Travel article: Venezia!

A 3 hours train ride from Milan and here we are in Mestre (suburbs of Venezia).

It sure is touristy but how beautiful!

Forget about google maps, it barely works and we got lost so many times but that’s what made our stay beautiful: away from everyone and as soon as you get away from the San Marco Square, you can get lost in all the little streets, take any bridge, stop at any mini squares,  just walk by the canals and wandered around. That’s the best thing you can do in Venezia !

Besides we loved the cliches: the gondoliers, the coloured buildings, the pasta and pizza places, so romantic!

The buildings are beautiful but we couldn’t help notice that the water damaged pretty much all of them and wander when Venice will disappear...

We got tickets for a « Behind the scenes » visit of the Doge’s Palace (the official palace of the Venezia Doges, supreme authority of the Venetian republic) The Palace was also  a prison and Casanova was jailed here !

We visited many cells located behind the beautiful rooms with as usual many paintings, frescoes and high ceilings. We also got in the Sigh Bridge. It takes its name after the legend that says prisoners about to be jailed walked through the bridge and stopped there, sighing and contemplating beautiful Venezia for the last time and regretting their freedom.

From one of the tower, the Doge stood there to announce the death sentences.

Interesting visit but our guide was not the best unfortunately...

Still a must-do while in Venezia!

We also went to the San Marco Basilica and what a Basilica! So much gold, high ceilings, the inside is as impressive as the outside. Grandiose !  La folie des grandeurs !

We visited many smaller churches as well and they all look stunning.

Unfortunately we only had 2 days and didn’t have time to go to Murano or Burano but we will be back! A must-do despite all the tourists!

Some recommandations:

# we stayed in an airbnb in Mestre and it’s 20 min by tram from Venezia for around 1.5euros. Way cheaper than staying in Venezia.

# book in advance your visit to the Doge’s palace. We did the « Behind the scenes » visit and unfortunately the guide was disappointing ... 21 euros. But the visit seems good !

# just walk walk walk everywhere that’s the best way to visit Venice