On hindsight, a night train would have saved me some money as it was 7 hour journey. Though my concern was that the night trains depart past midnight and arrive around 6am, so I was a bit concern. Again, depending on your travel preference, night trains can save time, money, effort. I spoke to people who were on night trains, and most of them had pretty alright experiences, just have to be careful with belongings.
Anyway, the Austria-Italy train ride was probably my only and biggest hiccup in terms of transportation for my travel. Nearing the border of Austria, we were told that we had to take a bus to the next nearest station due to railworks. When I checked my journey, it only stated two train interchanges, so I wasn't too happy because I've never been good with bus stops. But it all turned out well, everything was planned properly and we made it in good time. The thing was that staff in the Austria trains station knew about this issue months ago, so I was surprise raileurope.com, which I bought the ticket from, didn't mention. Or I didn't check well enough. But it was not a big deal, and what's a journey without some hiccup. Plus, the staff and other passengers were helpful.
So I reached about 6pm into Venice, just as the sun set, and you honestly cannot find a better time to be welcomed into Venice, it was gorgeous! Although I kept reminding myself that I had not find a place for dinner and it was getting dark and I have yet to check in, I couldn't stop taking photos of the sights. So it was a quick rush to the hostel, dump my stuff, and then hurry to take photos of the sunset. =)
View from Ponte Scalzi
Transportation:
Has to be the coolest. I mean, you have the London Tube, the Austria Metro, and then you have the Venice Vaporetto - wheels on water. Superbly cool, though can be massively frustrating at times because of the amount of people, and the limited speed on water. Nevertheless, it is still very efficient because it does fit quite a lot of people at one go, and there was no ridiculous waiting time in between vaporettos.
That said and done, you can afford NOT to use the vaporetto unless you are going into other islands such as Murano & Burano. Even if you do want to go, you can buy the 7 euro for 60 minutes ticket, though it probably mean a two-way journey will cost 14 euros as there is no way you can walk any of those islands within an hour. The 48-hour Venice pass + Grand Canal tour I had was about 35 euros. You can get it cheaper without the Grand Canal tour, but I wanted to be touristy, so I got it. Walking to the other main attractions was easy on foot and bridges; it wasn't till the end of my 2nd day that I realise San Marco was quite a near walking distance to where I stayed. My map reading skills do suck.
Base/Hostel: Hotel L'Imbarcadero
Location: 4.5/5
Environment: 3/5
Dorm: 2.5/5
Its location was ace. Even though initially difficult to locate, which place in Venice wasn't? This is mostly due to the lack of street signs more than the location of the hostel itself. But it was right beside the main canal and 100 metres away from one of the main vaporetto stops. Plus it is less than a mile to the train station, superbly convenient. Environment is a bit dodgy though, I can't imagine walking there at night because of the alleys I had to take, but I guess unless you're staying in a main tourist area. that can't be helped. I don't mean to be accusative, but I think I got my bed bug bites here, and it's HORROR - still relieving it now. It's not that the place was dirty, but it was really old, and thought kept clean, I guess it still wasn't as clean as a new building. Plus, there was no lock on the door, so despite being in an all female dorm, it was scary as it could be opened from the outside. Security was a huge concern because they had cupboards rather than lockers, so it was a lot of trusting things would be safe rather than knowing they would be safe. The staff were friendly enough but so many stereotypes ran through my mine, I was actually quite ashamed of myself. Again, I don't know if I was lucky, or if I was truly paranoid, everything was safe, except for the bed bugs.
Day 1
Evening arrival into Venice
Canareggio District
It was late when I got in, so other than snapping shutters away, I managed to take a little walk around the areas of the Canareggio district which was not very far from the Santa Lucia train station. It was still rather touristy, but it was my first insight to Italian streets. Definitely tons of cafes filled with pizzas and paninis, GELATO shops and so many Venetian masks. I didn't get any, mainly because my bag wouldn't fit.
Look for shops like this for a cheap on-the-run lunch
Day 2
Murano Island
Burano Island
Grand Canal Tour
Bright and sunny Sunday morning, an amazing quiet start in Murano Island which is the famous glass making island in Italy. I was quite surprised at the silence that greeted me when I reached Murano. Granted it was like 8am on a Sunday, and being a strongly Catholic country, most people were probably at mass. I really enjoyed those quiet moments until the hoards of tourists come in from nowhere, haha. I did a lot of walking (as with most of my trip) and while there's not much to see on Murano in terms of architecture, I enjoyed a free glass-making demonstration and a trip to the glass museum. Oh, it was an amazing place to shop as well. There were plenty of souvenir choices - I was so broke in Venice, but I guess happy broke. I can't remember which shops I went to, but I think they are mostly quite similar. Do walk around though, it's that one stretch with all the shops, and a couple others dotted around the island, but since it's so near, you can always make a detour back to the initial shop - if you can remember which one it was. HAHA.
