3 Days In Venice

Venice is a city whose atmosphere and sights I have always wanted to encounter. I was lucky enough to be taken to Venice for my 21st birthday and I could not have asked for a more perfect, romantic and whimsical city break to celebrate my milestone. Although originally booked for a weekend in May, we had to postpone the trip until September, but this turned out to be an unforeseen blessing in disguise as we had the most glorious weather to enjoy all the city has to offer, without the herds of tourists.

Upon arrival into Venice Marco Polo airport, we were a little perplexed by the transport options into Venice itself. Opting for the cheaper choice, we purchased tickets for the shared water taxi, however, once we got to the port, the queue was immense and we were too impatient to get into the city to bother waiting around for what could have only been an eternity. In a serendipitous turn of events, we ended up sharing a private speedboat with a French couple, which was the most incredible and glamorous way to enter into Venice and our driver introduced the city to us with different facts and anecdotes so that we could begin familiarising ourselves with our surroundings. It was bloody brilliant (and I got to practise my French! A win!). I would highly recommend paying for the private speedboat and getting the Alilaguna shared boat for the return journey if you are able to, as entering Venice in such style is an experience you're unlikely to forget.

Our speedboat dropped us a mere minute away from our hotel and we parted ways with our new French friends, eager to see our hotel room. Fortunately, our room was ready even though we arrived before check-in time and we were taken there immediately by a very gracious porter. Much to our surprise, we had been upgraded to a junior suite as the hotel had taken note of the fact we were celebrating not one, but two birthdays that weekend! We were greeted with a bottle of prosecco on ice and the surprise of a beautiful balcony that looked out onto the charming little square down below. We quickly settled into our room, in other words, flinging all of our belongings every which way, making a total mess of the place. After a little freshening up and a slick outfit-change, we set out for the sights of Venice that we had anticipated to see for so long.

We began with St Marks' Square, as it was a short walk from our hotel and was the first to tick off the list.  On the way to the square, we passed the Bridge of Sighs and paused for a little photoshoot, as the bridge itself is too beautiful not to photograph, with it's 17th century design standing proudly above the canal. We were astounded by its beauty and even more so, how empty the square was, given that we were in Venice during peak time! We went into the Basilica itself and enjoyed admiring the golden mosaics that adorned the walls and soaking up the blazing sun on the balcony area. For a mere 5 euros, I would recommend visiting the Basilica to bask in its rich history and impressive grandeur. Next up was the famous Rialto Bridge, so we meandered our way through the small streets and squares, stopping to look in every single shop window (who knew a continuous thread of identical souvenir shops could be so riveting?). The Rialto was spectacular and the view of the canal was breathtaking. A passing thought I had was that every single sight we had seen so far had absolutely lived up to our expectations and were even more mesmerising in real life. It was turning out to be a very productive first day for us. We also took the liberty of having a gelato on the first day, and I led us both to the Gelatoteca Suso as it was the parlour I was absolutely dying to visit (thanks for the inspo, big sis!).

That evening, we decided to stumble across a canal-side restaurant for dinner, choosing whatever place took our fancy in that moment. We settled for a traditional-looking restaurant as we were promised a canal-side table. To our dismay, this table never became available and we were sat pavement-side (the waiters tend to tell you what you want to hear to get you to take a seat), however, we didn't mind too much as it was complete darkness by the time we had ordered. We were given a free glass of prosecco each, which was a lovely touch and we enjoyed our typical Italian feast after a long day of sightseeing.

Day 2 commenced at an hour I hadn't experienced in a long while as we had our half-day boat tour to the islands of Murano and Burano that I had booked online in advance. We made our way to the meeting point (luckily it was only 5 minutes from our hotel!) and waited for the boat to arrive. The first stop was Murano, an island best known for the glass-blowing that has traditionally occurred there for centuries. We visited a glass-blowing workshop, where we were split into two groups in order to keep to social distancing and to fully enjoy the workshop in more intimate groups. Our group visited the shops first and I thoroughly enjoyed inspecting the intricate little figurines that had been handmade in that very workshop. Afterwards. it was our turn to watch a glass-blower at work and I was absolutely taken aback by what we watched. Now, I admit I didn't take it upon myself to conduct any research about glass-blowing beforehand, so I was genuinely expecting to watch someone blow molten glass into a bubble. Talk about taking things too literally. What we witnessed was the craftsman creating a glass horse figurine from nothing but a lump of molten glass using nothing but a small, tweezer-like tool and very clever manoeuvres. It took only 5 minutes. It was incredible.

