Four Days in Venice

One of the many canals in Burano

Last September, we took ourselves off to the beautiful island of Venice. Venice is made up of 118 small islands, linked with bridges. It has no roads ... just canals! And I fell in love with it whilst we were there. So incase you are interested, this is what we did on our four days in Venice!

Day 1

We landed around midday, and within about half an hour of landing at Marco Polo airport, we were on a boat to central Venice. The Water Taxi (Vaparetto) was around €15, we bought tickets at the airport, and takes about an hour to Venice. We booked a hotel near the Rialto Bridge in San Marco, so got off at the Rialto Vaparetto stop.

We checked in to the hotel, then R had researched ‘free’ walking tour of Venice which lasted around two hours. It was intense to do this once we arrived, with a lot of information, although it meant we could get a ‘lay of the land’, and figure out what we wanted to do with our time. (The tour we took, met at 3:45 at the Camp Della Fava, and although it was free, you give the tour guide a tip).

Once the tour had finished, we went for a little wander around Cannareggio (to the North of the island). And stopped at a lovely little bar on the canal for an Aperol Spritz Of course! After this, (and a few snacks!), we wandered back to the hotel, through lots of little canals, getting lost along the way and just soaking it all in. One of the best things in Venice is just to get lost, you never know what gem you will stumble across As we wandered back, we crossed the Rialto Bridge, and watched the Sunset across the Grand Canal. (Watch out for all of the tourist elbowing you out of the way for the perfect shot. To be honest this hardly happened the whole time we were in Venice).

Then, after freshening up at the hotel, we then went for a lovely dinner of fresh fish, with obviously a lot of wine.

R looking over to the Rialto BridgeOne of the many beautiful canals in VeniceSunset over the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

Day 2

On our second day, we started early with breakfast at the hotel. Then a stroll to Piazza San Marco (St Marks Square) to marvel at St Mark’s Basilica, the Clock Tower, Doge’s Palace and of course to look down the Piazetta through the columns, such a beautiful view! 

We went inside St Mark’s Basilica, we had booked our tickets online, which I highly recommend, as the queues are huge! The Basilica is incredible to be inside, and just overwhelming, it is such a beautiful building inside and out!

Just to be in the square and soak up everything here is incredible, then taking a little wander around the corner by the columns to the Bridge of Sighs. This is where a lot of people will sit and have coffee in ‘the first coffee house’, for us visiting at this time of year, there was a lot of building works and scaffolding, so for us, it was not worth the £25 price tag ... each!

Of course we couldn’t leave the square without squeezing in a delicious gelato, before taking a wander down to Dorsodoro, in the South, across the Grand Canal. This area is the quietest area that we walked around, just so peaceful! We had a meander around some of the shops, and then all the way back along Fondamenta Nani and found some lovely places for some Cicchetti’s and Ombres.

Cicchetti is essentially Italian tapas. There are so many different types, a lot of the ones we had were slices of baguettes topped with deliciousness. There are lots of bars that you can stumble across and grab a couple of Cicchettis, and some Ombres (Small €1 glasses of wine). This was  one of my favourite things to do, and for me this completely sums up Venice!

Making our way back to the hotel, we had a little snooze, get changed and then off out for dinner. We just meandered around and went to another lovely place near the hotel. One of the best things about Venice, is just the wandering and stumbling across bars, or restaurants, and that was the case with this one

The Bridge Of Sighs

View over the Grand Canal

One of the beautiful streets around Dorsodoro

Day 3

We left early, to catch a boat over to the beautiful islands of Murano and Burano. Murano, if you haven’t heard of it, is famous for it’s glass making. We arrived on the island, and took our time looking in and out of all of the beautiful glass shops. We were on the hunt for a long glass turquoise pendant for R’s Mum. Having this on our minds meant that we went in and out of a lot of stores that we wouldn’t ordinarily walk around, and was just so indulgent to just have a look in them all. Of course I ended up buying myself a beautiful cobalt blue glass ring, and some earrings for my sister and the Mums. 

When we got to the Ponte Longo Bridge, we stopped on the other side along the canal for a coffee, and obviously a little people watching! We found a lovely glass making workshop, where we watched a incredible glass making demonstration, then we of course had to buy what they had demonstrated as a souvenir! (A lovely glass horse!)

As we waited to get on our boat to Burano, we scoffed our faces with the most delicious Pizza (as all of it is!!), we then hopped on the boat to Burano. Burano is the island of lace, so there is a lot to lace to be bought, and also lace among demonstrations. Literally the only thing we did in Burbano is wander. It is the most incredible island, with the most beautifully painted houses, we wandered into a little bar for some wine and prosecco as we were just strolling along the canals, and was just the most chilled time. It was such a shame to leave this beautiful, quiet and relaxed place. 

Late afternoon, we got the boat back to Burano and wandered back down to San Marco. A little tip that we learnt from our lovely tour, was to use Traghetti’s. Traghetti’s are essentially gondolas, but you don’t have to pay the ridiculous €80 price tag, and share the waterways with so many other tourists doing the same thing. (I would not recommend a gondola from what I saw, they are everywhere! Which takes away from it being to special, and soooo overpriced!). You will find the traghetti’s all across the canal, as you can only cross the canal over the bridges (sounds quite obvious, but there aren’t many of them!), and they’re priced at around €2! A cannot recommend them enough.

One of the Tragetti’s crossed the Grand Canal right next to the art installation ‘Support’, by Lorenzo Quinn, which I was very excited to see. It was a sculpture of large hands, that appear to be pulling away at the hotel and into the Canal. It was designed to show the impact that climate change has, and that we have the power to change it. Unfortunately the sculpture has now been removed, but it was incredible!

On the walk back to the hotel we walked through the touristy market stalls and saw a man who was hand machining names onto towelling items, so we picked one up for our friends newborn with his name on it. Then dinner was booked for a lovely tiny intimate restaurant in the Dorsodoro region.

View from the Ponte Longo Bridge in Murano

Images from many of the canals in Burano

Looking over the canal at one of the Traghetti stops

‘Support’ by Lorenzo Quinn

Day 4

On our final day in Venice, we had already seen everything we wanted to see. So we had a wander through the Rialto food market, it was incredible seeing this whole beautiful market with the most incredible foods. We of course then picked up some more Cicchetti’s and Ombres, and sat on the canal by the Rialto bridge just relaxing and watching the world go by, before collecting our suitcases and jumping on the boat to the airport then home!

Rialto Food Market

Venice is the most beautiful place, and one of my favourite places I have been for a short visit. You wouldn’t need to visit there for any longer, so is also perfect to be tagged into an Italy tour. My absolute highlights were;

1. Just wandering around and getting lost in the canals, and finding some lovely places so for Cicchetti.
2. The island of Burano, was one of my favourite places. It is so unique and just beautiful!

What are your favourite things in Venice? Is there anything you think we missed?