Glass Museum
Then it was on to Burano Island, which was not a smart choice. As there is only two vaporetto lines to Burano from Murano, it would have been wiser to go on Burano first when it was less packed in the morning, then come from Burano to Murano in the afternoon, since people are less likely to leave early.
Anyway, an hour's wait later, I was on the most colourful address in Europe. Made me wonder which person went, "Let's make our island known, paint it with colours!" Didn't delve much into its history, so I'm not sure if it was always like that. What has been part of its history is its lace-making industry; which is what every shop sells. With the ticket for the Glass Museum, it also allowed entrance to other civic museums, which means the Lace Museum was included. Pretty cool to see all the designs, though I didn't learn much into the different lace needle methods, so many to remember!
Had my lunch in a random sports bar, and the fried seafood (calamari + prawns + fish + oyster), OMG, amazing.
Most colourful address in Europe!
Time to head back to the Santa Croce island which is where my hostel was. I walked further than I did yesterday just exploring the area around. Then I decided that it was near enough to sunset to do the Grand Canal tour which lasts for about 45 minutes. Basically it brings you around the main attractions, and you can hop-on-hop-off. Honestly, how cool can that be? Hop-on-off boat instead of bus, haha. I didn't go off the attractions but just enjoyed my whole tour on water, and satisfied the noob photographer in me. It has been long since I've been near any large body of water (Miss the beach SO MUCH), so the canals were lovely for me.
View of the Rialto Bridge from the Grand Canal Tour
Day 3
Rialto Mercato/ Rialto Produce Market
Basilica di San Marco/ St Mark's Square
Palazzo Doge/ Doge's Palace
Museum Korrer
Rialto
Jewish Ghetto
So I woke up in the morning to realise that there was no electricity in the hostel =_= Pretty funny, my dorm mates told me some of them had to deal with cold showers, lucky it was Italy. Might have hypothermia if it was the UK, I kid, we're not that bad la. First stop this morning was the Rialto Produce Market, which was barely open, because I'm always too early. Though I'm quite sure I checked and it states that it opens from 7am. Didn't bother me too much as I enjoyed the silence, and just started walking around and actually reached the San Marco square end of the island. Wanted to go into the basilica but as I have my heavy backpack, it wouldn't be allowed in, so I have to wait till the bag office opened at 9.
Decided to have some coffee (I was a massive coffee addict throughout my travel), and some panini, boy did it empty my pocket. My fault though, I could have stood by the bar with an espresso but I wanted to sit and do some writing in my journal. Which reminds me, other than in Naschmarkt, I didn't actually did the espresso-at-bar-standing up thing, cause I usually spend a lot of time writing and planning.
Head back to the St Mark's basilica, and it's as if someone unloaded tourists from the sky, it was extremely packed. By the time I got to leave my bag, the line was massive, especially with tour groups. Silly me forgot to bring my wallet along so I couldn't pay for the fee to climb the dome, or the fee to enter the altar area. With free entrance, it was just mostly walking around the main areas of the basilica, though you can take quite a while especially with a guide book or guided tour.
St Mark's Square as people start to pour in
Rialto Market, when it was fully opened in the afternoon
Remember the museum entrance ticket? Well, it gave me entrance to the Palazzo Doge or Doge's Palace, so I scurried out of the massively packed basilica and spent a good 1 1/2 to 2 hours in just wandering around the Palace. It's quite large really as you visit the residential areas and the prisons, mind you that I did not stop to see every exhibit, so I was considered to be moving quite fast. The prisons were pretty cool, and honestly a bit chilly. Not many people headed there, so it was just me and a couple of American tourists. By far I think it's one of the better preserve prisons, huge!
Then I headed to the opposite end of the square for Korrer's Museum. With Venice, there's a special phenomenon known as Acqua Alta which is when the lowest areas of Venice are flooded twice a day, for about 3 - 4 hours at the peak of the flood. There are walkways erected to avoid the flood, but most of the time it won't take you to where you want to go (because some police dude decided to block your way), or it's filled with queuing tourists, so you can't walk anyway. So most of the time people are walking in the ankle-length water because they are fascinated with the whole idea, or because we need to get somewhere anyway.