Next, we voyaged to Burano, an island famed for its lace-making. As we walked into the centre of the island, we passed a wedding that had just happened outside a church and I couldn't help but smile at the fortuitous sight of a traditional, Italian wedding unfolding before our very eyes. We were given tickets to go and try the traditional, Burano-style biscuits called 'Bussolà'. Verdict : plain but very good. Could be livened up with a dunk into a good ol' British builders tea but that's just a small suggestion. Another pleasant surprise I couldn't help but acknowledge was the lack of "hard selling" that I had been anticipating. For example, when mooching around for a restaurant to lunch at, we didn't feel pressured to take a seat at any particular restaurant and we were actually sold by one particular front of house member of one certain restaurant who had a very casual approach to explaining the menu to us and came across extremely genuine and authentic. It turned out to be a good decision from us because our pasta was delightfully fresh and delicious. Before heading back to the boat for our return journey, we popped our heads into a lace shop, where we saw a lace-maker hard at work, embroidering an intricate design. I must admit it was quite underwhelming compared to the glass-blowing spectacle we had just seen, however it was still interesting to see and I was glad to be able to witness such tradition.

The Saturday evening was our designated Gondola ride evening, and was therefore what I had been dreaming about doing for so long. Earlier in the day, we approached a gondola stand and engaged in some jovial conversation with a gondolier called Alessandro (again, no hard sell!), who offered us a slight discount on our gondola ride. We were ecstatic and agreed to go back around 6:30pm to enjoy our sunset experience after having freshened up at the hotel and put on our dressy clothes for the evening. Climbing aboard our gondola was the most surreal moment and I was unbelievably excited for what was to come - our gondolier took a few snaps of us (unasked!), which I absolutely loved and can enjoy that memory forever. We started off going underneath the bridge of sighs, the most utterly romantic moment ever and we continued winding down the little canals, enjoying seeing the "real" Venice. Our gondolier recited a beautiful story to us (he probably does it to everyone but I was lapping it up regardless), told us interesting facts about Venice and even gave me his hat to take some pictures with! It was dreamy and I will never forget that 45 minutes for the rest of my life.

To satiate ourselves after our magnificent gondola experience, we both decided we wanted to try a great big fish platter for dinner, seeing as Venice's cuisine is based around seafood. Our gondolier had given us a certified recommendation, however, when we got to the restaurant, it was fully booked! It must have been good! We continued our hungry search, undefeated by the fully booked restaurant, and we stumbled across Osteria dell'Ovo, a modern yet quaint restaurant nestled on the corner off a bridge. A waiter assured us their fish platter was perfect, so we happily obliged and sat down at a sweet little table on the street. A free glass of prosecco later (I was getting used to this free glass of bubbles we were treated with in many places), we ordered our fish platter and waited impatiently for it to arrive. To our amazement, they had to bring out a second table to fit this enormous silver platter full of seafood on, which got quite a few stares from passers-by. It was hands-down one of the best dinners I have ever had and we both thought the quality and sheer amount of food justified the price.

The next day was my partner's birthday and so I surprised him with a little birthday spread comprising of a birthday banner, confetti and his birthday card and present. Although we were celebrating, we were also gutted to have to leave Venice and we were determined to enjoy every last second. We checked out and spent some time relaxing in the hotel lobby being entertained by the concierge (he was asking us for some English tips!). We then ventured out to the northern portion of Venice, as we hadn't spent a great deal of time there and were eager to get a full perspective of the city. We enjoyed a quick birthday drink in some obscure square and meandered around the streets hand in hand and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Recommendations:

Hotel : Hotel Bisanzio

Half day boat tour to Murano and Burano : GetYourGuide

Fish platter : Osteria dell'Ovo Restaurant