by Matt Knight
Thursday February 16, 2023 • 7 min read
Venice has been on our bucket list for a long time, and finally we had the opportunity to explore this amazing island city.
Over the past month or so in Rome, we've been out and about, exploring the city - its culture, its history and of course, its cuisine.
But last week we decided to venture a little further afield: Venice!
Venice is one of Europe's most iconic cities, built atop 118 islands, separated by canals spanned by over 400 bridges. While Diana and I have both traveled extensively around Europe in the past, neither of us had ever been to Venice...until now.
As a foreword, I'm not going to attempt to describe everything we did and saw in Venice - this is just the highlights.
From Rome to Venice
The easiest way, in our opinion, to get to Venice from Rome is by train. There are essentially two different trains you can take - the slow train, taking 6-8 hours, or the fast train, taking around 4 hours. While the fast train was more expensive, we decided to splurge.
We booked just a few days prior to our trip and paid a total of €295.60, including a €10 premium to upgrade to Prima class. While pricey, it was well worth it.
We took the train from Rome Termini to Venezia St Lucia. We had seats opposite each other, and a table with power outlets for our laptops and phones. The train was quiet, smooth and comfortable.
Arriving in Venice
We had booked a 2-night stay at the AC Hotel Venezia using Marriott Bonvoy points. Our train arrived around 1pm, and the hotel is just a short walk from the station so we checked in on arrival and dropped off our luggage.
Time to explore. Well, first, lunch!
We absolutely lucked out on the weather in Venice - clear blue skies and sunshine for the duration of our stay. Despite having seen countless movies and photos from Venice, we were still blown away by its beauty.
We ambled a short distance from the hotel and found a little restaurant down by the canal. We both went for pizza, although I was a little more reserved (Quattro Staggioni) than Diana who went for the local delicacy - nero di seppia, or black cuttlefish.
After lunch we took a walk around the city before heading back to the hotel to unpack. Before long it was time to head back out for our evening's activity - a food tour!
Food tour
We had booked the group food tour on Airbnb and it involved meeting the host on the other side of the city - in Campo St Bortolomio. It took about half an hour to walk there, winding our way through the city's narrow streets, crossing countless bridges along the way.
It sounds obvious now that I'm writing it, but there are no cars. No motorcycles. No trucks. The streets are fully pedestrianized. It's an incredible city for walking around - so quiet, and no risk of being run over.
Well, not by cars, but maybe by other pedestrians! Unlike in Rome where are almost always the fastest pedestrians around, in Venice people were flying past us! I'm not sure why, but everyone seemed to be in a rush.
Regardless, soon enough we had met our guide and began our tour. Over the next few hours we visited several different cafes, restaurants and bars and tasted lots of local delicacies - including cicchetti (small, appetizer-like morsels of food) and of course an aperol spritz.
Fish market
The next morning, Friday, we set out to explore as much of the city as we could - conscious it was our only full day in Venice.
On our food tour the previous evening we had walked through the fish market, albeit well after the market had closed for the day so it was deserted. However, we were keen to visit so we made it our first stop of the day.
Indicative of a broader, sad, trend in Venice, the local market has been declining over the years. There are now fewer than 50,000 permanent Venetian residents - a number dwarfed by the tens of millions of tourists who visit every year. It's one of a number of crises the city is facing, and we couldn't help but feel guilty that we were tourists too - we were part of the problem.
While we weren't in a position to buy fresh fish in the market, we could at least support local businesses - so we had some fried seafood and fresh oysters at a seafood cafe next to the market.
Piazza San Marco
After our morning seafood pick-me-up, we continued on to Piazza San Marco, the large square in front of St Mark's Basilica - arguably the most famous of Venice's many tourist attractions.
Even though we were visiting in mid-February, low season in Venice, it was busy in the piazza. As in Rome, we had downloaded one of Rick Steves' audio guides which, over the next half an hour, walked us around Piazza San Marco teaching us about the history and architecture of the area.
Originally we had planned to visit the Basilica itself, but the line was long so we decided to come back early the following morning.
Instead we took a slow amble back through the streets of Venice, seeking out quirky shops and interesting things to see.
Libreria Acqua Alta
Before dinner that evening we found one particularly quirky such shop, the Libreria Acqua Alta with its overflowing shelves of books and a gondola in the center. What better way to protect the books from the risk of flooding than by storing them in a boat?!
St Mark's Basilica - take 2
We left the hotel at about 8:45am and, after a quick stop for a breakfast pastry, made it to the Basilica by 9:15am - about 15 minutes ahead of its opening. There was already a line forming, but we were only about 100ft from the front.
Once it opened, it wasn't long before we had reached the front of the line - but by then the line had grown to several times longer than it had been. Definitely worth getting there early for!
We had already downloaded our Rick Steves' audio guide so we didn't buy the digital audio guide offered inside. As previously, we found the Rick Steves guide to be very good, as it led us around not just the basilica floor, but up into the museum and out onto the balcony.
St Mark's Basilica is an absolutely incredible building. It stands as a testament to the importance that Venice once held, something neither Diana or I had appreciate prior to our visit - Venice was the first international financial center and an important center of commerce for centuries.
Ferry ride
No trip to Venice would be complete without a ride along the canal. While we opted not to take a ride on a gondola, we instead chose to take the ferry from the basilica back to our hotel.
We listened to another audio guide on our way back, although we were traveling the route in reverse which made the whole endeavor a little more complicated!
Wrapping up
All too quickly it was time to head home. Our train departed at 4pm, giving us ample time for a leisurely lunch and a final stroll around the beautiful city streets.
Our time in Venice was short - just 2 nights - but we made the most of it. I've only included the highlights in this blog post, but we saw a plethora of other sites and attractions too. We crammed in as much as we possibly could.
Venice is a truly stunning destination - I took over 400 photos in our short time there! We were incredibly lucky to get such great weather, especially at this time of year.
It's sad to hear of the challenges facing Venice. We are grateful to have seen Venice, but hope it won't be our last time to visit this awe-inspiring city.
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