We were staying in Rovigo, a town 40 minutes away from Venice, so we decided to catch the train to the famous city to see what all the fuss was about.
Tickets on public transport were pretty expensive for our family and we paid 65 Euros return for our family of six.
The famous city on water and capital of Northern Italy lived up to expectations. As we exited the train station we saw more tourists than we had ever seen anywhere as Rome was not nearly as busy as Venice. Not liking crowds that much, we decided to explore the opposite way to the crowds to find our own little slice of this gorgeous Italian city.
Dorsodoro and Cannaregio
We walked the little alleyways along the canals and strolled for hours admiring the architecture and the gondolas rowing past. The streets in these areas are quite narrow and lined with shops and restaurants, although our favorite stores were the mask shops and we enjoyed watching one artist paint a mask.
We found these areas in Venice had reasonably priced restaurants and gelateria's as well as shopping and much enjoyed this side as it was quieter and less touristy.
Piazza San Marco
We made our way through the back alleys towards Piazza San Marco. It took us a good two hours to get there. We enjoyed the walk though as we got to experience the real Venice with locals going about their lives.
The square was packed with people when we visited and we kept losing the kids. Mo would run off and chase the pigeons and the sound of music was luring the others. Once we set some ground rules for the crowds and finding each other if we got lost the kids kept chasing the pigeons and listened to buskers as we sat and soaked up the atmosphere.
Gondola Rides
While we didn't ride the Gondola we enjoyed watching couples get rowed up and down the canals. It is such a romantic thing to do while in Venice and the thought of trying to keep my son from jumping in the water was not very appealing.
If I ever visited again with just my hubby it would be on top of my list.The Best Gelato We Had in Italy
While in Venice I had the best gelato of the trip. We have found that the best gelateria's are the ones that make their ice-cream onsite and use all natural ingredients. We found one such shop in Venice and the flavor that tops my list of Gelato's in Italy was a Jaffa orange flavor. It had candied orange and dark chocolate chips and it was so delicious! This was the gelato of my Italian trip and I still dream about it even though we've since left the country.
A Great Day Trip
Venice is a beautiful city that may not be around for much longer if it continues to sink, so we were very glad that we got to visit. Despite the crowds we had a memorable day strolling the narrow alleyways and seeing the wondrous city on water. Although we couldn't stay longer, we were quite happy to have splurged on the day trip to visit this gorgeous city.
