Threatened to completely drown, according to some pessimistic tongues, Venice is a must-visit place. Most of the roughly 270,000 inhabitants, however, life on the mainland. The others are connected by a bridge with the mainlands. Cars and other motorized vehicles are not allowed to enter the city. Venice, thus, has Europe’s largest car-free urban area. The best way to get to the city is by train. We took a rapid connection from Rome, which took us only 3.5 hours to get there. Yet, tickets are rather expensive, about 70 euros per passenger. Delays are not uncommon in Italy. Also, from which track a train departs is usually not known until the train appears on the railway’s information screen. People therefore stand near the screen and wait until their train is announced. Until five minutes before departure our train wasn’t announced and we worried what to do. As I was searching for a staff, the train status was changed to ‘delayed’. On long journeys it is recommended to reserve a seat; yet, our wagon (lucky number 9) didn’t even exist (there were only 7 wagons). Luckily, not too many passengers travelled to Venice so we had an undisturbed journey.
We were actually supposed to meet a friend of ours. Yet, this friend decided, to our surprise, not to answer our calls. So we decided to continue our journey until Venice St. Lucia, the end terminal, and to look for a room there. After inquiring two tourist booths we found a good room for roughly 50 euros per night, including breakfast. The best way to travel through the various quarters is by water bus. These ferries offer a ride down or upstream of Canal Grande, the river that divides Venice into two parts. Tickets are very expensive: one ride costs about 12 euros (full-day tickets are also available).
After we arrived at San Marco station, dusk already ended and we struggled to find our hotel with a map, dragging our luggage through the fresh snow (yes, it is very rare to snow in Venice). Walking through the small allies covered in white was truly a unique experience. Probably due to the snow we were able to find a cheap room, since many tourists cancelled their stays. Unfortunately, the hotel was not there where the map said it would be. We then realized that the address on the voucher is not congruent with the location on the map either. Thanks to modern technology we navigated ourselves to the indicated address. Yet, there was no hotel with the name we were looking for as well. Luckily, the hotel’s phone number was available online so we could call the concierge who guided us through the city’s labyrinth. Finally, we were nicely surprised by the room, which was very nice for a two-star hotel.
Venice offers many touristic sights. First of all there is Piazza San Marco, a large square with a big tower (Campanile), a big church (Basilica) and the Ponte dei Sospiri, where the Roman-style senate, headed by the Doge, used to seat. This large building contains multiple rooms, each with its own purpose (e.g. receive audiences or question prisoners). In the basement there are multiple brittle jail cells. Apart from San Marco there is the Rialto bridge, connecting the quarter San Marco with San Polo. While walking through the city you pass many small shops offering local specialties (e.g. Doge’s coffee beans, highly recommended) as well as touristic gifts. For a relatively high amount of money you can get yourself a real Venice face mask, ranging from simple eye-covering masks (roughly 15 euros) to full-blown head masks with feathers and other decoration.
Probably the most noteworthy activity in Venice is riding a Gondola, a very luxurious long-tail boat tubing down the river. Yet, since a half-hour ride costs about 70 euros, we decided to simply cross the river with a standard long-tailer, costing only 50 cents per person. Food is, as probably everywhere in Italy, very good. Again, asking the concierge is always a wise idea. Unlike in Rome, there is not much going on at night. We tried finding a ‘night club’, whose sign on the ground attracted our attention; yet, we were unable to find it. Also the concierge wasn’t much of a help. It thus paid off to have a nice room to spend your night in.