The Jarvii 
A little caveat about this post: Venice is my least favorite European city. I first visited Venice when I was 22 years old backpacking my way through Europe. I’ve visited the city two other times since then as well, and it still has not changed my mind. It’s really not a walkable city and the maps you have on hand are impossible if not wrong (which guidebooks warn you about). Thus it forces you to use the water bus from the Grand Canal to get to places, which is fine but expensive. Also because you have no workable map nor is it walking friendly for tourists, it’s really hard to go off the beaten path without panicking if you are able to find you way back home. I personally love going to non-touristy places to get a better flavor of the area, and I did that the first time I visited and will never do that again in Venice. It was just too difficult (perhaps I’m traumatized?) to find your way back to the Grand Canal, and if there’s one thing I absolutely hate is being lost even though I have a map! It just forces you to spend more money than you want to, especially if you are on a budget. Having said all that, I still enjoy making my way to Murano and Lido. Anyhoo, you will clearly see a bias to this post because like I said I really don’t like this city, but we went to bring my aunt and cousin who were visiting for the first time.
Today was a crazy day. We woke up early to catch a train to Venice for the day. Yes, you read that right–for the day! If you take the fast train, Frecciarossa, it’s just shy of a 4 hour train ride. It’s also a much nicer train and you can pick your seats instead of trying to find empty seats, which is a challenge when you are traveling in a large group with children. The train is newer and cleaner, where you are seated in groups of 4 with a table between. This also happens to be the only day excursion we did where my daughter was actually awake at our destination since she slept the whole train ride to Venice.
We arrived at around 11am, which meant we had to hit the ground running. Luckily, the train drops you off right by the Grand Canal. Unfortunately, the water bus stop at the Grand Canal is one of the busiest stops (next to Piazza Marco Square), so be prepared to wait awhile to get your pass and then board one of the water buses. We ended up getting an all day pass because we knew that we would primarily use the water bus as our made mode of transportation and we would be hopping off and on to get around. Because the lines were so crazy to get our passes and then eventually board a water bus to San Marco, we didn’t get to San Marco until a bit after noon. 🙁
My cousin decided to treat the family to a gondola ride, especially since it was my son’s birthday and it was on his bucket list when he read books about famous things in Italy. Our gondola captain (?) was very friendly and pointed out a few landmarks as he took us from the Grand Canal into the narrow canals of Venice. It was quite amazing to see these buildings literally in water, often times doorways just leading out to a canal versus a walkway. It definitely is an interesting perspective, and thankfully we didn’t get lost going back to the Grand Canal. The only downside to gondola rides (which you might have guessed) is that they are SUPER expensive. But if you have the money, it’s definitely worth the price just to have a leisurely ride through the city.
After we were done with our gondola ride, we had lunch at one of the eateries in Piazza San Marco. Yes, it is very expensive for what it’s worth and the food isn’t necessarily the best, but past experience told me to just stick around here. My family and kids enjoyed eating al fresco, and the restaurant had a little quartet playing music that we all enjoyed as we ate and people watched.
After lunch we walked around Piazza San Marco and checked out Basilica San Marco. We took our pictures and selfies as we avoided the masses doing the same.
Afterwards we again waited a bloody long time to get on a water bus to get to Murano. Unfortunately, due to time we couldn’t make it to a glass blowing demonstration. This was poor planning on my part and also Venice is just freaking crowded in summer. The lines for the water bus were just crazy and once you board it’s super crowded, which was not enjoyable for my kids.
Anyhoo, Murano is the island where they blow beautiful glass, which you can also purchase. Some shops were still open when we arrived, so we were able to browse a bit. It’s actually cheaper to buy the stuff that they blew for demonstrations. They aren’t quite perfect masterful pieces, but they are still good and beautiful. I still have a vase from my first visit 16 years ago. If you are on a budget, definitely buy those pieces–they are quite beautiful.
From Murano we visited the Rialto Bridge–the real one. Haha. It’s one of the oldest bridges that spans across the Grand Canal and architecturally it is quite beautiful. So beautiful Las Vegas has its knock off. Of course there were soooo many tourists taking pictures there too.
After we saw all the major sites and did a bit of shopping, we stopped to have some ice cream. And then we boarded our train back to Rome.
Overall, a doable day trip. In hindsight I should have planned better and gone straight to Murano to do the glass blowing. Another nice spot is Lido. No one wanted to visit Lido, but if you are looking for more of a beach town feel, visit Lido too.
