Wandering Along the Canals in Venezia, Italy

I traveled through Venice, Italy, and come across a city that was vivacious, prolific and easy to fall in love with. The train arrived at approximately 8pm and upon aiming to find the bus to where Id booked Hotel Primavera in Venice Mestra; I had a small amount of problem. The bus system was a bit strange to try and figure out. I needed to get to the outskirts of the city across the river, but the system wasnt impossible. Soon enough a couple Id asked for directions offered to take me to the hotel: theyd been out for dinner and had been living in Venice for a couple of years having immigrated from Serbia.

Venice itself is just gorgeous. The bus got me to a rather central bus station, Piazzale Roma where there were small sized caravans selling fresh Panini, fantastic for a morning peck. Following some signs, I walked over to the main area of Venice to find a number of small streets, cobbled roads and a whole lot of tiny coffee shops. Armed with my travelers map I started in the direction of Basilica di San Marco at the Piazza, and then head back in the direction Id come from on one of the ferries down the Grand Canal. I failed monstrously.

There are so many exquisite small canals in Venice but when you you can just cross one on a bridge you end up getting completely astray in the process. Theres positively no point attempting to read a map, I tried time and time again to get to a selected spot with the map and failed epically each time! In Venice youve just got to follow the canals, small paths and have fun with getting lost. If you want to get somewhere there are some signs that point out Piazza San Marco and Rialto Bridge and have directions to public toilets as well. This, I found out by the second day was the best way to do Venice.

What is extremely astounding is to spend half an hour on the Rialto Bridge just seeing the afternoon go by, shopping in the stalls nearby and fetching an espresso at a little coffee shop. The canal gondolas seem quite expensive to rent, but if youre a couple wanting an hour of peace in the otherwise jampacked streets, this might be a good way to go. My other beloved place in Venice is the main Piazza San Marco. Take the time to go through the Basilica di San Marco and sit in a corner of the square with a book, a extraordinary way to spend time.

Pick up the Church and Cathedral guide and use that as a basis to get around, they are definitely lovely inside and in trying to find them you get to see a couple awesome squares: the San Giacomo dallOrio, where one of the oldest churches is.

One of my tips for Venice: if you see something you like or a photo you want to take, buy it or take it then and there, trust me youll have such trouble getting back to that exact spot!