Venice

As I said, arriving in Venice, we were apprehensive as to how we would find it, after such an amazing time in Rome. We arrived at the train station at sunset, and stepped out of the concourse to see the grand canal ahead of us, two magnificent bridges stretching over it, and people teeming about. Forgetting about the difficulty of finding our hostel we just stopped and stared. It was beautiful.

We had been told to use the water bus to get to our hostel and around the island. I went to ask the woman at the office how much it would cost us. For three days travel she told us it would cost 35€ each. I was astounded. After lots of umming and aahing, I eventually bought a single each for 7€ each and we got on the bus which took us all the way round the island, and along to Saint Mark's Square, where we arrived just as the sun was setting. I was speechless all of the journey, it was so beautiful. 

Our hotel was nestled down a side street just back from Saint Mark's Square and we dumped our bags, before heading back out to find a place to eat. We could barely get anywhere, stopping every few minutes at a canal or a bridge, in the dusk light and just staring. We found in Venice it was harder to eat well and cheaply, and the first place we went to did rather average pasta with rather pricey wine. Still, we were in Venice, and we were very happy about it.

The next two days in Venice I am ashamed to say we visited nothing- no art galleries, museums or specific sites. We just wandered aimlessly, up to the Piazzle Roma, the Rialto bridge, round and round, through side streets, over bridges, gelato in hand. It was easy to get lost, and we did, the first morning having read the map wrong we reached the end of the island. There were no tourists, just a few runners and fishing boats, and with the gulls around us, we sat for a which with our feet over the edge and enjoyed the peace. Both mornings and both afternoons we sat in the sunniest places we could find and had a Bellini or a glass of wine. For lunch we ate takeaway pizza, and found a little seafood place that did a cone full of lightly fried seafood for 4€ which was delicious. We went back the next day but couldn't find it again. After going from spot to spot in Rome, it was nice to have no agenda in Venice, and was thoroughly relaxing and beautiful. We discovered the 35€ bus ticket would never have been necessary- you can walk everywhere in Venice and that's the best thing to do. 

On the last night we went up to get changed and ready for our last Italian dinner and Daniel proclaimed he felt sick. I ignored him and continued to get all ready. At half seven, I finished, put on my shoes and Daniel leant over the bed and was promptly sick in the bin. Poor Daniel continued to be sick every half hour until about half 3 in the morning, in and out of the bathroom, shivering and shaking in the boiling hot hostel room. At six when our alarm went and we'd both managed a couple of hours of sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed, and set out with our suitcases, back to Piazzle Roma. Poor Daniel was a bit out of it, but I loved walking through the empty streets as the sun was rising, and boats were coming in with all sorts of normal things they have to get into Venice- toilet paper, shop mannequins, food, even a cement mixer on a boat. 

We took a bus to the airport, and Daniel had a bottle of water which restored some life. The flight was easy and we were in London before we knew it, and suddenly it was all over. But, despite the last night, (which we think was due to Daniel drinking the tap water in Venice) we had the most amazing holiday, and the most amazing experience of the two cities. We were both at a loss as to which we preferred, though I think we would err towards Rome, because there is more to do, it's more accessible for young people and its less expensive. But both were spectacular.