Venice, Italy

Description: Venezia- Capital of the Veneto Region of Northeast Italy with a population of approximately 51,000 living on the actual island of Venice itself is one of the world’s most well-known and recognizable cities, having been built entirely on wooden pilings, beginning around the year 421. There are 118 islands and portions of the city are linked by 438 bridges.

Historically significant back to the Middle Ages and beyond, their economics, shipping, culture, art and militarily have been at the top of the world’s leaders at various time periods. Entire books have been written and movies made relating to her significance and influence, so this short introduction can’t begin to cover it all. Easily comparable to Rome, Naples, Milan and Florence in its overall standing, Venezia is also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also is known by many other names including “La Dominante”, “La Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”, and “City of Canals”.

Descriptive Word: SUFFOCATED – Venice was a beautiful city, and we loved all the water. We admired the historical sites and even the basic construction of the city on water. However, with limited surface area, the floating city had limited space for locals and tourists. Bridges and walkways were crowded from 10:00-20:00 and many of the historic sites had long queues. Seeing the city from 07:00-10:00 we saw just how tired the locals were feeling as they prepared for the masses to arrive. Like water (H20) losing its oxygen(O), Venice is slowly suffocating under the pressure of the masses. As the city sinks deeper under the water, the people are sinking too in tiny increments.

Summary of Thoughts: Venice has been in the news a lot because of the tourist tax it imposed. So many people visit Venice for just one day, but how do they choose what to see? We paid the tax to our accommodation host and knew that three days in Venice wasn’t even going to be enough to see all the amazing city had to offer. The historical sites are breathtaking. The food and Aperol Spritz were true Italian wonders. Riding through “town” on the Vaporetto Waterbus like the locals with wind blowing through our hair was refreshing. Walking the tiny streets and seeing the sunset on the watery horizon was, indeed, a once in a lifetime experience.

Number of Days we visited: 3

Analyzed Costs: How much did we spend? Venice was more expensive than we budgeted for meals and entertainment. Given our short visit, we opted to eat out instead of cooking in which always costs more. Our transportation costs will seem extremely high here too. We paid for a 3-day Waterbus pass at $93, but then we had some additional costs on the last day to leave the city because of a Waterbus strike that was unpredicted. Furthermore, we had a very long train ride from Venice in the north of Italy to Monopoli in the south of Italy that cost us $316 on this leg of the trip.