Gondolas Galore

Another early departure Friday morning and about a four hour train ride from Rome to Venice but we finally made it to the beautiful city around noon. It was about a 20 minute walk from the train station to our hotel, Pensione Guerrato. Venice is like a maze, zigzagging everywhere and things aren’t clearly marked. There are a few main streets in the center of town and there are alleyways, but everything just snakes along the water and there are over 400 bridges. So all of us zigzagged our way over bridges and whatnot with our luggage (and having to pick up our rolly suitcases and carry them awkwardly over bridges because all the bridges were stairs) and got turned around a couple of times, but finally made it to our hotel. The rooms were different, one of them was a two person room, some four and some five, so we couldn’t easily do the same set up that we have in Rome, so we drew names and mixed up the roommates. I was in a five person room with Jo-Elle, Kara, Dana, and Mariel. All of us immediately went to explore. 

We broke into two groups to get lunch and my group found a cute little restaurant with outdoor seating with pretty greenery and hanging lights. I got margherita pizza…again haha. Then we walked around the maze of the city, stopping in shops and we found a bakery. Alissa got a strawberry meringue that I tried and it was really good. That night for dinner I got only my first salad of the trip (the first was a Caesar in Campo dei Fiori). It had a bunch of different lettuce, fresh mozzarella cheese, carrots, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette. And I had my first Bellini! We also got the house white wine and for dessert, Mariel and shared the profiteroles. They were like cream puffs but in milk chocolate…I didn’t like it very much. Daniela got the almond cake, which was pretty good, but the almond flavor was almost overbearing. After dinner we found some of the girls sitting outside this self-serve café and we went in and grabbed some more Bellinis and headed for the main canal (it’s totally fine to walk around with open containers in Italy).

We went on a gondola hunt, having to split up in different boats because they only hold up to five. Me, Lori, Mariel, and Lauren hopped in a gondola and our gondolier was Ivan. The canal and city was so beautiful at night. I was in awe, trying to listen to Ivan and take everything in at the same time, while also snapping a million pictures. Ivan was hilarious. He didn’t tell us too much history stuff but he told us some stories and he sang to us! He had a beautiful voice haha it was just so perfect…and romantic which brings me to my next point. Gondola rides during the day cost about 15 euro, but at night, they charge more (25 euro) because nighttime is when couples take gondola rides and…well, get a little too intimate to say the least. People pay more to be able to get more use out of the gondola and have the gondoliers literally just turn the other way. Haha I am not even joking, this is for real. But anyway, it was such a beautiful night on the water, so peaceful, and being sung to was the cherry on top :) and then when we passed under one of the bridges, I forget the significance, but he had us kiss each other’s cheeks (like the European way- a kiss on each cheek). We were just being rowed along through the main canal, under bridges, through little canal/alleyways in between people’s houses, like how cool is that. It was a perfect night and a perfect little gondola ride and I’m so glad I got to experience that.

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit and went down to breakfast. When we got dressed we went out to the square and bought some fresh fruit from the market. I got a nectarine, some green grapes and some strawberries. There were markets with fresh fruits and vegetables and also fresh catch fish markets. So as you can imagine, there were pigeons and seagulls everywhere! After we got our fruit we headed back to the main canal where we were the night before to catch a boat taxi over to Murano Island where they do the glass blowing. Venice is famous for its Murano glass. When we got there, we saw a glass blowing demonstration, which was really cool. After they heat it up and shape it on the rod, they literally blow air throw the rod and glow the glass up like a balloon. They made a vase and a horse figurine. At the end of the demo, the guy blew the glass and let it pop/explode. Then we walked in like every single glass store on the island. I got some wine stoppers, a bottle opener, earrings, and I don’t even know what else haha (so all my gifts are done :) ). We spent hours there just admiring everything; it was all so beautiful.

Murano Island

We also saw a few weddings at these beautiful cathedrals on our way to and from Murano. We saw a beautiful bride and groom come out of a beautiful church on the water and everyone was throwing rice or whatever on them. It was so cool, gosh I can’t even imagine getting married in Venice! And then some of the wedding guests got on our boat taxi haha.

We got back from Murano around 5ish and we went to the Rialto Bridge, which is the main, huge bridge in Venice, and it’s lined with stops, vendors, gelato, etc. We went in some of the shops and vendor stands. There was a ton of glass stuff and Venetian masks. We also saw this really cool store with beautiful beaded jewelry and it was all separated by color. There was turquoise, purple, green, red, and white. We stopped at this one artist’s vendor who had beautiful canvas paintings of Venice. Some were watercolors and some were oil paintings. They were so beautiful, I couldn’t resist getting one. I got a bright oil painting that I thought captured the beauty of Venice so well. I’m so glad I have it to frame and keep forever.

Venetian masks

Saturday night we wanted to get seafood (I don’t really like seafood but I wanted to try some in Venice because I thought it would be a sin not to eat their seafood that they catch fresh every morning). We went to this little tiny restaurant on one of the side roads and there was this little bridge that went over a narrow canal and right into the front door of the restaurant. The waiter gave us champagne as soon as we sat down and we got some pinot grigio. They bring the fish out still as fish and debone and skin them right there at the table. I got gnocchi with lobster which was delicioussss!! And some people got tiramisu for dessert.

Gnocchi with lobster

After dinner we went to the square outside our hotel where there was a bar and everyone just hung out outside in the square. After a while, we went to the water and just sat and talked; it was really nice.

           

            Sunday we checked out at 11 and had until 4 before we needed to meet up to catch the train back to Rome. There was a big kayak race through the grand canal and when we were on the Rialto Bridge, we caught some of the kayakers coming through.

A bunch of us went to San Marcos Square (Saint Marks Square) for the afternoon. We went up to the top of the bell tower and the 360 degree view of Venice from up there was surreal. I had to pinch myself I couldn’t even believe how breathtakingly beautiful it was.

San Marcos Square

            We walked all around the square and down to the water and we stopped at a restaurant to grab a quick lunch. I got a tuna sandwich with tomato and it was the best tuna I’ve ever had, I’m pretty sure.

           Venice was just so incredible. The water was so greenish-blue and beautiful, boats and gondolas everywhere, art and masks and glass and it was just so unique and beautiful. I love being on the water so much…I would love to live in an apartment in Venice and look out my window and just see water instead of concrete…yeah I could totally live in Venice :)