Venice, you are a wise and withered old man with centuries of stories to tell. And like a master storyteller, I can’t help but listen and stare, fascinated and riveted. The hours pass by so slow, like the gondolas floating on the canal. But the moments are so fast, you can’t look away for fear of missing something important. Never have I been anywhere so rich. The air so thick, you get drunk in it. The city sucks you in with it’s history, it’s people and it’s passion. A passion that permeates through every stone and brick and ripple in the water. 

The scenery right outside Venezia   Santa Lucia Central Station

Getting lost on the way to our apartment isn’t so bad with views like this 

The view of Cannaregio neighbourhood taken from Guglie Bridge

Venice, in my past life I called you home. Of course, getting lost the moment we stepped out of the train station means my present reincarnation has zero memory of this place. We wandered around for an hour before I finally called up the owner of the apartment for directions. She met up with us at the foot of Guglie Bridge and showed us the way to our street – Calle De Le Do Corti. We stayed in Cannaregio, a residential area which is about a 10 minute walk from Venezia Santa Lucia Central Station. For a review of our  accommodations in Venice, click here: Euro Trip Checklist 3. Accommodations

Walking home at dusk. My hood never looked so good. 

You gotta love Venice. The streets are basically alleys beside the canals with the signs hidden inside the alley. You’d never find the damn street unless you had a hardcore GPS system. The map had a different name from the guidebook and the internet. When you ask around people say “Get lost is part of being in Venezia!”. Right, the city is one giant conspiracy of tourists losing their way.

The infamous street that we were searching for because the street sign was inside the alley

After our train ride from Milan to Venice and getting lost, we were basically starving by dinner time. So we went to the first restaurant we saw, which I wouldn’t recommend because it was hella expensive. True enough, I did the stupidest thing and ordered the first thing on the menu without asking for the price. Lo and behold out came my order – a 40Euro platter of pasta in white wine sauce with lobster, crab, mussels, clams, squid, shrimp, fish and octopus. WTF!?! But oh well, lesson learned. At least it tasted amazing.

The next day we ventured to Piazza San Marco via Water Taxi. You could barely see anything with the hoards of tourists everywhere. Seriously! The Piazza was crawling with people. There were lines to the museum, the basilica and the Doge palace.  But people aside, Venice is amazing. I loved the Venetian design of the old buildings. All those lines and curves. So sexy!

Commuting via boat on Venice’s water taxi 

The beautiful and super-crowded Rialto Bridge

Having lunch at Piazza San Marco. More like sitting on the steps because eating at a restaurant is too expensive

Here comes the hoards! 

The Basilica San Marco. Under renovation. Of course. Just my luck. 

The breathtaking inner courtyard of the Doge Palace 

Venetian Building Facades. Bringing sexy back since the Middle Ages 

A bird’s eye view of the Grand Canal from one of the Palace Towers. UH-MAZING!

The sigh-worthy Bridge of Sighs that connected the Justice Hall to the Prison, the tiny glimpse of the Grand Canal was the last view that the prisoners would see after being handed their sentence and set to jail. Hence, the sigh. 

The gondolas all in a row by the Grand Canal. Too expensive to ride for a broke traveler like me. 

I could wax poetic for hours but our time together was short and sweet. Someday, Venezia, I will see you again. Grazie…

“Memory’s images, once they are fixed in words, are erased,” Polo said. “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.” ― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities