Venice is magical

Venice was beautiful in a completely different way than Florence. Its beauty sprang from its mystery. The magic of the waterways, its rich color, and unknown, twisting side streets speak to the yearning for adventure in every traveler. I am going to apologize in advance for this post being completely saturated with pictures, but there is no other way to really show my experience in Venice.

We arrived on the island of Venice via train around two in the afternoon, and promptly could not find our hotel. Why? Because it was down a street that looked like this:

See the space between those two buildings? Yep, that is a street. And most streets in Venice are about that wide.

That first afternoon we were taken on a two hour walking tour of the city. As we wound down the twisting Venetian streets, I was glad we had a tour guide because it would be easy to get lost in such an incredible place.

The Bridge of Sighs: Prisoners would be led through this covered bridge on their way to the gallows. It was said that this sight of Venice was he last thing they would see.

Wells such as this one are everywhere in Venice. Before the 19th century, Venice had no access to fresh water and so wells were set up to trap rainwater.

St. Mark's square. The Lion atop the column on the left is the symbol of Venice.

Venice is an island, but, as with any larger island, Venice has smaller islands surrounding it. Marano which we visited in the morning, is especially known for its glass making. Burano, which we visited in the afternoon, is known for its lace.

We spent 18 euro on a day pass for the Vaporetto (or water bus, because yes, Venice's buses are boats), and took an incredible boat ride out to the island of Marano.

Here is a video I took on the Vaporetto. Hopefully it can give you a taste of the beauty of Venice.

On Marano, life was much quieter. While there were still tourists, there were far fewer than on the mainland. We wandered from shop to shop, marveling at the beauty of the glass that for centuries has been a centerpiece of European royalty.

We got to see live glassblowing.

He made this in about 45 seconds. It was incredible.

Marano glass earrings I bought. They matched the scarf I bought in Florence.

Insanely beautiful and insanely expensive glass chandeliers.

Light houses are some of my favorites things in the world. It looks kind of wonky because Venice is slowly sinking.

After a wonderful morning spent on Marano, we hopped back on the Vaporetto to Burano, an island even smaller and less touristy than Marano. It was also filled with cats.

Our group split up and wandered the island. The afternoon spent on Burano, and its neighboring island, Mazzano, was probably my favorite afternoon of the entire trip.

Burano was the most colorful place I have ever seen.

Genesis and I crossed over to Mazzano. Down this path we found a beautiful old graveyard. 

The tower is crooked because Venice is sinking.

Genesis and I wandered on to Mazzano, Burano's neighboring island, which was even quieter than Burano. The only people we saw were locals. As we were walking, we stumbled upon a tiny church built in the 1400s and still in use today.

Finding this church was my favorite part of the afternoon. It was such an unexpected pleasure, and I felt as if I had discovered something, something not everyone who came to Venice got to see. 

That evening, because we wanted to get all the use we could out of our pass, we rode the Vaporetto just to see the sights.

Rialto bridge at night from the water

Venezian Night

Our last day in Venice was spent simply wandering the city of such incredible beauty, stumbling upon forgotten streets and nooks and bridges. Here are a few more pictures just to drive home the wonder of Venice.

My mom has been taking pictures of her feet in front of different locations by water since I was a kid. This one was for her.

 

A water ambulance.

There really are no words to describe Venice. Words are simply not adequate to encompass what makes Venice Venice. It really is something you have to experience for yourself to understand. That is true for all of Italy. No matter how much I had read about or seen on TV of these cities, nothing could have ever prepared me for what I actually encountered. But I would not change my experience for the world.