Venice

Venice is a city I know well and still….it confuses me every time.

I got to first know her while living in Padova and working as an au pair. A friend and I worked caring for the children of different siblings of the same family. Our families lived a couple miles apart, so it was a daily occurrence that we would get together and do something with the kids who were not old enough to be in school. Go to the park, walk around the historic city center, get a coffee….you know, the uzsh. If I remember correctly, we had one weekend off a month and one day a week. I know for sure we had one day a week off. We would save our weekends for longer trips to a new city.

The one day a week we had off, we had to stick closer to home. Our default became:

“I dunno….do you just want to go to Venice for the day?”

-Things we said on an almost weekly basis.

I love that this was our default. I love that I got to say this. I love that it became a ‘meh’ option but it was better than nothing. I can recognize the lunacy of the situation. At the time, in my early 20s, my attitude needed work. Looking back, the late 40s self, cannot believe what an incredible situation that really was.

Venice for the day was our ‘meh’ option.

My early 20s self could, and did, still appreciate the uniqueness of La Serenissima. The architecture, the canals, the pigeons, the alleyways that dead-end all of a sudden, the bridges, the Murano glass everywhere, the Carnival masks, and the Venetians…..all of it was different. I could appreciate, even then in my jaded state, that I was in a place that was truly like no other and that people came from all over the world to be there. Just to BE there. And all I had to do was jump on a train and head 20 minutes east.

Today, more than 20 years later, Venice is still unique and a place on many people’s bucket lists of place to go and see before they die. There are a couple things that I want to suggest when planning your trip to Venice:

*Venice is expensive.

There is no getting around it. If everybody wants to go there, Venice can get away with being expensive. Know that going in and you won’t NOT feel horrid paying 7 euros for a bottle of water but at least you expected it?

*Stay at least one night in Venice itself.

If your itinerary only allows for a day trip, it will afford you the opportunity to experience Venice and that is at least something. However, Venice is a TOTALLY different city at night than in the day, especially at peak season. Peak Season is May to October and then during Carnivale (Think Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras time right before Lent begins.).

During the peak season of May to October, the place is packed. Not like the shopping mall before Christmas…..like crazy packed, leaving the stadium after the Super Bowl packed. Narrow alleyways, shuffling behind throngs of people in a cattle chute with zero opportunity to pass….and it is like this everywhere you probably want to go just like the 13,000 other people there that day. Tour guides, with raised umbrella or flags so that there group knows where they are, leading a group of 25 towards the next location but walking at a snail’s pace so that they can talk and the people can listen through the Whisper headsets and look at the topic of conversation.

It’s hot, it’s muggy, it can sometimes be stinky….all true; even the snapshot described above can still be enjoyable with the right attitude.

You are in Venice.

But staying the night………please do. The cruise ships that have dumped their load onto the city have packed up and departed, the day trippers have left for their next destination and some of the few remaining Venetians that work off the islands on the mainland have returned home. You don’t have the city to yourself but it has become another world.

You can wander the alleys and piazzas less impeded. You can window shop without being jostled. You can grab a glass of wine and some cicchetti (Think Venetian tapas) and watch the world go by at a local establishment.

At night, with fewer people, La Serenissima is truly that….or as much as it can be. ‘The Most Serene’ is an apt name especially in comparison to the same location during the day. Venice was labeled as such because of the political stability of the Venetian Republic, the separateness of a maritime republic that was removed from the mainland, and the attitudes of the Venetian citizens at the time who mostly got along with each other and avoided international conflict when they could. At night, the lights, reflecting off the water, the sound of the gentle waves, the clinking of glasses and cutlery of people at the cafes in the piazzas as you walk by, and people strolling at a leisurely pace….all that combines to a feeling of serenity.

Stay the night in Venice if at all possible.

*Go to Venice to BE in Venice, don’t go to SEE Venice.

The distinction is small but important. There are things to do in Venice and things to see…..important things depending upon your interests. Gondola rides, art museums, historical sites like the jail that housed Casanova, churches and many more.

See some things that are important to you, of course. Maybe check off one or two of the things that everyone said you must see when you are in Venice. Or not. Embrace the city, warts and all, beauty and all, and just be there. Wander. Get lost. Duck into a small shop that looks interesting. Sit in the Piazza San Marco, paying exorbitant prices for an espresso, and watch the tourists, tours, and people go by for an hour….or two.

As with any trip, especially a once in a life time trip that Venice is often a stop within a packed itinerary, there is a laundry list of things that you feel you must do and see. Venice’s beauty is in just being there, in my opinion. It is such a unique city with its quirks and ticks, certainly. Yes, the canals can smell as low tide. Yes, the city floods at high tide in the spring. Yes, it is busy all the time. Yes, it can feel like Disney created it especially for you. Yes, you WILL get lost. Even with all the times I have been, even now, I have yet to complete a stay there without getting lost or finding a dead end.

Don’t be the harried tourists that are sweaty and crabby at each other and everyone else. Don’t worry if you don’t get to see the inside of the Basilica San Marco….do a fly by, it is gorgeous on the outside. Or even better at night, lit from within with such a glow. Beautiful. Just like the city itself.