may not be sinking, so you should go soon; just in case.
From the caring arms of our hostess with the most-ess, we caught the train up to Venice. Catching a train to Venice is interesting in it self, as Venice is actually an island (or rather, 118 separate islands) off the mainland of Italy; so the rail lines extend of a fairly significant body of water. When you get out of the train station, you're immediately greeted by exactly what you expect to find in a city like Venice, canals, bridges, tourists and hawkers, ready to greet the tourists. The city extends right to the waterline in all directions and there's not space that's not built on.
We stayed close to the station (maybe a 5-10min walk) at the delightful Ai Due Leoncini, which charges hostel prices for hotel style rooms (except the WiFi is free!). With the aid of the helpful staff and the map they provided and added to, we proceeded to get quite lost in the winding maze that is Venice. We spent a lot of time walking around a relatively small area looking for a particular restaurant (which was worth it, but sadly I've forgotten the name) because the whole city is made up of winding alleyways that may or may not end in a bridge to get you where you want to go.
There are bridges literally everywhere, just connecting streets or even just going to individual people houses. Unfortunately for us, Venice's most famous bridge, The Bridge of Sighs (named for the sighs the prisoners would have made as they had their last look at the outside world as they made there way from the Doge's [read Duke's] palace to the prison), was surrounded by advertising for a car which was on the canvas covering the Doge's palace and the Prison as they were restoring the two buildings. They did leave the facade of the bridge visible but the whole effect was a bit ruined.
Anyway, in addition to our disappointing visit to the Bridge of Sighs, we had a completely undisappointing visit to Piazza San Marco, with the impressive St Mark's Basilica and all the amazing restaurant with their various band/orchestras outside trying to tempt the tourists in. There were heaps of great sights to see in Venice, with basically the city being built to capacity between the 12th-15th century and having the feel of little having changed since (barring the tourism). In addition to our sight seeing, we did the other main touristy thing and shopped. We didn't buy much but there was a lot of walking from shop to shop and comparing prices, etc. We did pick up some beautiful Carnival Masks (well I really wanted to get one and then insisted Giffy get on e too). We didn't take a gondola ride because they were ridiculously expensive and we enjoyed just walking around the city a lot anyway. We did catch a bus a few times though, and the buses are actually ferries on the major canals anyway.
This brings me to another reason that Venice was especially awesome - no Italian traffic. You could be walking down any street and you didn't have to fear for your life amongst aggressive drives on inadequate roads. No cars at all in the main city of Venice. Truly bliss.
We also caught a ride out to the islands surrounding Venice, Murano, Burano and Torcello. They each had their individual charm and are well worth visiting (we didn't go to the Lido, because it's charm mostly lies in beaches and is wasn't a very nice day). Murano is, of course, famous for it glassware, and we spent a lot of time going from shop to shop, seeing a little glass blowing and a lot of different glass. Burano is famous for its lace, but is also cool because of the tendency to have incredibly colourful houses, all painted different, very bright colours. Torcello was nice as well, mostly just to walk around a enjoy its 1st (admittedly added to a lot in the 10th/11th century) cathedral and it's plentiful trees and greenery, which is something that's hard to find in Venice.
All in all, Venice was another great destination. On the down side of it, it was very expensive (even compared to Rome) and walking around the city you do get the feeling that anyone who actually lives there full time must be in the service/tourist industry. Not a lot of room for regular life peoples. With that said, the reason that the city is so touristy is that it's a beautiful, fascinating city so don't let the tourists put you off. Also, it may or may not be sinking, so you should go soon; just in case.