Venice…is absolutely breathtaking.
We arrived Wednesday night after 12 hours of traveling. Our flight from Ibiza was delayed 2 and a half hours and we flew to Germany then from Germany we were rerouted to Frankfort airport. We had an hour and a half layover in Frankfort then flew to Venice. Overall we went through 3 airports and arrived around 10 pm. I was warned about 2 things in Venice:
1. Mosquitos
2. The smell from the canals in the summer
As soon as I stepped foot outside of the Venice airport I was bite 3 times by Mosquitos one of them in the face lol
I was definitely welcomed.
We stayed in a small town outside of Venice for two nights. The first day semi wasted due to our traveling complications but the next day we were refreshed and ready to hit the town.
We started bright and early to sightsee and get the most out of our only day in Venice. It was 9:30 am and it was already warm and sunny, we were not prepared for what was coming. The heat was excruciating and the sun rays were so strong. The first thing we did was buy sun hats and apply gallons of sunblock and tanning lotion.
We walked around, shopped and visited St. Mark’s Basilica the first half of the day.
After the church visit we went to have lunch at a local restaurant in one of the many hidden streets of Venice. We shared pizza, ravioli and gnocchi…pasta wasted the entire time! Let me tell you that the food in Italy is simply amazing.
After lunch we kept walking around and exploring the city. Venice is an island with no cars…just boats! I did not know this until I got here (I know, a bit naive on my part). I thought it was the most tranquil and relaxing thing to not see or hear any cars since it’s a huge part of our everyday life in the U.S.
When in Venice a gondola ride through the canals is a must. They’re pricy but worth it! We had so much fun seeing the city on this cute boat, we rode on a very stylish gondola with velvet seats and a Victorian theme decor.
We had met a fellow Venetian on one of our flights to Venice who recommended a pizza and gelato place for dinner. We took out our maps and searched for it since getting recommendations from locals is better than yelp (and I LOVE yelp) 😉 we were on a mission to find them!
We arrived at OKE, which is an Italian restaurant right by the water. Caprese salad and a bottle of wine were ordered first. This tomato and mozzarella blew my mind. How can such simple ingredients be so good? Don’t ask me, but they were life-changing. There are a few things I ate that literally changed my life and this was one of them.
After dinner we headed for desert and gelato was on our list. We grabbed our fresh gelato cones and sat on the ledge by the sea to soak in the beauty of Venice. We were in love with you Italy.
Venice!
