Welcome to part two of my Italian photo diaries. Go read the first post about my time in Rome if you haven’t already. In this post, I’ll be reminiscing about our trip to Venice, Italy. After spending a few days in Rome, we took a bullet train ride to the city of Venice. Venice was such a magical city! To be in a city that’s surrounded by water made this Cancer girl very happy. We were only in Venice for a day and a half but we packed so much into this short trip.
I took many more photos and videos in Venice than I did in Rome because it was less crowded and I found everything so beautiful! Make sure to check out my Instagram for more footage of my trip as I’ll be posting all the images below as well as more so you can all get a closer look at Venice and all its glory!
We woke up very early to catch the bullet train from Rome to Venice. It was a 4-hour ride but it went by pretty quickly and we were fortunate enough to be seated in comfy seats as the bullet train messed up our tickets so they offered us an upgrade. We landed in Stazione Santa Lucia and then took a boat ride to our Airbnb which was very close to the Ponte di Rialto.
We got to Venice around noon and spent an hour or two in our Airbnb unwinding. I washed my hair because it felt so gross, I only washed my curls twice when I was in Italy because travel days make me feel gross and I wanted my curls to look fresh so I gave my hair a much-needed wash. After an hour or two we headed out to find a place to dine at.
Whenever I would cross the Rialto bridge which we did multiple times each day, and see the boats in the water I was in awe of Venice’s beauty! I’m even in awe looking back at these photos now, water makes everything look so dreamy!
We ate at this restaurant just past the Rialto Bridge tucked away between a bunch of fancy-looking restaurants. The restaurant was a cafeteria-style eatery where you pick and choose what you wanted and the person behind the counter would serve you the food on a plate and you checked out by buying everything on your tray. I didn’t have high expectations from this place but the food was incredible! I accidentally ended up getting more food because the portions were quite generous but I devoured everything on my tray! I had spaghetti bolognese, seasoned potatoes, and a salad and everything tasted natural and fresh.
Afterward, we explored some shops around this area and bought some food that we could eat for breakfast in the morning, I even found plant-based Nutella! On the way back to our Airbnb we got some gelato, my go-to gelato flavor in Italy was pistachio because of course! After that, it was getting pretty late so we settled in for the day and got ready for our full day in Venice tomorrow.
It poured rain during the night, leaving some spots flooded but thankfully it stopped in the morning which was important because my older sister and I woke up early to go to the popular Venice bookshop, Libreria Acqua Alta. It was only a 10-minute walk from where we were staying to the bookshop, we arrived 4 minutes before the shop opened so we had to wait outside with a few other shoppers waiting to enter. It was pretty cute because we got to see some of the local stray cats that roam around the bookstore. This shop is known for letting stray cats wander the bookstore so if you’re allergic to cats keep that in mind. We even stopped a black kitty sleeping on a pile of books inside!
Once in, we pretty much had the shop to ourselves, there were a handful of people but it wasn’t many at all and we were lucky enough to snap several pictures of the bookstore without getting in the way of anyone. I ended up buying more than I thought I would (check out my Italy haul) and the lady who checked me out threw in 2 bookmarks as a gift! It was such a lovely start to our first full day in Venice.
After our adventures in Libreria Acqua Alta, we returned to the Airbnb to join the rest of my family to go eat brunch at this cute place where they served fluffy Japanese-style pancakes, I ordered some Tiramisu-favored pancakes and an iced coffee, this must have been one of the only places in Venice that sold iced coffee! The coffee was decent (not strong enough for me) but the pancakes just tasted like egg whites. The aesthetics of this place were pretty cute though and it was pretty busy the entire time we were there.
After eating, we explored some of the shops and then headed to St. Mark’s Square to see the Piazza San Marco but it was under renovation so we didn’t get the best views. As I mentioned, it had rained overnight and as a result, there was a lot of water in this area so you had to be careful walking around. As the day went on the sun started to come out more the water evaporated so we were able to walk around more as the day progressed.
We ended the evening riding a gondola. I know, it’s super touristy and expensive but riding a gondola in Venice was such a beautiful experience! I rode with my parents as my sisters and nephew weren’t feeling the gondola. I almost stayed with them but my parents encouraged me to go with them and I’m happy I did because I took some stunning photos and got to see some of the water alleyways in Venice. Our gondola guide was very kind and gave us some brief history about Venice and the popular locations nearby, in Spanish!
By the way, Italians speak much more Spanish than I thought! It made everything easier for me and my family to understand as that’s our first language. We spoke Spanish more than English in Italy which I didn’t expect to do even though there is a huge difference between European Spanish and the Mexican Spanish that we speak but that’s a conversation for another day. haha
After our gondola ride, we went around and bought some souvenirs, and ended the night with dinner at a restaurant near our Airbnb. Our last meal in Italy wasn’t the best but we did have some crepes afterward to make up for the bad food. haha
And that was our last day in Venice, Italy! I absolutely adored Venice! I felt so safe because I didn’t have to worry about cars and all the noise pollution that city traffic brings. I also loved the stunning water views and there were so many animals too! I saw so many good pups walking in the streets and the cats at Libreria Acqua Alta were too cute! I definitely plan on coming back to Venice and spending more time getting lost in this city. I also want to explore the other islands around Venice like Murano and Burano. Italy was such a gorgeous country and I can’t wait to go back someday!
Have you traveled to Venice?
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