In your life you should be at least once in London, once à Paris, once in New York, once in Los Angeles and once in Venice, I think. I’m still fairly young, but already have been to 3 of these 5 great cities. Why Venice?, you ask. Isn’t it dirty? Doesn’t it smell weird there? I don’t like prejudices, because most of the time they prove to be completely wrong. I don’t know if all of Venice is as lovely as the part I’ve seen (and I’m quite sure it’s not), but don’t only list the negative things, think of the positive things first. First of all, yes, Venice IS expensive; 5 pounds for a simple coffee. BUT (and there will be a lot of “but’s” in this blog post) you don’t have to sit in a café in the most touristy and crowded places in Venice. There are some wonderful cute little restaurants and cafés in some of the side ‘streets’ (canals or ‘calle’ actually) where you pay a normal price for a normal coffee. Don’t always expect them to talk English to you though. As for the gondola riding, you can’t expect that to be cheap with thousands of tourists every day, but don’t be a cheapskate. You’re there only once maybe, so enjoy it! It’s most romantic in the evening at sunset by the way. And hope for a gondelier who can sing..!
Venice is full of tourists, but somehow, and I don’t know how they do it, it’s neither dirty nor does it smell bad. At least it didn’t when I was there. Venice is charming. That describes it best in my opinion. Think canals, gondolas, the pali that look like candy, designer stores, little vintage shops, amazing old buildings, churches and add some of the weirdest shops you’ll ever see in your life, and you get…Venice! A town which is one of a kind. But please don’t go there expecting it to be heaven on earth, because there are downsides. Lots of tourists as well as pigeons and pickpockets and foreign men trying to sell you replica designer handbags; narrow little streets which are hell for every claustrophobic; and if you plan to walk through one of those passageways in the evening in spite of the dubious people sitting there, because it seems to be the only way to get to the place you want to, don’t let the fact that you have to climb over the dinner of said people put you off. All in all, I loved my stay there and would love to revisit one day.
