Once in Venice, it is highly unlikely that you will want to let it out of your sight. It is a city of unique, almost dreamy, beauty. That’s why we are adamant that travellers should not do Venice in a day but try to spend as much time as possible there. This way, there will also be time to visit the nearby Venice islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello and enjoy one of the best day trips from Venice.
Venice is a destination unlike any other. The floating city got us under its spell from the very first moment we laid eyes on its beautiful canals and pastel-coloured buildings. Walking around Venice’s picturesque cobblestone streets is enchanting. Yet seeing the city from the water is pure magic. Be it a private gondola ride, a vaporetto ride or a Venice boat tour the best vantage point to marvel at the charms of La Serenissima is the water.
Undoubtedly, the gondola is the ultimate symbol of Venice. It’s hard to imagine that the sleek black vessels used to be colourful in the past. The noble families who owned gondolas used them as a means to show off their power thus turning their lush decoration and vivid colours into some kind of competition. It was in the early 1600s when the Senate decided to bring this competition to an end by forbidding all other colours but black. Evidently, a gondola ride is among the top things to do in Venice.
Few cities in the world are so immediately recognisable as Venice. Who hasn’t been enchanted by its beauty just by looking at pictures of the Grand Canal and the pastel-coloured palazzi lining it? Yet there is no shortage of stories from people who have been disappointed by the city. It’s expensive, it smells bad, it’s too crowded are the commonest complaints and they are not entirely ungrounded. Εspecially the latter. However, La Serenissima, as Venice is traditionally known, is a unique almost unbelievably beautiful city. A fairy-tale destination unlike any other. So, what to do in Venice to fully immerse yourselves in its magic? First and foremost, understand its peculiarities and get ready to have the time of your life in this masterpiece of a city.
