This is Part 3 in our series about Italy vacation ideas. Check out the previous posts about Rome and Florence, too!
After spending the majority of our Italy trip in the cities above, we found we had time to spend our last day in the beautiful city of Venice. It was easy enough to walk to the train station in Florence and take a 2-hour train ride over in the morning. Finding our way around Venice was another story--all the streets are very winding. This meant we had a few destinations we steered ourselves toward, but enjoyed wandering around the city for most of the day.
Our B&B was the Santa Margherita Guesthouse, which was simple but met our needs for a place to sleep and breakfast in the morning. The owner suggested Al Profeta Venezia for lunch nearby.
In the afternoon, we walked to St. Mark's Square. The architecture is very different from Rome or Florence, with its heavy Byzantine influences. Nearby is the Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners got their last glimpse of the outside world before they were executed. Very dark to think about now, but like most of Venice, it was very scenic.
No trip to Venice is complete, of course, without a gondola ride! You can save some money if you ride with a larger group, and so we shared a gondola with another couple who had just gotten engaged that day. The gondoliers were very fun--all making jokes to each other in Italian as they passed each other by. Before our trip, I always imagined the gondoliers as old men singing in Italian--but ours was pretty young and sang a hilarious rendition of "No woman no cry."
Our host also recommended a bar that was a favorite with locals--Taverna al Remer--and so we grabbed drinks there and enjoyed them on the dock outside.
For our last night in Italy, we headed back to a piazza near our B&B and picked a random restaurant where we could eat outside. And then ended the night with gelato, of course.
Overall, we packed a lot in during our eight-day Italy trip. Don't forget to check out the other posts--and we'll also have one soon about general tips for traveling in Italy. Until then-- arrivederci!
