A Venetian dream

I'm back!

So it's been a while since my first post (all the way back in February already!) and I feel it's about time to write on a new one. After finishing my first year at Uni back in June, I quickly embarked on the best 4 and a half weeks ever; inter-railing around Europe with my wonderful boyfriend! In just over a month we visited 9 countries and it's fair to say I'm pretty tired! So, as a way to celebrate the end of our incredible trip, I thought there wasn't a better way to re-start blogging than to share our experiences in one of my favorite places we visited. Of course, that was Venice!

Venice has been a place that I had always wanted to visit. So when we decided to tie it into our trip I was unbelievably excited! It was everything and more than I could have ever imagined, and we were only there for a grand total of 4 hours! Despite the fact it was a quick stop, Venice still holds some of the best memories of the trip, mainly because of it's sheer beauty and unique quirkiness (that is, when you finally escape the sea of tourists).

Here are some of the pictures we took...

An iconic Venetian view 

The Grand Canal

Overlooking the canal towards the Basilica

A view of San Giorgio Maggiore Island

Piazza San Marco

Panorama of the Grand Canal

Here are a few things to consider if you visit, especially if you are on a budget!

1.) It's true that it is expensive - every trip to Venice should not be complete without an iconic trip on a Gondola...however at $80 for half an hour ($100 if this is in the evening!) our budget did not quite stretch that far!

2.) There are cheaper alternatives mind you; Venice has a great ferry system that also features a hop-on-hop-off boat that takes you around the city. Food can also be quite pricey in some areas, however we managed to find a co-op to make a last minute picnic. The pano above shows the view where we ate that picnic... most restaurants don't even offer that view!

3.) Despite the rumours, it doesn't actually smell! This was a big thing for me as many people I have spoken to have warned me that in the heat, stagnant water becomes a problem. We may have just been lucky, though I was best pleased this wasn't the case for us! 

4.) 24 hours is probably long enough. As I said before we only had 4 hours in the city and even that was long enough to see what we wanted. Another big factor though is that in the summer it gets incredibly hot and stuffy with big crowds trying to squeeze through tiny passages. Although there is plenty of shade, it gets very humid! Also as it is so compact, the most iconic attractions are fairly close to each other, so while I recommend more than 4 hours in Venice, no more than 2 days is needed to see all the sights. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this travel entry and have hopefully have inspired you to visit Venice! I will be posting more entries like this regarding other places we visited on our trip, so stay tuned for more!