How to go round Venice and make the best photos ever?
Venice trip, the second time around
If there is a trip anyone should make at least once in their lives, it is the trip to Venice.
For me, it’s a unique city in every sense, both historically and because its main and most important access is via water.
But we have already told all those stories about history.
That’s why I made the effort to make my trip to Venice more creative this time around.
Like… The boat trip.
A few notes and you are ready for sightseeing
Venice is a number one tourist destination in every sense. It’s the place where there are crowds and tourists every day of the year.
So, the season is 365 days a year. That’s nothing new, it has been like that since the Renaissance days.
If you are travelling to Venice for the first time, relax. This is the best city in the world for strolling. Just put on some chic sneakers and you are ready 🙂 … for such a chic town.
It’s good to know that Venice is divided into areas: Castello, San Marco – the city center, San Polo & Santa Croce, Cannaregio – it’s where the locals live and Dorsoduro.
While you’re walking, it’s important to keep an eye on your things. Big tourist crowds are always convenient for pickpockets.
Avoid restaurants that have menus made for tourists. That’s everything but taste of real Venetian cuisine.
It’s also good to learn a few most important words in Italian so that you sound less like a tourist and more like a Venetian 🙂
By showing you beautiful pictures and posting short comments beneath them, I will guide you through everything that’s worth paying attention to, and a little bit different from what has been seen until now.
What to do in Venice and how to be creative?
Make hundreds of photos
I made hundreds of photographs and for the first time, I didn’t feel embarrassed for taking out my camera and photographing the same scene for ten times until I got it right.
This city inspired me so much that I spent 64 GB of memory just on photos.
I took pictures of everything I could – narrow canals, gondoliers (mine and other people’s, whichever caught my eye), dilapidated houses, bridges, souvenir stores, restaurants, other tourists…
I took pictures of everything colourful, I wanted to make memories of all the beautiful moments I spent there.
Get lost in Venetian streets
This happened to me so many times. It’s the city of maze. At first sight, everything seemed similar and familiar, but in the end, it always turned out to be different. Then I looked for rescue… but how?
What helped me many times where the guideposts to the St. Mark’s church. Instead of “all the roads lead to Rome”, here it’s “all the roads lead to St. Mark’s square”.
That’s why the biggest crowds are right there…everyone who gets lost is found there 🙂
Take a ride in gondola
As much as I was shocked when I heard the price (80 euros for 35-minute ride), I don’t regret a single euro spent on it. It’s such a magical feeling, riding in a gondola, watching all the pictures that you pass by, other gondolas…I felt as if someone had raised the curtain, the spotlights went on and I entered the stage 🙂 That’s how much romance fit into only a 35-minute ride.
A very useful advice on how not to pay that much money on a gondola, and still have a ride is to split it with another couple, friends or other tourists. An entire gondola is 80 euros a ride, and more than two people can fit.
If you prefer not spending that much money and having less romance, then, as an option, you can use the city transportation vaporetto (7,5 euros a ride, daily ticket 20 euros).
Visit the only place in the world that makes real gondolas
“Gondola building site” as I would call it is located at St. Trovaso square (Lo Squero di San Trovaso). It was built back in the 17th century, and that’s when it was first opened. There were thousands of these beautiful little boats once, but today there are only a couple of hundreds.
A gondolier job is very fancy and in high demand and is transferred from generation to generation through centuries, from father to son and so on.
When you say gondolier…do you also think of a tall, handsome and charming young man?
You decide…this one was ours 🙂
Buy yourself a Venetian mask
As a preparation for some of the future Venice carnivals.
Most of the masks for sale are made for tourists, but in the city, you can find stores (ateliers) which sell masks traditionally made.
They are much more expensive. I compromised by paying for a gondola ride and buying the tourist mask. You can’t always have both 🙂
Live life as a local person for one day
How to feel Venice breathing and see how the Venetians live in the simplest way? Walk through Venice during the market day, that’s where you’ll find out many secrets of Venetian life. One of the most famous once in the region is Mercati di Rialto.
You know how much I like to sneak around the world’s markets, so I’ll guide you through it with the help of pictures. When you visit it, you’ll see why it’s exactly as I told you.
Buy a strawberry basket or something like that…
Come and see what kinds of seafood they have
Buy yourself some aphrodisiac as well
This is the market that every tourist visits..
Be seen by the real Venetians
Visit bars and restaurants where locals go to. That’s where you’ll find the best food and most fun.
Top 5 recommendations:
- Bacarando in Corte dell’Orso – Mediterranean cuisine, it’s address is Corte de l’Orso San Marco 5495/96
- Bacaretto da lele – it’s located at Campo dei Tolentini, near Piazzale Roma. Here you can try cicchetti . Cichetti are small bites like Spanish tapas. They are rich with sandwiches, olives, seafood and meat. All the rest you can find out there 🙂
- Al Timon – Real Venetian cuisine
- Osteria da filo – for all of you young in spirit, it’s located just a few meters from Campo San Giacomo dall’Orio. What’s different about it from the rest of the recommended places is that it has live music – jazz and blues.
- Osteria ai do farai – it’s a small Italian restaurant of Mediterranean cuisine. It’s said that you can even see some famous person there 🙂
Be part of the history Caffe Florian
You can find it in the heart of Venice, at St. Mark’s square. Café Florian is one of the oldest coffee shops in the world that’s still open. It opened in 1720.
Today’s café Florian has six saloons and I can’t decide which one is the prettiest.
Have one…have five Spritz Aperols
Sitting somewhere among the numerous cafés with the view over the Grand Canal. It’s always packed with people.
Leave the diet for Monday
And eat one of the best ice creams ever in the Nico pastry shop in Dorsoduro. It’s on the way to the Santa Maria della Salute church (on the coast behind the church).
For the first time, my choice was chocolate and vanilla 🙂
During my creative sightseeing, I came across the most famous tourist spots of Venice where all the tourist guides take you 🙂
Bridges, bridges and bridges again…like connections, like links, like a passionate kiss..like love
And while I visited all of that, it got dark…So I left the visits to Murano island (famous for glass production), Torcello island, Burano island, San Michele island (with a famous Venetian cemetery), and Lido island for some other time 🙂
And you know what’s the best way to go to sleep?
By gondola, of course 🙂
