Like everything else in Venice, the price of accommodation there is ridiculously expensive. So we opted to stay on dry land instead, at an affordable hostel in the sleepy suburb of Mestre, which is only a 15 minute bus ride away. After settling in and doing a round of laundry, we set off for a romantic evening stroll in Venice.
Having fun with laundry. Not knowing how to operate the soap powder vending machine, Dylan had to salvage leftover powder from all the washing machines using his bare hands
Venice isn’t as romantic as it’s made out to be, unless you find getting lost together with a million other tourists romantic. The town (city?) is made up of 117 islands, which are joined by 400 bridges that cross over 150 canals. The resulting maze means that everyone gets lost here.
Ferries take locals and tourists along the grand canal
Gondola rides start from 80 Euro….! So we had to be romantic without gondolas
Another one of the grand canal, the main waterway through the city
Romance aside, Venice is an amazing place with an amazing story: Bunch of refugees fleeing from invading forces set up camp on small islands in coastal marshland – villages integrate to form a republic – republic becomes major commercial empire – empire declines – Napoleon gives it to the Austrians – Italy takes it back – tourist hordes move in [See Wikipedia for full story]
One of Venice’s main attractions – St Marco’s cathedral
Spot the Malaysian tourists outside of St Marco’s
Venice has tonnes of other pretty buildings
There are many different styles of architecture from the various periods.. Byzantine, Venetian Gothic, Renaissance, Oriental, Tatooine, etc.. gets a bit confusing
The other great thing about Venice is that it has a couple of GROM outlets. GROM is a gelati chain that sells decent ice creams and is also kind to forests (it’s FSC certified).
How to be romantic in Venice: Present your other half with two cones of GROM ice cream!
80 Euros! Can buy a boat in Malaysia with that kind of money, no need gondola!
P/S: why didn’t you just buy a packet of laundry detergent from a convenience store?
You found Grom! Responsible Ice cream eating.
Very good ice cream too but the one near Davide’s house was much better!
Love reading your tales of adventure, romance, laundry – and food!
You can read already, Raven?! Or has your mommy been reading to you?
Mommy reads to me. She is always talking and talking and talking and most of the time, I have no idea what she is saying BUT I get excited when she tells me about the cabutlaris. Because I also want to eat ice cream.