Venizia

Ma’am: Class, ITALY…

Class: ???

Ma’am: “I Trust And Love You”

My high school science teacher once said the line and back then, we can only agree in unison… corny si Ma’am. But I admit, my weird sense of humor understands, why, I fell for it.

ITALY… other than what it stands for, I fell for it once more.

I have seen quite a number of picturesque places but nothing ever compares to Italy.

All along, I have been hearing tourists saying how nice it is in Italy, ABSOLUTELY, It did not disappoint.

For instance, flying from Amsterdam to Venice, is a completely different feel. While I marvelled at Amsterdam canals in all its glory, and roam around by tram and feet. I was completely blown away by the scenic spots of Venice and all its vaporettos and gondolas.

My friends and I have joked that Venice, Florence and Rome (the Italy that we have visited so far) is like a HUGE Universal Studios, just that, it’s on a completely different level because it was a reality.

Let me start with Venice.

How do I start confessing my love for this magical place, I wonder.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this place is its people and culture and traditions translated to art!

How I love those masks representing so much of their history. One time, I came to this shop which sells handmade masks and she narrated that these masks served a purpose that dates back when Venice was flourishing and the locals have developed a common culture of hiding their identity and social status in making deals and pursuing various activities—gambling for example. With Venice so small, one can understand.

What surprised me when I arrived is that Venice is a place with no cars. How in the world was that possible?

Alright, I have to make it clear that from the airport, there would be cars/ buses, of course, but up to Piazzale Roma (literally the end of the Road as there would be no cars from thereon)  but in its city proper, it’s all about your feet and lots of Vaporettos, gondolas and traghettos or water taxis. Rather than highways in ordinary cityscapes, they got small to large canals where water vehicles come in handy.

Venice is one huge maze. Brick Houses are piled one after another separated by narrow alleyways.

Funny how one time while coming back from the groceries, we completely forgot where our house was. We walked and walked and walked some more while navigating through our map (yes, no wifi for us) and ended up from one canal to another. In the end, we managed to ask one of the locals and she brought us to the right path (lol)

Venice’s Rialto bridge is a good spot to take pictures of venetian sunsets. It’s overlooking the venetian restaurants along the grand canal. I have no words for the amount of pictures that I have taken from this bridge alone.

And Venice wouldn’t be complete without its gondola… how lovely! But

I must say, one trip is pretty expensive. It costs around 80 euros at a minimum.

And some gondolas have separate payment for the gondoliers. For the experience, is it worth the price? Depends. Depends upon how important it is for you to ride one of those.

For me, I’d say I’m in for the traghetto. It’s like a gondola minus the luxury. It’s a local’s way to cross short distance canals. It’s a “gondola” without seats and you have to balance while standing. We headed for the nearest “dock” which was S. Toma- S. Angelo to try this for 2 euros, but unfortunately, it was already unavailable.  [Mon–Sat 7:30am–8pm; Sun 8:30am–7:30pm]

For vaporetto (water buses), it’s a convenient way to travel around Venice. We took it twice, from Piazzale Roma to San Agustin (where our Airbnb is located) then San Agustin to the train station and each costs around 7 euros one way.

How about the food? Well, There are many restaurants and that being said, it is a food haven!

From pizza (yes, Italy) to seafoods, it was delightful. Coffee is always available as there are a lot of small cafés nearby. Sometimes, when you're just too tired to carry on walking, you need a quick stop and what better way to spend it than lounging in a chair, sipping a good ‘ol coffee whilst watching people pass by? I’d say, it’s always a good idea!

The charm of Venice is I’d say, the ability of the place to let you live seemingly in the imaginary but you are actually in the realms of reality. It means, the ability of the place to transport you to a uniquely different feels. It’s like people have perfectly orchestrated a place where all the good and artistic stuff are put together in sync with the flow of nature. For instance, the bridges, bricked houses, narrow alleys harmonized so well with the canals, the cathedrals and the parks located around the city.

I have seen, heard, tasted and experienced Venice and it’s very positive and highly uplifting.

Emo aside, I only saw, heard and read about Venice. And everything I know about that place is nothing compared to seeing it for real. In all honesty, from where I come from, I have known how nearly impossible it is for me to travel to such far place. Given the costs, it sounds so grand. But really, dreams do come true and I couldn’t thank Him enough.   

Next stop…