Dream Tour Days Lake Garda Day 7

So, Venice it is!

We had planned to visit this city since we were already so close! So the evening before, we bought train tickets through the Trenitalia app (I can only recommend the app, it makes traveling by train much easier, good to use, payment via PayPal, everything very simple!), and then took the bus to the train station early in the morning, continuing by train to Venice, we arrived in 1.5 hours.

Venice! First impression at the train station - overwhelming! You come out of the station and stand right at the Grand Canal, which flows like a highway, just not as organized. Vaporetti, gondolas, motorboats, small fishing boats—everything that can float seems to be plowing through the green lagoon water. And apparently, everyone knows where they are going without anything happening.🙈

Then buy a ticket for a Vaporetto, which is what the water taxis are called here, that will take us from A to B. 🐖expensive, for the route to St. Mark's Square it costs a hefty 9 euros for a single trip. Well, we saved on the tourism tax today, which is only charged on certain days. So it’s good to check this online beforehand.😉

But the ride itself is already an experience, I have never been on such a boat packed with people. We expected a huge crowd in the narrow alleys, but after getting off, the crowd dispersed well, and we could leisurely stroll over bridges and walkways, passing tiny little shops as well as large storefronts with beautiful items made of Murano glass, stunningly beautiful yet expensive. But marveling costs nothing, and we did that to our heart's content.

Of course, we also booked tickets for St. Mark's Basilica, unfortunately, that turned out to be a more complicated story, because on this very day, the Prime Minister of Veneto decided to do the same. So the basilica was initially closed to visitors, police with weapons were everywhere, and soldiers with rifles were on rooftops. Very inviting. But we managed to get in; there was a lot of gold to see inside, however, it really felt like “processing tourists,” in my opinion, the basilica in Florence or even better in Siena has more to offer—more calmness, more silence, more reverence—just more “church.” But okay, we were inside. And as a side tip, the cathedral in Abbadia di San Salvatore is also worth seeing, small but nice.

Venice! We know so much about this incredible city, yet so little. Our minds are filled with clichés of crowds, overpriced gondolas, loudly singing gondoliers, dark canals, and Doge's Palaces that can only be reached by water. We saw all of that, but just a step off the “main road” there is also Venice, quiet and a bit dark, with house facades eroded by saltwater, a gondola right in front of a door that almost floats in the water—no soul in sight, just the soft splashing of the canal water—I wish I had more time to get to know this unknown, real Venice, who knows, maybe someday??

There was plenty of ice cream to enjoy here as well, as well as a café with a small snack. And with tired feet once again and endless impressions, we strolled back to the water taxi station. Almost impossible, but on the way back, it was even more crowded than on the way there, it became a bit adventurous because we had only a little time to catch our train and had to hurry to make it.

But everything worked out including the bus from the station to our square.

It had been a long day, another beautiful day in this lovely vacation.

Insight of the day: sometimes you should take the time to look behind the facade. That's why Venice is at the top of my bucket list.