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Published: April 14th 2009
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Gondolier!
100 euros for a 40 minute ride anyone? I don't think so. We had heard that though over 20 million tourists visit Venice each year, a majority of the visitors only stay for one day. Though we thought Venice was absolutely breathtaking and incredibly relaxing, one day sounded about right to us.
Beside’s St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, there aren’t many must-sees in Venice besides the city itself. The canals are amazing and it’s stunning to just see Venice, but even the gondola rides run around 100 euros for 40 minutes, it’s not the easiest city to navigate around in, and it's jam packed with tourists. It is very nice that there are no cars in the city, though navigating through streets that randomly end at a canal can be a little frustrating.
Once again, the first thing we did when we got to Venice was check into our hostel. Luckily, ours was not far from the train station and relatively easy to find. Unfortunately though, we don’t think we got placed in the rooms we had paid for, which turned out to be a good thing for me, but not so much for Michael. I got to sleep in a private room that I shared with another girl
the first night and had all to myself the second night. Michael, on the other hand, got to sleep in a room completely decorated in pink with 4 girls. (Guess that wasn't really that bad of a deal either.)
After putting our stuff down, we took a waterbus from our hostel to St. Mark’s Square. St. Mark’s Basilica is a breathtaking example of Byzantine architecture and dates back to around 1000 a.d. Even after seeing St. Peter’s at the Vatican, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and St. Patrick’s in Dublin, St. Mark’s Basilica is quite the sight to see. It is adorned with statues gathered (or stolen) from all different parts of the world, is made of all different colors and types of marble, and is decorated with the most beautiful mosaics. Even the remains of St. Mark himself are housed in the Basilica.
We did as most tourists that go to Venice do and played a little with the pigeons in St. Mark’s Square, but were very careful not to touch them, those disease-carrying pests. We listened to the dueling orchestras in the square and then walked around for hours looking at all of the beautiful
Michael's Room
Mix up possibly? Venetian glass and masks in little shops. We stopped for dinner along the canal and then somehow found our way all the way back to our hostel by walking at night.
We started off day two in Venice (which could have been one too many) by visiting the Doge’s Palace. The Doge's Palace used to be the residence of the Doge (Italian for Duke) of the Republic of Venice as well as home to the political institutions of the Republic. The Palace was incredibly huge and seemed to be never-ending.
We spent the rest of the day just sitting by the canal drinking wine and Bellinis, visiting more glass and mask shops, and even took a nap at our hostel at one point. We found where we would need to get on a bus to go back to the mainland to get to the airport and then had dinner by the canal again.
Venice was definitely a great place to end our Italian vacation, but I’m afraid by that point we were both too tired and burnt out to fully appreciate it as we should have. We got up the next morning at 5:45 a.m. and made
our way to the airport to fly back to Brussels for one final day in Europe. Our Italian vacation had come to an end, which sadly meant our time in Europe soon would as well.
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DrakeSmart
Ann Anhalt
Venice Is Beautiful
Clarissa, agree that Venice is beautiful and 1-2 days is enough. I had a great time in Venice and you can read about it here. Great job on your blogs and your work at the US Mission. Ann http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-385169.html