Arriving in Venice

At 9:30am we checked out of our apartment in Verona, waved goodbye to our friendly host, and made our way to the station. The train to Venice began at Verona so it was already at the platform when we arrived, and we traveled to the coast very smoothly. Hopping off in Mestre, the mainland town connected to the island of Venice, we made our way to our new accommodation. When we arrived, our host was waiting for us outside. He led us into a multistorey building which functions as not only the family home but also the family business: the ground floor is a pizzeria run by his brother, the first floor is a BnB with three guest rooms, and the floors above are inhabited by our host, his mother, his niece, and other relatives. Our host excitedly showed us to our room and announced that due to a booking error we would be staying in the nicest of the three instead of the cheapest that we had booked. He then talked us through a tourist map of Venice, pointing out his favourite locations and advising us on our airport connections for Sunday morning. He made us feel incredibly welcome and we immediately had a good feeling about our stay in Venice.

We unpacked our bags and then hopped on a bus to Venice itself. I was unsure of what to expect, having heard stories of Venice's beauty and overcrowded, touristystreets alike, but I hadn't imagined the perfectly picturesque scenes that we met as we crossed the bridge from the bus stop. The wide canals were perused by water buses and gondolas, with the rows of houses rising from the water as if they were lining concrete roads instead of canals. There really is water everywhere, with most of the streets being connected by bridges, and the striking contrast between aquamarine water and red-and-yellow houses really was impressive.

Canals for Roads

Views from the first bridge

We hadn't really planned on venturing into Venice today, so we decided to follow the streets in whichever direction took our fancy. This led us to some interesting places, and we soon realised that for every typical high street shop (like Zara and H&M) there is also a uniquely Venetian one. From umpteen shops crammed with masquerade masks to the tiny galleries selling gorgeous artwork, there was eye candy everywhere we turned. One of my favourites was the shop selling vintage art alongside vintage wines. 

A Mask Shop

Art and Wine

There seem to be plenty of oddities scattered through Venice, even in its churches. We entered one which doubled as a museum of string music, with violins and polished cellos occupying the church like an inanimate congregation. 

The Church

An additional perk of Venice is that many of the canals' edges double as benches with beautiful views. We found that we could comfortably sit at the edge and watch the lapping water, as well as the sleek boats passing by. I had expected Venice to be fairly dirty, and I had been warned about its bad smell in the summer months, but the streets we walked were rubbish-free and smelled just faintly of saltwater. It seems like over the next few days we might fall head-over-heels in love with this city, and I'm really looking forward to it.