TMQE Travels are travelling again! This time it’s Venice in Italy, where we explored the winding canals, rode the vaporetto along the Grand Canal, wandered St. Mark’s Square, climbed the Campanile, visited the Doge’s Palace, crossed the Bridge of Sighs, travelled beneath the Rialto Bridge and crossed the lagoon to Burano.
Jérémy and Ben here again! We love to travel and to satisfy our wanderlust, we are on a European roadtrip exploring the best places for a city break on the continent. We love to escape Britain to experience the best culture, cuisine and attractions that Europe has to offer. If you’re a tourist like us and just need a good itinerary for what to do and how to do it when you’re in Venice, we will show you the best things to put on your itinerary.
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One of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, the city of Venice is an archipelago of islands in a lagoon between the Po and Piave rivers in North-Eastern Italy. The centre of a booming republic based on trade for over a millennia, the historic city is a time capsule where cars do not exist and the only way to get around is by boat.
The city’s most famous monuments are all crowded around St Mark’s Square. While fairly busy with tourists, you can easily visit the monuments without too much queuing, so we suggest heading up the campanile first to get a bird’s eye view of the city. With the winding streets, canals and ancient roofs spread out beneath you, it feels like you’re looking out on the largest museum in the world.
Just across the square is the 11th century St Mark’s Basilica, which is probably the finest example of Italo-Byzantine architecture ever built. With its numerous columns and domes, the inside is gilt with gold mosaics, literally from floor to ceiling to dome, which took centuries to create and is why it’s known as the Cheisa d’Orro, the Church of Gold. Also, when they wanted to upgrade its domes in the 13th century, instead taking down the old ones, they built new ones over the top, so you see old dome on the inside and the new dome on the outside.
Just next door is the Doge’s Palace, which is a vast ornate structure that served as the centre of Venetian power for centuries. Begun in 1340, the structure was extended and redecorated numerous times over the centuries and was seen basically as the small maritime republic’s showroom, in which it could show off to the tradesmen and emissaries visiting from all over the world. Inside are the Doge’s personal apartments and the institutional chambers, all of which are like art galleries whose paintings have been plastered directly onto the walls and ceilings. In every millimetre of available space.
Included in your trip is a visit to the Palace’s dungeon, which you access via the world famous Bridge Of Sighs. Prisoners would be taken across from the court inside the Palace and their final view of Venice before their imprisonment would be through the narrow stone windows. And they’d sigh. Hence the name.
While it’s monuments are pretty special, the best thing about the city is the city itself, with all its beautiful architecture crammed onto every available inch of space. The best views come from boats, which can range from the moderately priced to the extortionately expensive. The Vaporetto, or water bus, will take you up and down the Grand Canal, which slices the city in half and we would suggest buying a travel card, which cover all your trips around the city. As well as trips to the outlying islands. It costs 20 euros for a day, 30 for two, 40 for three or 60 for a week. But it’s worth it, if just for the view of travelling under the Rialto Bridge. And of course, if you’re feeling like spending a bit more, there’s always a gondola…
All over the city you’ll see gondoliers stood with their moored gondolas, waiting to take tourists out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. It costs 80 euros for a 30 minute ride, but that rises to 120 euros at night. And this is a fixed price for all gondoliers across the city. We opted not to do it because Venice is beautiful enough that we definitely want to come back. When we’re older and richer.
Beautiful though Venice is, while you’re here it is absolutely worth using your Vaporetto Pass to go and visit the outlying islands of Murano and Burano. These small islands are crowded with technicolour vibrantly painted houses, all perched on the edge of canals. The communities living there are famous for their world-renowned glass manufacture. And you can buy their work, straight from the hands of the craftsman who made it.