Venice - Islands, Bridges, Walkways and Waterways

Off from a cold weekend in Vienna which you can read about by clicking here, I took the train to Italy, hoping for warmer weather. 

My first stop in Italy was in Venice, which is quite an interesting destination. The train from Vienna will leave you off at Padova in Italy, where you will need to catch a regional train to Venice, and then a bus, train or water boat to proper Venice. The buses on the mainland are aged, but they do work quite well and are properly maintained. Age is just but a number.

Venice consists of a series of islands, with proper Venice being a mostly tourist destination abandoned by locals who have settled on the other islands around Venice. There is however a regular water boat service to the different islands and even a car ferry to the larger islands but not to Venice itself, where only walking and boating are allowed.

Venice’s Grand Canal. The grey and orange rectangular structure in the canal to the left is a water-bus station

I took the train to the mainland station(Mestre) which meant that I had to take a bus over to the island and walk my way to almost the other end where my hotel was. There is a more convenient way to get to my hotel which was to take a train to Venice’s other train station, from where I could have caught a water boat which gets me closer to my hotel.

My hotel was a converted 3-floor house. Venice is an interesting small town mostly consisting of shops, restaurants and hotels. As I pointed out, most locals live on the other less known and touristy islands, though you will also find some fair amount of residential houses in Venice.

Venice’s Famous St. Mark’s Square

While the Gondolas that traverse the canals are touristy, these are quite pricey. It is cheaper (free) to walk around and savour the many attractions by foot. Avoid the restaurants by the oceanfront and those that line the main canals as these tend to be quite pricey, and if cheap, make it up with tiny servings.

Some of the places you may like include Castello which has affordable pizza, and the hidden gem of Osteria A La Scuela which is a good place to have a nice Aperol Spritz and enjoy the tradition of the Aperitivo.

If you’re looking for an evening joint, there’s Bacaro Jazz which has some nice-ish music and a quirky decor made up of bras hanging down from the ceiling, but it is touristy and quite pricey. But it is not like there’s much else anyway.

It’s highly recommended to grab a day public transit ticket and take the water bus to Lido island, the larger of the many islands around Venice. If you are looking for a beach, there is a public beach at Lido including rentable lockers. You can also take a water boat to the islands of Murano and Burano which are fairly easy to visit if you have the transit day pass that allows you unlimited use of buses and boats.

A 6 Euro Pizza Margherita in Venice 

An interesting thing to note about Venice is that due to its age, their sewer system predates modern sanitation practices and therefore sewerage empties directly into the canals. The city also floods towards the end of the year due to high winds and tides, though there is a plan to solve the problem by 2020 or thereabout.

Next in these series, all roads lead to Rome, and so do some trains. Or, you can be clever and get the book on Amazon to read about my entire trip all in one place.