City Post: Venice

Ah, Venice! What a beautiful city...and with so much packed into it! Jack had been here before, and, quite frankly, wasn't enamoured with it, but Jo and Cambrey wanted to hit it up, so off we went! The train from Florence was an easy ride, and we rolled into the hostel a bit before dinner time. We stayed in Venezia Mestre, which is actually not in Venice proper as most people think of it, but a 10-15 minute train ride from the island. It's an easy train, as they leave from early in the morning until late at night, and we were a 5-10 minute walk from the station. If you're ever visiting Venice, we highly recommend you look into staying around the train station in Venezia Mestre as opposed to the actual Island, as the prices drop substantially.

Seeing as Jack had been here before, he guided us around a bit on our first evening there. We strolled down the Ria Tera Lista di Spagna, the first road to the left as you leave the train station, and visited some Venetian mask and jewelry shops (Jack got yelled at for taking photos in one where it apparently wasn't allowed...twice). Then we grabbed dinner on the canal, and headed off through the city to take in the sunset over Venice on the South side of the Grand Canal. Now, something you always hear about Venice, but you don't know until you experience it, is that there are no cars. You walk everywhere. Which means a simple trip could easily entail 20-30 minutes of walking. Jo and Cambrey got a first class lesson in this as Jack set the course for the bar to watch the sunset and took off! If we had to cross one more bridge at the end, he may have had a popular uprising on his hands! Nonetheless, the sunset was beautiful, especially when combined with Bellinis, beer, and gelato soaked in Vodka. It's certainly a low-key experience we recommend!

The first full day was the first Sunday of the month, so several mueseums were free, and free is the favourite price of budget travelers. We hit breakfast at Bacaro Pane e Vin, a tucked-away cafe that is great for a quiet, delicious breakfast andd coffee. Then we headed off for the Gallerie dell'Accademia, which is an art museum full of Christian-themed paintings. Now, neither Jo or I are big into art galleries, and many are hit or miss, but we all really enjoyed this one. Jo and I learned a bit about some Christian symbolism and history at La Sagrada Familia and in Rome, and we enjoyed deciphering the scenes we were seeing (the information tiles helped, too). We spent a few, well-spent hours in there. Then we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia on San Marco Square. This museum is a part of a larger museum complex in the square, and only part of it was free on this day (and had a different entrance at door #14). It was cool enough with its Roman archaeological displays, but it didn't exactly blow us away. But, hey, free is free. We also hit up the Leonado DaVinci museum, which was actually just a bonus museum. The real reason we went there was to see the Chiesa di San Barnaba, which many people know as the fictional library from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Only the fascade was used in the movie, but the DaVinci exhibits inside were pretty cool!

In an unsurprising turn of events, that night, Jack hit up the Casino di Venezia (where he promptly lost all his gambling money). Jo and Cambrey stayed in to have girl time and had a good laugh at him when he came back earlier than planned.

The second day, Jack got up early and went to read at the same cafe. Jo and Cambrey joined him later for lunch, and then we headed back to San Marco Square where we went our separate ways for a bit. Cambrey went and toured the Palazzo Ducale, the former royal palace and prison, while Jack and Jo had a drink at the Florian (one of Hemingway's old haunts!) and did an audio tour of San Marco Square. We watched the infamous Venezian high tide flood the square in real-time, and we commented that while this was cool from a tourism perspective, it's thoroughly concerning for Venice's inhabitants. From there, we went to the Instagram spots that Cambrey had found. We went to the narrowest street in Venice (it was TINY), the bridge with no railing (turns out it is a bridge to a private residence), and did a gondola ride through the Grand Canal at night! We also saw some cool churches that Jack noted to hit up for next time.

The last day, Jack got up early to go see some of the churches. He had a lot to see and very little time to see it, so he got his cardio in for the day! He met back up with Jo and Cambrey at the hostel (they had the AUDACITY to eat lunch without him...for shame!), and then we got on the train for Trieste!

Where We Stayed: A&O Hostel Venezia Mestre

Jo's Favourite: Cambrey!

Jack's Favourite: Gallerie dell'Accademia

Google Photo Album