Friday started my Italian Spring Break adventure! Spring break is so late for my program because it has to do with the Easter schedule and after my week here, I have 4 days left of school which are my finals! Crazy to think of how long I've been here but I still have so much ahead of me and all of Italy to explore!
Friday morning, Alyssa, Bridget, Lainie and I flew from Barcelona to Venice. When we got to Venice, we had to take a bus from the airport to the train station that was a quick walk from our hostel. We weren't really sure what stop it was and since we forgot to ask and thought we knew what we were doing, we ended up getting lost. Of course within one hour of being on spring break we were lost in Venice. Luckily, the bus driver was a very nice man and he saw how lost we were and drove us back to the stop we missed. After that, we knew we would like Venice.
And we have...Venice is absolutely amazing! After dropping our bags off at our hostel (something I cannot wait to be done with), we took the bus to the island of Venice. It was only a 10 minute bus ride and the buses come really quick. When we got there, we were so amazed by all of the buildings and the canals that were everywhere. There were bridges that lined the canals and the buildings were so old and cute. I loved all the shutters and the houses that were there. Every house we walked by we kept saying "that is the cutest one!" or "that's my favorite!" because every one was so new and different than the one next to it. After getting lost walking the streets (but the good kind of lost), we found a pastry shop, got little bottles of wine and sat by the edge of a canal and watched the sunset. We took so many pictures and saw such a pretty sunset. Even though it was kind of cloudy, we loved seeing all of the boats go by and we really took in that we were finally on spring break.
After finishing our bottles of wine and the sun went down, we walked along the street where many restaurants were. Most of them had outdoor seating but it was getting to be really cold so we sat inside. We were all so excited to have our first meal in Italy that we were really aggressive and ordered 3 pizzas and a salad. They told us the pizzas were individual sized but they were very wrong! We ordered a spinach and ricotta, 4 cheese and one with mushrooms, ham, pepperoni and artichokes. We could only finish the first 2 but felt bad about not eating the last one so we had to eat it! We left feeling SO FULL and we immediately realized that we were going to gain at least 20 pounds during our trip with all the pizza we were going to eat.
This morning (Saturday), we woke up, got ready and headed to the main island. Since today was our only real full day here, we had a lot to accomplish. We found a little place to have coffee and later got a pastry and again sat at the edge of a canal but this time at a different place.
Once we were done, we decided to get a bottle of wine and go on a gondola ride. We each got the cheapest bottle we could find then bargained with a gondola driver so we could have a cheaper ride. Our gondola driver was named Rafael and he couldn't be more cool! He was so nice and loved that we each drank a bottle of wine. We offered him some but he kindly declined. He was loving our funny comments and our happy vibes that he played a song on his iPhone, the song "Happy" by Pharrell. We laughed because we sing that song all the time when we are having a happy time! Every other gondola that went by he told us the name of the driver and we said hi to everyone! The gondola ride was amazing. Rafael took us down the main canal and down some side streets and we saw more cute houses with flowers and balconies. The canals and the gondola was exactly how I pictured Venice...perfect!
After our gondola wine, we took a ferry to the island of Burano. In order to get there, we had to take another ferry to the other island of Murano. It was a quick ride from the main island of Venice and we stopped to walk around for a little bit. There were so many glass stores and bead stores and I guess thats what Murano is famous for - glass!
The next ferry took probably a half hour to get to Burano. When we got there, it looked like a unreal place. All of the houses were painted different bright colors and like the main island of Venice, there were bridges and canals all over. Most of the stores there were were again glass or had clothes and handkerchiefs with lace. I was so amazed by all of the different color houses, it was definitely my favorite part of the island! There also were no cars on the island, everyone got around by little boats. It was so cool to see a town like this because it was so different than anywhere else, even the main island. It would be so cool to someday own a vacation house there; it would be such a cool getaway from reality!
After a long ride back to the main island, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had been talking about getting pasta all day so we were so excited to finally put some in our bellies. Alyssa and I split 2 dishes: gnocchi with scallops and spaghetti with clams, shrimp, calamari and mussels. SO GOOD!! After walking around the city for a little longer after dinner, we were tired and ready for our busy day of traveling the next day.
I'm already in love with Italy...next stop, FLORENCE!
Ciao!
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