Italy, September 2018 (Part 4 - Venice)
Our train to Venice left at 5:35 AM from Rome’s Termini train station. Although the station was only a fifteen minute walk away from our hotel, we opted to take a taxi. Unfortunately, Italy is infamous for its numerous pick-pockets and muggers, and we really didn’t want to risk getting mugged before sunrise.
We booked our tickets on a website we discovered while in Italy called Loco2.com. It’s like Expedia but for train travel around Europe, letting you compare different routes, times, and prices for wherever you want to go. We will definitely do a blog post dedicated to this website in the near future.
Our tickets cost us roughly 200€ round trip on the Frecciarossa, TrenItalia’s high-speed train that can reach speeds of upwards of 400 km/h (roughly 250 mph).
The trip to Venice was scheduled to take 3 and a half hours so we opted against paying extra to go on the train’s business or executive classes.
A full review of our standard class trip on the Frecciarossa can be found here.
We got hungry and wanted to give the dining car a try. The dining car, known as the FRECCIABistrò, is a small counter where you can order things like hot sandwiches, chips, sodas, and coffee. We ordered a prosciutto and mozzarella panini for myself and a veggie gluten free sandwich for Audrey.
Italy has one of the highest rates of Celiac disease in the world. In a country known for it’s gluten-riddled pasta, one would think this would be a problem. However gluten free options are readily available throughout the country and often times for little to no extra charge. In fact, Italy’s national health system gives people diagnosed with Celiac disease a monthly stipend of 100€ to cover the cost of gluten-free alternatives.
Despite a slight delay, we arrived in Venice a little after 9:30 in the morning. I realized that I had been completely wrong as to what to expect the city to look like.
My ignorance had led me to believe that Venice was similar to Amsterdam in that it was a city that lies below sea level which created its iconic channels. This could not be further from the truth. In reality, the city of Venice is an archipelago of 118 small islands off the coast of Italy.
From the train station, we crossed the Scalzi bridge to get to the heart of the city. The Scalzi bridge is one of over 400 bridges connecting the islands that make up Venice.
It’s hard to put into words how beautiful and magical Venice is. It’s like being transported to another dimension where our species remained sea-fairing.
The alleyways around the city are so narrow that owning a car is not only impractical, it’s pretty much impossible. Ferries take the place of buses and even water taxis are available for those who don’t have their own boats. It’s bizarre to imagine living in a community where people use fancy boats as status symbols instead of getting a Mercedes or an Audi. Yet that’s exactly what the people of Venice do.
It also didn’t hurt that it was an absolutely gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky and a comfortable 72 degrees. We considered riding on one of the city’s iconic gondolas for the novelty of it, but Audrey and I agreed that they were not worth the 80€ price tag for a half hour.
When we first arrived in Venice, we both decided that we would not have any kind of plan as to what to do or see. Venice as a whole is a very small city and we agreed to wander around aimlessly and see what we stumbled upon. Fortunately, Venice had no shortage of things to see.
We ran into the Basilica dei Frari located in the San Polo district of the city. The bulk of the structure as it stands today was completed in 1396, 165 years after construction began in 1231. The church is no longer in use for religious services however you can still enter to see the artwork held within for about 3€. Make sure to have cash on hand with you as a lot of these older places don’t accept cards.
We got hungry and looked up placed to eat. If you’re looking for a good spot, I highly recommend you check out TripAdvisor or Google Maps for reviews on places to eat. A lot of restaurants in Venice or any touristy city in general tend to be “tourist traps,” places that look nice on the outside but lacking in any real substance or quality. There are a lot of cute little restaurants overlooking the Canal Grande but if you read any reviews about the place you’ll find that either the food isn’t good, the service is bad, or all of the above.
We crossed the historic Ponte di Rialto where you can see, what is in my opinion, the most beautiful view of Venice.
While looking for somewhere to eat, we found Ristorante ai Barbacani, a little bit away from the more popular part of the city. With great online reviews and with very reasonable prices, we stopped by for lunch. Although it was the middle of the lunch hour, the restaurant was pretty empty.