Peak of the flood - taken from Korrer's Museum
Korrer's Museum was definitely big and comprised of a couple of smaller museums inside actually. There was the army museum, and I think two others on sculpture and modern art. Pretty wholesome and varied exhibition. Spent about 2 hours there, and although I didn't climb the basilica, windows in the Korrer Museum did provide some good view points for aerial shots of St Mark's Square. By the time I finished my visit, it was the peak of the flood, and I needed to get back to the Rialto. Initially I could have avoided wetting my feet, but there was this police officer who block the end of the elevated pathway to the bridges. So well, there goes my first experience of wetting my feet. Funny but not fun, canal water DOES NOT smell good. UGH.
Reached the Rialto end, and just basically wandered around taking photos. Was trying new routes to see how lost I could get but because it was largely a tourist shopping area, you never really get lost following the herd. Note that Rialto market is considered an attraction on its own especially for colourful fresh produce, and souvenir stalls. Rialto on its own is actually the area of the island, so there were quite some high end shops and cafes that are right by the canal.
Since I was getting sick of the crowds, I decided to head into the heart of Cannaregio district where the Jewish Ghetto was. My research tells me that it's the more quiet area of the island, so off I go. In Venice, I did more wandering around than other places. Mostly because its alleys and streets were perfect for that, and also because I went on a weekend, with Day 3 being a Monday, and the museums I wanted to visit were close! Superbly sad with my planning, it would have been better to exchange my Day 2 and 3's itinerary since Murano and Burano would have stayed open anyway.
And so I really did get lost in the Jewish Ghetto. I thought I had my direction, but I walked all the way to the end of the road, overlooking the sea and the railways heading into Santa Lucia. Totally bad orienteering. But it wasn't too bad, pretty fun actually. I did panic a little when I realise I am not sure how to place myself on the map I have, so it was mostly just retracing steps and trying to place myself on the map. I enjoyed the peaceful time I had on the bench overlooking the sea.
A shot of Cannaregio, quiet.
My 3rd day was actually really relaxed, even as I wandered around the Cannaregio district, I find myself back to Santa Croce and the railway station area so I decided to plop myself on a jetty (which was a water taxi stand) and do some reading. In hindsight, I could always have explored other islands, but I did not feel like taking the vaporetto; it was one of those times where it is the last hour of the opening times so you never know if you have time to get there, and get in. I attribute it to bad planning. But I did see most of what I wanted to see. For dinner, I tried squid ink pasta, which is one of the Venetian specialty dishes. Not a big fan, tasted very fishy. Haha.
My reading spot under the bridge
Squid ink pasta
Another sunset shot
Do try:
- Grand Canal Tour: I think it was really quite worth it, and would have loved to spend a day just hopping on and off. I think there were about 8 - 10 attractions so that would have taken up a whole day, and saved you from walking between attractions.
- Burano & Murano Islands: They were slightly different from Venice, and each had their specialty, so I felt it was worth it to see how lace and glass were made
- St Mark's Basilica: But perhaps with a guide book or a guided tour so you can understand its history better
- Doge's Palace: Just to see a palace without a massive garden, and visiting the prisons
Tips:
- To have a cheap filling meal, I'll definitely suggest a panini. It's cheap at most cafes, and you take it away with you so you don't pay for cover charge. The bread is massively filling for me, though I'm not fond of the ham, too porky. But try and judge for yourself.
- They were not joking when a lot of places close on Mondays, especially museums, so seriously consider that when you want to make any visits.
- Get the civic museum card, it's 14 euros at student price (valid with passport + student visa) and it gives you entrances to most of the common museums around Venice which I guessed would have made 3 days very busy if you were to visit all
- Spend time wandering around, whether it is in busy Rialto or the more quiet Cannaregio, there are really a lot to see in these places. Given that I came from Austria, there was a stark difference in the architecture, and that was really lovely to the eyes. If you are not too fussed about making your money's worth by visiting every single attraction possible, consider just getting a spot and people watch. It does not have to be at a coffee place, you could just sit on some random jetty.
- Stay for the sunset, best viewpoint by far for sunset is the Ponte Scalzi/ Scalzi bridge. It was near to the railway, so there were a lot of people but you still get quite an amazing view
- This is not from personal experience but from observation. Try not to stay in the Rialto or San Marco area, it's really packed, and the confusing alleys make it really difficult to find your hostel/hotel and there are A LOT of bridges WITH steps. Saw so many confused travellers, and I can imagine lugging your bags from the station into the vaporetto, and across islands, not fun.
- CHECK FOR BED BUGS. Don't be lazy. Google the methods, there are plenty.
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