Ah, Venice. What can I say about you that hasn’t been said before? What a unique place.

This was my next stop in my trip through northern Italy following the amazing time I had in Urbino. The journey to Venice was uneventful, and once I arrived via train, I was ready to go straight to the B&B I had booked.

Or so I thought. Google Maps printout handy, I left the Santa Lucia train station and ventured into the streets of Venice. All went well, until 40 minutes of walking later I realized I didn’t have the right address. Fortunately, I was nearby so it didn’t become a big issue.

During the first day, I found I had to constantly remind myself I was in the actual Venice, and not watching a movie of it or at a Las Vegas/Epcot Center rendition. I kept telling myself that Venice has actually looked like this for centuries, they didn’t build it recently as a tourist destination.

It does seem unreal at first: no cars, the sound of water, catching the vaporetto to go from place to place. While I took a lot of pictures, none of them do it real justice. It’s one of those places that has to be experienced at least once in a life. (Piazza San Marco only requires 30 minutes of that life: it is so crowded with tourists it’s almost not worth seeing.)

When it comes to food, Venice was a place of contrasts for me. I wasn’t as lucky every single time with the choices I made for restaurants, but I did get to enjoy the best dinner of the whole trip. The first night, thanks to my friend Heather’s recommendation, I had booked a spot at the Osteria Alle Testiere. The food was incredibly good, all seafood, with a menu dependent on what they got at the fish market that morning. My mouth still waters when I think of that dinner. Another great place to eat came as a recommendation from my friend Laura: Al Bottegon. The cicchetti there were delicious.

While I saw a few churches and tried to visit all the islands, the highlight of my time in Venice was without a doubt the two days I spent at the Venice Biennale. All day Sunday at the Arsenale, and all day Tuesday at the Giardini. By all day I mean 6 or 7 hours, and surprisingly I barely got to see everything in them. Taking into account that there are many other pavilions scattered throughout the city, if one would like to see everything Biennale, a full week in Venice would probably be required.

I will be posting my impressions of the Biennale in upcoming posts and share plenty of pictures and video, so stay tuned for more Venice.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about how the city of Venice functions, you should check out this cool documentary called Venice Backstage. It was put together by Insula Spa, operational division of Venice Municipality. (Volete vederlo in italiano? Clicca qui.)