Lost in Venice

Ahh, Venice… The magical sinking city that seems to float on water, where residents still need boats to get around and where visitors unfailingly get lost in its winding maze of alleyways, bridges, and canals.

On Sunday, Meghan and I caught an early train to spend the day in Venice! Once we got into the city we decided to follow the crowd of tourists; all who seemed to be following these yellow signs pointing to main attractions such as the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. Meg and I quickly grew tired of hordes of people all going in the same direction, so we decided to go off the beaten path. If you look at any website or ask anyone on what to do in Venice I’m sure you’ll receive the response “get lost in Venice.” This is exactly what we did.

We wandered through narrow and sometimes what seemed like “secret” alleyways. Discovered the most picturesque canals (the small canals are the best, they are peaceful, quiet, and so full of character). We crossed bridges over water that looked as though it had been used to clean someone’s paintbrushes. The crowds of tourists we’d passed before were long gone.

 

On one of the many random streets we turned down, we found a quaint little restaurant to grab some lunch. Meg and I each had a flavorful plate of gnocchi with a four-cheese sauce, bread, and free water! 
(A very rare thing to find in Italy.)

After lunch, we decided that we should try to find our way to the Piazza San Marco. We thought this would be easy…wrong we were. After what felt like an hour of wandering, we finally managed to figure it out!

  Just past the Piazza, we found ourselves looking out at the magnificent blue water before us. Taking full advantage of the weather, we bought little bottles of Prosecco, seated ourselves by the edge of the water, took off our shoes and basked in the sun!

Getting lost in a foreign city is an excellent way to step away from the obvious and have a unique and memorable experience. In a city like Venice, you are almost guaranteed to bump into something new and astonishing around every corner. It’s a place of endless discovery!