Our second destination was Venice. We were only going to be there for one night so we took the early train from Rome. We got in around noon, but weren’t able to check into our airbnb until 1:30pm. We walked about half way to the apartment and stopped for lunch at Majer. There was a nice square near Chiesa di San Giacomo dall’Orio so we grabbed a bench and enjoyed our sandwiches.
I had been a bit worried about our airbnb because our host, Stefano, said he would be giving us the address for his apartment as our stay got closer. We still hadn’t heard from him despite messaging and texting him until the day before. Nonetheless, Stefano was a great host and had a trendy room of us with a projector screen, movies, and alcohol. The great thing about airbnb’s is you have a host that knows about the city you’re in and can give suggestions on where to eat and what to see.
Unlike most cities, Venice has no order to it’s street structure. There’s no straight shot to any destination, but luckily I had my old roommate Ben add me to his T-Mobile family plan before we left. T-mobile gives free international texting and data. The data is throttle to a slower speed, but it’s still fast enough to use Google Maps. I highly recommend it if you’re ever traveling abroad because you don’t have to worry about getting a different sim card for each country you visit.
There aren’t many big sites to see in Venice so we decided to wander and follow signs for whatever site was nearby. We first stopped by the Grand Canal and Rialto bridge, but much like the sites in Rome, it was under construction as well.
Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge
We continued on to Piazza San Marco where the basilica like the Rialto Bridge, was also under construction. Luckily the inside was untouched and were able to enjoy the ornate ceiling. Outside in the large square we encountered our old friends the selfie stick sellers. I’m convinced they are henchmen for the mafia.
Piazza San Marco
Off in the distance we could see the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and decided to head that way. Like I said before, there’s no easy way to get anywhere in Venice, so we did our best navigating the streets. On our way, we stopped by some shops to look at the Murano glass sculptures and bought a Sicilian cannoli at a bakery.
One tip I should mention, don’t take a picture of the first gondola you see, they are everywhere. At every canal we passed we saw gondoliers steering boats full of passengers. We only found one that had someone singing “That’s Amore.”
For dinner, we went Barabbaria for some pizza and wine. It was in the corner of a large square. The pizza was okay, but we enjoyed watching some college students kick a soccer ball around. We didn’t finish our bottle of wine and decided to save it for our trip to Zurich the following day. Afterwards, we went to a gelateria called Suso that Stefano had recommended and it was by far the best I had in Italy.
Tiramisu and chocolate gelato
Once it was dark we headed back to Piazza San Marco where small bands were playing outside some restaurants. Each would take it’s turn and when they were done the crowd would migrate to the next stage.
We ended the night watching Catch Me If You Can on the projector while enjoying some limoncello.
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