Venice is one of those places everyone should visit at least once in their life. For some reason, which I don’t even know myself, I never went there until just a couple of years ago, even though I had been to Italy many times. Better late than never. The most famous part of Venice, the old town, is located on the islands. However, part of Venice is on the mainland. I only went to the mainland when arriving at the airport. The old town, however, is the part worth seeing.
Here are a few observations specifically about the old town:
Venice is small – you could walk across it in an hour if you didn’t stop (which is of course impossible, since there’s so much to see). The population is about 60,000.
Almost everything is old; new buildings are very rare.
There are no cars in Venice at all, which at first feels strange, but you get used to it so quickly that when you leave and see cars again, it’s surprising.
There are REALLY a lot of beautiful buildings and bridges. On the other hand, there are also shabby old buildings patched up with boards and makeshift repairs.
The number of tourists is absolutely overwhelming, even in the side alleys. In the evenings the crowds ease up somewhat, when mostly the day-trippers from cruise ships leave.
The shops are small, and it’s hard to find ones with a good selection – fortunately there are enough little stores that you can always find something to grab for a snack back at the hotel – or, for example, a bottle of wine.
The waterbuses (vaporetto) are convenient, and the ticket system works well, once you find a kiosk that sells them. Single tickets are shockingly expensive compared to day passes, so it’s definitely worth buying a ticket for the whole stay at once.
Food in Italy is almost always good – and Venice is no exception, but in my opinion it doesn’t quite reach the level of Italy’s very best cities. Maybe it’s because of the number of tourists; in tourist spots the food usually isn’t the best possible. So it’s worth reading reviews in advance. That said, I did eat an excellent steak and squid risotto.
The city is really maze-like as soon as you stray a little from the main routes. A few hundred meters “as the crow flies” can take a surprisingly long time, as you have to wind around and keep running into dead ends. Google Maps didn’t work very well; I don’t know if it was because of poor internet connection or because Google’s mapping cars haven’t been able to get into the city (maybe it’s been mapped on foot?).
Everywhere, English was good enough to get by. In a couple of small shops the seller didn’t speak English, but gestures worked just fine. Every restaurant had an English menu. Often, when asked “Do you speak English?” the waiter or shopkeeper would say “just a little,” but then went on to have a full conversation in perfectly fluent English.
In conclusion, I would say it was definitely worth visiting. It has been one of the most impressive cities I’ve ever visited, if not the most impressive. There’s so much to see. It’s so different from any city I’ve been to. The city radiates an incredibly unique atmosphere – I can’t explain where it comes from, maybe it’s the combination of many things – but when leaving, in the boat heading to the airport, I felt truly wistful, and decided that I will come back. Maybe even to live there.
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