Italian adventure. 10 things to do in Venice

Venice is definitely one of the most visited cities in the word, making it extremely crowded and full of tourists especially during the summer. We’ve been to Venice before, on a weekend in August but we couldn’t enjoy it that much because we found it very crowded. If you want to visit Venice and really appreciate it, we don’t recommend visiting during summer because you’ll lose time queuing the popular sights and taking the “perfect’ vacation pictures is out of the question because there’s always going to be other tourists in the background.

We only had 1 and a half days to visit and because of that we chose to skip the popular sights (for the St. Mark Cathedral we had to stay in line for an hour or so) and instead we just walk on the tiny streets (our favorite activity in an old/medieval city) and see where they take us. We were’t disappointed by this choice because we stumbled upon some lesser known museums and exhibitions, with free entrance. And to help you a little more, me made a list with 10 things we think you should do in Venice, depending on your time there.

1. Walk on the tiny streets and don’t be afraid to get lost, there are signs everywhere pointing to the most popular sights. We stumbled upon many streets with dead ends, endung in canals without bridges and having to find another way back. Of course that we got lost many times because you would have to have an excellent photographic memory to get out of the Venice labyrinth of tiny streets, but you just have to stay calm, don’t stress about it and just enjoy the view. 
2. Go to St. Mark Square and take the traditional tourist pictures and depending on how much time do you have, visit the St. Mark Cathedral (built in the IX th century), Doge’s Palace (where the 120 doges that ruled Venice for 1100 years lived) and Campanille (St. Mark Cathedral bell tower). We went inside Campanille, a 98,6 m tower (you go up with an elevator) and from the top you can see a 360 degree panorama of Venice. The view alone is worth the wait. 
3. Don’t miss the Grand Canal. It’s shaped like the letter S and is 3,8 km long. It’s Venice’s nicest neighborhood, the houses’ decorations are more beautiful (they were built between XIII-XVIII centuries) and the transportation is easier. No. 1 Vaporetto takes a tour of the Grand Canal, from the Piazzale Roma station to Piazza San Marco and you can admire the many palazzi, owned by the ancient noble families. 
4. A gondola ride costs 80 euros, but if you don’t want to pay that much, there is the Venice Card (20 euros for 24 hours) and you can take the vaporetto (that’s like a water bus with stations at the most important sights). We took the No. 1 Vaporetto and took a tour of the Grand Canal to get to St. Mark Square. 
5. Visit lesser known museums. Since we din’t have time to visit Doge’s Palace and Ca’ d’Oro, passing by we saw some artworks inside a nice yard and decided to go inside. Unknowingly we had arrived at Palazzo Mora, where the European Cultural Center host an exhibition of the National Pavilions of Philippines, Mongolia and Seychelles with free entrance (it can be visited until November 22th 2015). Further away we walked into another interesting exhibition, Highway to Hell at Palazo Michiel, also with a free entrance and can it be visited until November 22th 2015. These exhibitions are part of Venice Biennale, an event that takes place once every two years (in odd years) with specific events for art, contemporary dance, architecture, cinema and theatre.
   

   3D painting

   

6. If you have the time, don’t miss Ca’ d’Oro. It’s the most beautiful palazzo on Grand Canal, built between 1428-1430 for the Contarini family, a family that gave Venice 8 of its doges between 1043-1676. 
7. Go on Rialto Bridge. If you take the vaporetto you vat’t miss the most famous and oldest bridge in Venice, having a 7,5 m height. It’s obviously full of tourists and souvenirs shops. 
8. If you stay a little longer in Venice, make time for a visit to its surrounding islands, Murano and Burano. Murano is a little town with 5000 inhabitants, famous for its glass, the Murano glass. Burano is a small fishing village with about 2800 inhabitants, with colorful houses, so different from the ones in Venice that you fell like you’re in another world entirely. It’s famous for its embroidery and lace. We came to Venice wanting to visit Burano and we’ll tell you about it in the next post. 
9. Don’t be fooled by the tourist special menus that many restaurants offer. There’s nothing traditional, the owners probably aren’t Italian and the food is not that great. You’ll recognize them by the menus translated in several languages, the waiters at the door alluring people in and of course, the place is full of tourists. 
10. Stay on a bridge, listen and look carefully. The world seen from up there can be quite fascinating. We watched the tourists riding gondolas underneath the bridge, we listened to the gondoliers’ songs and accordions, we watched people trying to take the perfect vacation pictures, even a photoshoot happening on the bridge in front of us. People watching is an interesting activity and since Venice is such a tourist destinations, you’ll find a great diversity and you can easily imagine people’s stories.